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    Watchguard XTM 5 Series

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • mcdonnjdM
      mcdonnjd
      last edited by

      @stephenw10:

      Hmm yes, I was forgetting no pkg_add etc in 2.2. Haven't explored the options here. Just add a pbi repo? Point at PC-BSD 10?

      Steve

      I took a quick look yesterday and looked again today, but I'm not seeing how to do this. If you could kindly point me in the right direction, I'll give this a try. Seems like all I'm finding are people talking about how repo's broke with 2.1 or something, but not seeing how to actually set it up. I'm guessing I'm just not using the right search terms.

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Hmm, this is far more trouble than I expected. I'm probably just missing something. There seems to be no easy way of adding flashrom (or anything else) to 2.2. More research needed.  ;)

        Looks like you might be able to use the PC-BSD PBIs but since 10 they are 64bit only.  :-\

        pbi_add -r http://pbi.cdn.pcbsd.org/sysutils/flashrom/10/x64/flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
        

        No good for 32bit installs, which mine is.  :(

        Edit: Though you can do that you shouldn't. Use the pkg command instead see below.

        Steve

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        • mcdonnjdM
          mcdonnjd
          last edited by

          @stephenw10:

          Hmm, this is far more trouble than I expected. I'm probably just missing something. There seems to be no easy way of adding flashrom (or anything else) to 2.2. More research needed.  ;)

          Looks like you might be able to use the PC-BSD PBIs but since 10 they are 64bit only.  :-\

          pbi_add -r http://pbi.cdn.pcbsd.org/sysutils/flashrom/10/x64/flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
          

          No good for 32bit installs, which mine is.  :(

          Steve

          Heh, tried to quote the message, but my phone decided to thank you instead.

          Anyway, is there a DOS utility that can flash the BIOS on this perhaps? I can try loading up FreeDOS on the CF card and flashing the BIOS that way. I'd imagine this is possible as almost everyone still provides ways to flash via DOS.  (HP is great with this as you can PXE boot an image with a bunch of different BIOSes and the machine automatically figures out which one is for that machine and the program can be signed with the BIOS password so no interaction is required.)

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Thank your phone for me.  ;D

            There are DOS programs for doing this yes. AFUDOS I believe is the program you'd need. The problem is that these dos based tools still use some sort of graphical mode, albeit a crude one, which cannot be displayed via the serial console. To work around that you need to feed it a command line that by-passes all the user input such as we did with the X-e boxes, see:
            https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Flashing_the_BIOS

            I've just tried and failed to get FreeDOS to boot to the console. I'm sure I've done it before though.  :-\

            Steve

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            • mcdonnjdM
              mcdonnjd
              last edited by

              @stephenw10:

              Thank your phone for me.  ;D

              There are DOS programs for doing this yes. AFUDOS I believe is the program you'd need. The problem is that these dos based tools still use some sort of graphical mode, albeit a crude one, which cannot be displayed via the serial console. To work around that you need to feed it a command line that by-passes all the user input such as we did with the X-e boxes, see:
              https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Flashing_the_BIOS

              I've just tried and failed to get FreeDOS to boot to the console. I'm sure I've done it before though.  :-\

              Steve

              I tried one of your FreeDOS images from one of the other watchguard threads and never got the 3 beeps. Looking at the CF card though, it doesn't look like everything copied over. And now I can't seem to repartition my card back to 1GB from 16MB, so I've not tried the 64bit 2.2 yet. I need a female to female adapter for the PCI-Express slot so I can toss a video card on it. (And later, hopefully a supported crypto card.)

              Would doing the pain in the butt SPI work? I'd have to hack together a cable for it and all, but if that's what I have to do, that's what I have to do.

              I think I'll try playing around with trying to get FreeDOS working for now though.Or maybe a Linux distro with flashrom. Plenty of things to try. Might need to run to the store for a new CF card though. Newegg needs a local store in my middle of nowhere town… Lol

              EDIT>>
              Well, I got 2.2 up and running, and got the flashrom pbi installed, but it still gives the same error about no EEPROM/flash device found. Guess I'll have to try some Linux or DOS.

