Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!

stephenw10

I particularly liked your backdrop of clamps, mallet and chisel! :D
I agree though, the fan runs too close to the case to allow adequate air flow.

Steve

hmeister

@atxgo:

As recommended by others in this thread, I put in some 40mm Scythe Mini Kaze fans in the case and a Papst 60mm over the CPU.

atxgo - Man - that grinder rocks - I could destroy a few x700's with that puppy… Nice mod! I think yours came out better than what I could do! (WOW) :)

atxgo

Thanks. The grinder with a metal cutting blade sawed through the case top like butter. Once I had the layout marked, it probably took me only about 90 seconds to cut out the entire square. ;D

Here is a closer image of the fan grill. It is made of aluminum, and the circular pattern is embossed, so the whole assembly sticks up maybe 3/16 of an inch off the top of the case. The embossing probably isn't necessary since the fan seems even with the top of the case, but I used it because it was the best solution I had on hand.

If you noticed the black edge around the square cutout, that was where the angle grinder burned the red paint when I was cutting it out. Under normal lighting conditions, it isn't very noticeable, but the light from the camera flash is highlighting it in this picture. If I were setting my x700 in a highly visible location, I probably would have touched it up with some red paint, but I didn't bother because I am mounting the unit in a rack.

cvstealth

I've had an x700 running stable for 2-3 months then all of the sudden it started to flake out. At first the backlight on the LCD would say on solid and the power LED would be a very faint orange. Now I get no response from the LCD, the power/arm/disarm LEDs don’t light and the only response I see is the fans spinning. I've tried to pull the CMOS battery out to get the BIOS to reset but still get nothing on serial console. Anything else to try or has the unit faulted at this point?

stephenw10

Try re-seating the CPU and the ram. If they work loose then you can get similar symptoms.
Then try using a different power supply that's also a likely suspect.

Steve

cvstealth

@stephenw10:

Try re-seating the CPU and the ram. If they work loose then you can get similar symptoms.
Then try using a different power supply that's also a likely suspect.

Steve

Thx for the reply, I tried the original memory stick that came with the unit but will try to reseat the CPU when I get home. Do you know of any vendors that just sell the individual PSUs or do those need to be pulled from other Watchguard units?

stephenw10

Hmm, I was under the impression that the PSU used a standard ATX connector, as it does in the X-peak and X-e boxes. Now I look at some internal photos I'm not so sure.

Steve

hmeister

Stevew
the x700 has a proprietary PS. It sits on the left side… -

cvstealth - Yes, I would reseat the memory but in my opinion your symptoms are pointing at something else like the power supply. Hopefully it will be the PS and not the system board... I have looked online for parts for these units as I have 2 now and have not found anything... You may have to buy again and just keep this one for parts....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Watchguard-Firebox-X700-Security-Firewall-VPN-R6264S-/220793958256?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3368586f70#ht_1159wt_932

H.

cvstealth

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

stephenw10

Well that's a sad outcome. :(
It may be possible to recover the PSU. Just because the connector has been damaged doesn't mean the PSU is dead.
The connector, usually just one or two pins, has been damaged because it got hot. It got hot because there was a bad connection between the pins of the plug and socket which meant that all the current had to pass through a small area. As it gets damaged the area of good connection gets smaller which increases the heat and hence the rate of damage. It may be possible to simply clean up the pins, crimp up the socket slightly and re connect it. Obviously it depends of the level of damage. Alternatively you could take the connector off the PSU and solder the cable to directly.

Steve

hmeister

@cvstealth:

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

bummer…
If you find parts let us know...
H.

StuartW

@cvstealth:

After some investigation the connector on the cable that connects the PSU and mainboard was charred on the end closest to the PSU. My guess is the PSU is toast and since it's proprietary the unit is now destined as spare parts for someone. As much of a fun project that this was I think I'm going to look to an ALIX board for my next setup.

Hi,

I've got an x1000 with a faulty MB (fried RTC it seems) that I'm breaking for spares. You're welcome to the PSU for the cost of postage & packing. Not sure where in the world you are…

StuartW

cvstealth

@StuartW:

Hi,
I've got an x1000 with a faulty MB (fried RTC it seems) that I'm breaking for spares. You're welcome to the PSU for the cost of postage & packing. Not sure where in the world you are…
StuartW

Sorry to hear about your faulty unit too but would love to take you up on the offer for the PSU, I'll send you a PM to get everything setup.

woc38

I'm using pfSense 1.2.3 on a X700 [full install on harddisk] for over a year now, and I'm very pleased with it.
Modifications:

replaced default 256MB module with a 512 MB (Kingston KVR133X64C3/512)
replaced default 3 case-fans with 3 Noiseblocker XM2 fans, used 2 Y-fan-cables and attached them to the fan2 connector on the motherboard
replaced default CPU fan with a similar new Titan radial fan (TFD-B6015M12B) and used a Zalman Fan Mate 2 to control its speed and noise.
replaced the cryptocard with a TP-Link TL-WN861N WL300 (Atheros 5416 chipset), drilled 2 holes and connected 2 U.FL to RP-SMA Pigtails
activated the LCD with the instructions found around here. Did not play with the arm/disarm leds yet.

With the recent 2.0RC's I was thinking about upgrading. I wanted to leave my existing 1.2.3 install intact, so I search for my 4GB Hitachi microdrive:

wrote pfSense-2.0-RC3-4g-i386-20110621-1821-nanobsd.img with Win32DiskImager
placed it in the CF slot in the X700 and it booted fine
via a serial cable I did the initial setup. After the setup, the webinterface is reachable.
via the webinterface I did an upgrade to 2.0-RC3 built Mon Jul 4 17:29:15 EDT 2011
I activated the LCD with stephenw10's package

So far so good. Now I'm configuring and testing this version.