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                The SPI header may work but I see no reason why flashrom should recognise your chip via that rather than the internal method, which is also using SPI.

                I updated my box to 64bit which you can do via the normal firmware update just change the updater URL. It is possible to install the flashrom PBI from PC-BSD as I outlined above but it seems very 'wrong'.

                Edit: It IS wrong don't do it, see below.

                You cannot install the PBI directly you must fetch it first. You must disable the signature check. Then when it's installed you must call it using the full path it does not seem to integrate in any useful way even after a rehash.

                
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(8): fetch http://pbi.cdn.pcbsd.org/sysutils/flashrom/10/x64/flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
                flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi                    100% of 5349 kB 1999 kBps 00m03s
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(9): pbi_add -i flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
                PBI Information for: flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64
                -----------------------------------------------------
                Name: flashrom
                RootInstall: NO
                Version: 0.9.7_1
                Built: 20140206 190737
                Prefix: /usr/pbi/flashrom-amd64
                Author: flashrom Team
                Website: http://www.flashrom.org/
                Arch: amd64
                FbsdVer: 10.0-RELEASE
                CreatorVer: 1.0
                ArchiveCount: 648
                ArchiveSum: e22c43317551cb41703add247953ccbeb277957f9444003d09586ec22aa67f9a
                Signature: Bad
                License: GPLv2
                AutoUpdate: NO
                
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(12): pbi_add --no-checksig flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi 
                Verifying Checksum...OK
                Extracting to: /usr/pbi/flashrom-amd64
                Installed: flashrom-0.9.7_1
                
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(14): rehash
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(15): flashrom
                flashrom: Command not found.
                
                [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(18): /usr/pbi/bin/flashrom -p internal
                flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on FreeBSD 10.0-STABLE (amd64)
                flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
                
                Calibrating delay loop... OK.
                Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". Enabling flash write... OK.
                Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI) at physical address 0xfff00000.
                No operations were specified.
                

                If you choose to use this method I would definitely recommend reinstalling afterwards or at least switching to the other slice if you're running Nano. Just don't!

                Steve

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                • mcdonnjdM
                  mcdonnjd
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10:

                  The SPI header may work but I see no reason why flashrom should recognise your chip via that rather than the internal method, which is also using SPI.

                  I updated my box to 64bit which you can do via the normal firmware update just change the updater URL. It is possible to install the flashrom PBI from PC-BSD as I outlined above but it seems very 'wrong'.

                  You cannot install the PBI directly you must fetch it first. You must disable the signature check. Then when it's installed you must call it using the full path it does not seem to integrate in any useful way even after a rehash.

                  
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(8): fetch http://pbi.cdn.pcbsd.org/sysutils/flashrom/10/x64/flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
                  flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi                    100% of 5349 kB 1999 kBps 00m03s
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(9): pbi_add -i flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi
                  PBI Information for: flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64
                  -----------------------------------------------------
                  Name: flashrom
                  RootInstall: NO
                  Version: 0.9.7_1
                  Built: 20140206 190737
                  Prefix: /usr/pbi/flashrom-amd64
                  Author: flashrom Team
                  Website: http://www.flashrom.org/
                  Arch: amd64
                  FbsdVer: 10.0-RELEASE
                  CreatorVer: 1.0
                  ArchiveCount: 648
                  ArchiveSum: e22c43317551cb41703add247953ccbeb277957f9444003d09586ec22aa67f9a
                  Signature: Bad
                  License: GPLv2
                  AutoUpdate: NO
                  
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(12): pbi_add --no-checksig flashrom-0.9.7_1-amd64.pbi 
                  Verifying Checksum...OK
                  Extracting to: /usr/pbi/flashrom-amd64
                  Installed: flashrom-0.9.7_1
                  
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(14): rehash
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(15): flashrom
                  flashrom: Command not found.
                  
                  [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/tmp(18): /usr/pbi/bin/flashrom -p internal
                  flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on FreeBSD 10.0-STABLE (amd64)
                  flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
                  
                  Calibrating delay loop... OK.
                  Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". Enabling flash write... OK.
                  Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI) at physical address 0xfff00000.
                  No operations were specified.
                  

                  If you choose to use this method I would definitely recommend reinstalling afterwards or at least switching to the other slice if you're running Nano.

                  Steve

                  As I said, I got 2.2 installed and flashrom installed as well, but it still did not work. I then tried a couple different ways of getting FreeDOS booted, but none of them seemed to work. I'm putting 2.1.3 back on the CF card now and going to get it configured and then make a backup of it so I can stop having to go through the setup every time after trying something different.

                  Out of curiosity, do you have a jumper on J10? Mine doesn't have one. J11 seems required to be able to turn on, and J2 was on pins 2&3. J14 has no jumper across any of the 3 pins. Is this the same as what you have there?

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    Ah, sorry I missed your edit.
                    Yep, my jumpers set the same. It's interesting that J11 has a jumper because the default is n/c where as J19 should be shorted by default but isn't on my box. Those three jumpers select AT or ATX mode. J2 selects master or slave for the CF card slot. That's based on the 7581which is slightly different.

                    Steve

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Ok using PBIs is not the way to go. The old package system has been replaced with pkgng. See:
                      https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=77166.0
                      It's easy enough to install flashrom but it takes a long time in Nano while it updates the package list.

                      
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(3): pkg
                      The package management tool is not yet installed on your system.
                      Do you want to fetch and install it now? [y/N]: y
                      Bootstrapping pkg from pkg+http://pkg.FreeBSD.org/freebsd:10:x86:32/latest, please wait...
                      Verifying signature with trusted certificate pkg.freebsd.org.2013102301... done
                      Installing pkg-1.2.7_2... done
                      If you are upgrading from the old package format, first run:
                      
                        # pkg2ng
                      Usage: pkg [-v] [-d] [-l] [-N] [-j <jail name="" or="" id="">|-c <chroot path="">] [-C <configuration file="">] [-R <repo config="" dir="">] <command></command> [<args>]
                      
                      Global options supported:
                      	-d             Increment debug level
                      	-j             Execute pkg(8) inside a jail(8)
                      	-c             Execute pkg(8) inside a chroot(8)
                      	-C             Use the specified configuration file
                      	-R             Directory to search for individual repository configurations
                      	-l             List available commands and exit
                      	-v             Display pkg(8) version
                      	-N             Test if pkg(8) is activated and avoid auto-activation
                      
                      Commands supported:
                      	add            Registers a package and installs it on the system
                      	annotate       Add, modify or delete tag-value style annotations on packages
                      	audit          Reports vulnerable packages
                      	autoremove     Removes orphan packages
                      	backup         Backs-up and restores the local package database
                      	check          Checks for missing dependencies and database consistency
                      	clean          Cleans old packages from the cache
                      	config         Display the value of the configuration options
                      	convert        Convert database from/to pkgng
                      	create         Creates software package distributions
                      	delete         Deletes packages from the database and the system
                      	fetch          Fetches packages from a remote repository
                      	help           Displays help information
                      	info           Displays information about installed packages
                      	install        Installs packages from remote package repositories
                      	lock           Locks package against modifications or deletion
                      	plugins        Manages plugins and displays information about plugins
                      	query          Queries information about installed packages
                      	register       Registers a package into the local database
                      	remove         Deletes packages from the database and the system
                      	repo           Creates a package repository catalogue
                      	rquery         Queries information in repository catalogues
                      	search         Performs a search of package repository catalogues
                      	set            Modifies information about packages in the local database
                      	ssh            ssh packages to be used via ssh
                      	shell          Opens a debug shell
                      	shlib          Displays which packages link against a specific shared library
                      	stats          Displays package database statistics
                      	unlock         Unlocks a package, allowing modification or deletion
                      	update         Updates package repository catalogues
                      	updating       Displays UPDATING information for a package
                      	upgrade        Performs upgrades of packaged software distributions
                      	version        Displays the versions of installed packages
                      	which          Displays which package installed a specific file
                      
                      Commands provided by plugins:
                      
                      For more information on the different commands see 'pkg help <command></command>'.
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(4): pkg add flashrom
                      pkg: flashrom: No such file or directory
                      pkg: Was 'pkg install flashrom' meant?
                      