Things I encountered so far:

I'm getting good speeds (98Mbit via FTP) at 50-55% CPU (basic setup, no extra packages or large ruleset)
As others noticed, the console menu via serial cable is not working. After a reboot it stops at "Bootup complete". When rebooting or shutting down, it does not give the root warning message (System going down IMMEDIATELY), but it gives some final messages on the console:
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process vnlru' to stop…done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process bufdaemon' to stop...done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop...
Syncing disks, vnodes remaining...0 0 0 done
All buffers synced.
Uptime: 2h41m43s
Rebooting...
It looks like the Firebox is "temporarily" disabling the console output?!?
SSH is working fine. Would like to see this problem solved…
@jdetmold:

anyone else find that a reboot from the gui does nothing on 2.0?

Reboot and shutdown (X700 halts, no power off) from the webinterface and SSH terminal is working, it only takes more then 2 minutes after you answered "yes" before anything happens.
Sometimes the Firebox does not actually reboot after the command via gui or SSH. The console says rebooting… but nothing hapens, no boot messages appear in the console, the LCD keeps showing "pfSense shutting down". Then I need to switch the unit off and back on. Can not reproduce at will, so far it happens at random.
LCD locked up after transferring 2 large files (3 GB each) via FTP. It showed LCDproc Server Cli:0 Scr:0. Other data is not accessible. It happened 1 time, I couldn't reproduce so far.

First questions:

Any news on the console menu problem? Does this problem also exists with the 1.2.3 -> 2.0RC3 upgrade route, or with a HD install?
Any news on the slow reboots? Does it have something to do with uniprocessor or SMP? Which one should I use for these Fireboxes?

Nicklas

Question, I was able to build in a HD in the x700, but before closing it down, I was wondering can I leave the CF card in it?
If I leave it in do I need to change the jumper position (SCF1) to let it boot from the HD? Any help much appreciated :-)

woc38

Just as a follow-up on the things I encountered installing 2.0RC3:

Installed 1.2.3 nanobsd on a microdrive. Boots fine and gives console menu. Did an upgrade to 2.0RC3 via the webinterface. Upgrade was successful, but there is no console menu. It just stops after "Bootup complete".
Installed 2.0RC3 full on a HD (via the USB installer) on a different machine, enabled serial console via the webinterface, edited /etc/fstab and placed the disk in the Watchguard. It boots and starts fine, but also no console menu after "Bootup complete".
The HD supports some SMART (Attributes Data but no error logging or self tests). When I wanted to view all SMART information, the console suddenly gives output:

Bootup complete
ad2: (fw1.dh.local) (FAILURE - SMART status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4<aborted>ttyu0)

*** LBA=12734209Welcome to pfSen
se 2.0-RC3-pfSenad2: se (i386) on fw1FAILURE - SMART status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>***

WAN (w LBA=12734214an)
-> re5 -> 172.16.0.2 (DHCP)
LAN (lan) -> re1 -> 192.168.10.1

Logout (SSH only) 8) Shell
Assign Interfaces 9) pfTop
[…]
Enter an option:

Then I get a lot of these error messages


calcru: runtime went backwards from 13179 usec to 12445 usec for pid 27125 (sshlockout_pf)
calcru: runtime went backwards from 6291 usec to 6035 usec for pid 26753 (getty)

Also for other services (minicron, cron, dnsmasq, apinger, php, etc)
Does anybody knows what these messages mean? I read something about the clock ticking backwards, but, what to do about it?

After the initial error message I can use the console. A reboot is working at normal speed (do not have to wait 2 minutes before something is actually hapening). After the reboot, the console halts at "Bootup complete" until I invoke a new SMART error.
After some time the console stops responding again. After generating another SMART error I can access it again

My guess is that something is stopping pfSense from writing the menu to the console until some other data is explicitly written to console.
Can anybody confirm the same? Or has anybody a working console right now?</aborted></ready,dsc,error></aborted></ready,dsc,error>

Nicklas

@Krisstian:

someone asked for pictures… this is an Firebox x700

Krisstian, I notice you replaced the FANs, I would like to do that as well, could you please advise which fans you brought and where? Are you pleased with the result is the sound level dropped and nearly silent?

stephenw10

Given that Kristian hasn't posted since March and before that not sinse 2008 you may be waiting a while! :P
However there are a number of posts here about replacing the fans with quieter ones.
Be careful replacing the main cpu fan. The original is a radial fan because the clearance to the top of the case is small. If you use a standard axial fan you may have to cut hole in the case to prevent it being mostly covered. Even if the case top fits it may not allow enough clearance to get sufficient airflow.

Steve

Nicklas

Thanks Steve :-)

I found indeed 2 type of silent fans to replace the 3 fans on the back of my x700.

A) Fractal Design FD 40mm 13.0 dba max. 4000rpm
B) Scythe Mini Kaze 14.0 dba max. 3500rpm

But the CPU FAN it blows it all to the back and no replacement found as yet for that one.

stephenw10

Well woc38 above said:

replaced default CPU fan with a similar new Titan radial fan (TFD-B6015M12B) and used a Zalman Fan Mate 2 to control its speed and noise.

Looks likely.
You could just try a fan controller on the existing fan. What ever you do make sure you monitor the cpu temps.

Steve