                      Failed to install the following 1 package(s): flashrom
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(5): pkg install flashrom
                      Updating repository catalogue
                      digests.txz                                                                                                                             100% 1070KB   1.0MB/s   1.0MB/s   00:01    
                      packagesite.txz                                                                                                                         100% 4908KB   2.4MB/s   1.4MB/s   00:02    
                      Incremental update completed, 22923 packages processed:
                      0 packages updated, 0 removed and 22923 added.
                      The following 5 packages will be installed:
                      
                      	Installing dmidecode: 2.12
                      	Installing pciids: 20140502
                      	Installing libftdi: 0.20_1
                      	Installing libpci: 3.2.1
                      	Installing flashrom: 0.9.7_1
                      
                      The installation will require 3 MB more space
                      
                      612 KB to be downloaded
                      
                      Proceed with installing packages [y/N]: y
                      dmidecode-2.12.txz                                                                                                                      100%   60KB  59.9KB/s  59.9KB/s   00:00    
                      pciids-20140502.txz                                                                                                                     100%  180KB 180.1KB/s 180.1KB/s   00:00    
                      libftdi-0.20_1.txz                                                                                                                      100%   41KB  41.3KB/s  41.3KB/s   00:00    
                      libpci-3.2.1.txz                                                                                                                        100%   44KB  43.9KB/s  43.9KB/s   00:00    
                      flashrom-0.9.7_1.txz                                                                                                                    100%  287KB 286.9KB/s 286.9KB/s   00:00    
                      Checking integrity... done
                      [1/5] Installing dmidecode-2.12... done
                      [2/5] Installing pciids-20140502... done
                      [3/5] Installing libftdi-0.20_1... done
                      [4/5] Installing libpci-3.2.1... done
                      [5/5] Installing flashrom-0.9.7_1... done
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(6): flashrom
                      flashrom: Command not found.
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(7): rehash
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(8): flashrom
                      flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on FreeBSD 10.0-STABLE (i386)
                      flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
                      
                      Please select a programmer with the --programmer parameter.
                      Previously this was not necessary because there was a default set.
                      To choose the mainboard of this computer use 'internal'. Valid choices are:
                      internal, dummy, nic3com, nicrealtek, gfxnvidia, drkaiser, satasii, ft2232_spi,
                      serprog, rayer_spi, pony_spi, nicintel, nicintel_spi, ogp_spi, satamv,
                      usbblaster_spi.
                      [2.2-ALPHA][root@pfsense.localdomain]/root(9): flashrom -p internal
                      flashrom v0.9.7-r1711 on FreeBSD 10.0-STABLE (i386)
                      flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
                      
                      Calibrating delay loop... OK.
                      Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". Enabling flash write... OK.
                      Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI) at physical address 0xfff00000.
                      No operations were specified.</args></repo></configuration></chroot></jail> 
                      

                      John, did you try to access the BIOS rom before you changed the CPU? IT's about the only thing your system has different to anyone else's.
                      Also it's not necessary to change the BIOS anyway.  ;)

                      Steve

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • mcdonnjdM
                        mcdonnjd
                        last edited by

                        I think I did, but I can't remember. I'll try putting the Celeron back in tomorrow.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          It works fine with my Core2duo in there. Maybe the Quad core shifts some I/O resources or similar.  :-\

                          Steve

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • mcdonnjdM
                            mcdonnjd
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10:

                            It works fine with my Core2duo in there. Maybe the Quad core shifts some I/O resources or similar.  :-\

                            Steve

                            Just tried again with the original CPU and RAM and still getting this:

                            [2.1.3-RELEASE][root@pfSense.gorgarath.net]/root(2): /etc/rc.conf_mount_rw
                            [2.1.3-RELEASE][root@pfSense.gorgarath.net]/root(3): flashrom -r og-bios.rom
                            flashrom v0.9.5.2-r1515 on FreeBSD 8.3-RELEASE-p16 (i386), built with libpci 3.1.9, GCC 4.2.1 20070719  [FreeBSD], little endian
                            flashrom is free software, get the source code at http://www.flashrom.org
                            
                            Calibrating delay loop... OK.
                            Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R". Enabling flash write... OK.
                            No EEPROM/flash device found.
                            Note: flashrom can never write if the flash chip isn't found automatically.
                            
                            

                            On bootup, the console shows this: "MB-7580 Ver.WC0 02/03/2010". Does that match what yours shows?

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Yep:

                              AMIBIOS(C)2006 American Megatrends, Inc.
                              MB-7580 Ver.WC0 02/03/2010
                              Unlocked V1.8 SW
                              CPU : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E4500  @ 2.20GHz
                               Speed : 2.20 GHz
                              
                              Press DEL to run Setup (F4 on Remote Keyboard)
                              Press n if you want to boot from the network
                              Press F11 for BBS POPUP  (F3 on Remote Keyboard)
                              The MCH is operating with DDR2 800
                              DRAM Timing: Tcl:6/Tras:18/Trp:6/Trcd:6/Twr:6/Trfc:52/Twtr:3/Trrd:3/Trtp:3
                              Initializing USB Controllers .. Done.
                              
                              

                              Except of course I have modified the boot message.  ;)

                              Say for some reason the I/O addess of your chip has been shifted, that might mean that accessing it via the SPI header would work. Seems more likely it's a new IC variant that flashrom doesn't recognise though.

                              Steve

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • mcdonnjdM
                                mcdonnjd
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10:

                                Say for some reason the I/O addess of your chip has been shifted, that might mean that accessing it via the SPI header would work. Seems more likely it's a new IC variant that flashrom doesn't recognise though.

                                Steve

                                So, any luck getting FreeDOS to boot on the XTM5? lol I know it is working fine without unlocking the BIOS, but not being able to is really annoying and I'd prefer having full access to the hardware.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Nope. Just tried several images on several CF cards. I'm sure it worked fine when I first tried it. Hmm… :-\

                                  Steve

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • mcdonnjdM
                                    mcdonnjd
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10:

                                    Nope. Just tried several images on several CF cards. I'm sure it worked fine when I first tried it. Hmm… :-\

                                    Steve

                                    I've never tried using DOS (FreeDOS or otherwise) over a serial console, so I'm not even sure where to start in trying to get it to work. My searches on Google aren't giving much insight either. This is pretty standard x86 hardware, so it should work just fine, at least for the purposes of flashing the BIOS in DOS, but I've not had luck either, though I'm not sure I'm doing it right. Maybe I should try with a hard drive instead of CF card and see if I have better luck. If I format the drive to boot FreeDOS, I should be able to copy the files from the image over and have it work just fine. Assuming the box will boot it.

                                    Is my Cisco console cable going to work for this or will I need some sort of other null modem cable? Your image IIRC beeps when it finishes booting to the command prompt, so at the least, I should be able to get to that. If I can, I can probably script the autoexec to launch the utility to backup the BIOS and then reprogram the BIOS without having to actually have a working console. A bit risky doing low level stuff like that without any visual confirmation of what's going on, especially since it seems mine is different in that it won't flash from flashrom. Maybe I'll just have it backup the BIOS and then take a look at that BIOS file to see if it's different in any other ways. If I can get a backup of my BIOS, would you be willing to take a look at the resulting file? From what it looks like, it should be identical, but better safe than sorry. Or if you could point me to where to get the files for modifying it myself, I could take a look myself. Been a long time since I've tinkered with something like this. Was able to hot flash a BIOS chip last time I messed around with a BIOS so if I got it wrong, I could easily reprogram the BIOS back to default using another BIOS chip to boot it up. Wish I had the option on this board, would be a bit more comfortable.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      So the thing to know about the FreeDOS serial console is that it can only use hardware flow-control, it needs the additional wiring in the serial cable to work. In the X-e firebox that was true of the BIOS serial re-direct code but that was an older Award BIOS.
                                      https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Not_All_Null_Modem_Cables_are_Created_Equal.21
                                      It's possible the RJ45 console cable doesn't support hardware flow control which would explain why we aren't seeing anything. One possibility in that case would be to use the internal serial header for com2 with 9-pin socket and known cable.

                                      Running it blind is a possibility. A user in the X-e thread did that when they could find a cable that worked. I think they edited the autoexec.bat file to put in more beeps to know what stage it's at.

                                      Steve

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                                      • mcdonnjdM
                                        mcdonnjd
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10:

                                        So the thing to know about the FreeDOS serial console is that it can only use hardware flow-control, it needs the additional wiring in the serial cable to work. In the X-e firebox that was true of the BIOS serial re-direct code but that was an older Award BIOS.
                                        https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PfSense_on_Watchguard_Firebox#Not_All_Null_Modem_Cables_are_Created_Equal.21
                                        It's possible the RJ45 console cable doesn't support hardware flow control which would explain why we aren't seeing anything. One possibility in that case would be to use the internal serial header for com2 with 9-pin socket and known cable.

                                        Running it blind is a possibility. A user in the X-e thread did that when they could find a cable that worked. I think they edited the autoexec.bat file to put in more beeps to know what stage it's at.

                                        Steve

                                        I got a little further with this. While I was unable to get it to boot off the CF card, with the hard drive, I get to the point where the Watchguard will beep when it switches to the console. However, it doesn't get any further than that. I'm messing around with some RJ45 to serial adaptors, but I think I'm going to need to wire a special Cat5 connector for it to work. I forgot about the internal COM2 port… I think I might try that instead as I should have a serial port connected to a pin block laying around here somewhere. Think it would be easier than trying to figure out how the RJ45 port is wired to figure out what to connect to it.

                                        EDIT>>
                                        What settings in PuTTY are the required settings for hardware flow control? I can hook it up to an XP machine if needed and use hyperterm with it's hardware setting, but I prefer PuTTY/KiTTY over hyperterm if possible. XON/XOFF, RTS/CTS, and DSR/DTR are the flow control options, and XON/XOFF I believe is software and not hardware, so RTS/CTS or DSR/DTR are my options and I can try with both, but if you can let me know which is correct, it'll speed up the process. :)

                                        EDIT2>>
                                        OK, I'm assuming J13 is the serial port, however, for whatever reason, HP used 16 pin header blocks for their serial port B on the desktops I have in storage, so that's obviously not going to fit the 10 pin header block on this board. Unless that's USB and I might be able to get some sort of USB->serial adapter working in FreeDOS. (I do have USB ports on PCB designed to be used straight off of headers for internal USB connections.) Or if any of the pins not in blocks are for serial, I could try this as only 9 of these pins are actually connected, hopefully all in a row. (I tried looking for a manual or diagram for this motherboard and wasn't able to find one, so I'm not sure what any of the pinouts are for.)

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          That's a good question. I'm using Putty in Xubuntu but when I was first investigating the XTM5 I was using WinXP. The Linux version doesn't appear to offer DSR/DTR so maybe I used that.  :-\

                                          The manual for the FW-7581 also lists the com2 header J13, see pic.

                                          Steve

                                          com2J13.jpg
                                          com2J13.jpg_thumb

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                                          • mcdonnjdM
                                            mcdonnjd
                                            last edited by

                                            @stephenw10:

                                            That's a good question. I'm using Putty in Xubuntu but when I was first investigating the XTM5 I was using WinXP. The Linux version doesn't appear to offer DSR/DTR so maybe I used that.  :-\

                                            The manual for the FW-7581 also lists the com2 header J13, see pic.

                                            Steve

                                            Where are you finding the manual at? I tried searching their site but was only finding brochures and a data sheet that didn't include motherboard layout or anything.

                                            I'm going to dig through my stuff in the basement for a serial port with cable. Maybe take the one off my PIX hack job running pfSense on an upgraded P4, but I think that motherboard was from one of those HP machines as well. I have a feeling though, that if I have one still, which I most likely don't anymore, it'll be at my parents' house. Most of my old stuff that I had at their house has been tossed over time though.

                                            I'll let you know what I find, though I'm wondering if it would just be easier to automatically do it via the autoexec.

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