Watchguard Firebox XTM 8 Series

stephenw10

Replied to your PM before I read this. ::)
I don't think anyone has got com2 to work yet, Angelkiller used a Nano+VGA image I think. However JimP rcently posted a possible method for changing com ports:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=76382.msg418066#msg418066

Steve

ScottMcNaught

Hey Guys,

I bought off eBay this item: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VGA-Graphics-Card-Bracket-Header-Cable-11pin-12P-Small-/150600480861?ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:AU:3160

It makes life so much easier. It works with both the XTM 5 and the XTM 8 series.
USB ports work on both devices. You can access the BIOS etc.

I bought another 4 of these today. My plan is to case-mod the chassis of all my boxes and permanently add this to the side of the box. Honestly, it is the best money I have ever spent.

XTM 8 works great out of the box with nano-bsd vga, and this vga header cable.

Cheers,
Scott

stephenw10

Thanks for the link. Good to know. :)

Steve

mcdonnjd

I'll have to keep this in mind for down the road. Don't really need VGA as the serial works rather well on the XTM 5, but always nice to have options.

Eams

I'm back!

I see there's been some good activity and progress on here with the XTM 8's now more readily available :)

I'm still stuck with my duff XTM 8 but I now want it working!

I tried various SPI programmers but got nowhere, is my only option to source a bios chip and replace my current one or is there an easier way?

Considering the bios chip is a SMD and therefore it will be very hard to remove/replace :(

Regards
Eamon

stephenw10

Welcome back! ;)
Perhaps you could remind us of your stuation, what have you tried so far. Did you ever try the '4 resistors' parallel port meathod? Have you tried any software other than flashrom?

Steve

Eams

Thanks :)

Ok so I flashed the Bios, it gave an error, I tried to reflash it back to normal but no joy, rebooted and now it's in an endless reboot loop without completing POST :(

I never did try the 4 resistor method, would this work do you think?

Unable to try any other software on the XTM 8 as it won't boot to a command prompt :(

Eamon

stephenw10

When I bricked my xtm5 the 4 resistors/parallel port connection was the only thing that worked. Though I only tried one other thing! I know when you first had trouble you tried various versions of flashrom, any of them show anything different?
Did you try anything other than flashrom via the SPI connector?

Steve

jimkisa

Eams thanks for this topic , it's really help me .

Eams

No Probs Jimkisa, - stephenw10 helped too :)

Ste,

Flashrom is what got it bricked, so since then I tried a couple of SPI programmers (BlackCat and some other one off ebay - has no name on it but it had good reviews on the net).

The software for both were pretty much garbage and I couldn't get anywhere with them.

Whats needed for the parallel port hack? I might as well give that a try!

Eamon

stephenw10

It's on the website I linked to:
http://rayer.ic.cz/elektro/spipgm.htm
Might have to use the way back machine. The site now seems to be behind some security. (Edit: looks legit. I forgot it's in Czech though!)

You need: a parallel port plug, 4 resistors, a cable/connector to connect to the SPI header and something to solder it together. Perhaps harder to find these days is anything with a parallel port on it to run flashrom. I happened to have an old laptop running FreeBSD 8.1 I was using for pfSense development that fitted the bill.

Steve

Eams

Thanks for the link Ste.

The security is just a Captcha form. Get past and the info is all there in Czech!

I did find this thou which looks to be the same http://write-code.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/parallel-port-spi-flash-programmer-and-unbrick-wm8650.html?m=1

I'll try and give that a go at the weekend.

I think my old laptop has a parallel port on it. If not I've deffo got one on a old Abit VP6 computer I have :)

Eamon

stephenw10

That's a good link. I didn't have to use the battery or capacitors since the XTM5 provides that in standby. I believe the XTM8 does too.
You can also try the SPIPGM program under Windows if flashrom doesn't work. :)

Steve

Eams

For information to help others, I've ~~attached~~ linked two handy pdf's from Lanner.

Motherboard Spec and Motherboard Layout with Pinouts in the user manual - these are for the Lanner FW-8750 which the XTM 8 is based on (doesn't include the SPI header).

Bear in mind WatchGuard changed/didn't include a few things e.g. COM1, Power Switch Header, Northbridge Fan Header, USB 2 Header, etc..

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0TOx6iNE-K4Rml0bmduRURuUDg&usp=sharing

Eamon

Eams

Ste,

I was experimenting with the BlackCat USB programmer I have and one combination of settings detected it was connected to a chip, however it didn't pull up the chip name/number as it is supposed to.

It did however suggest the exact addresses the chip requires for it's functions to read/write etc.. Writing the rom didn't work though :o

Having looked everywhere for the pdf I had of the SPI header pinouts, resulted in no joy. So I've ordered a SOIC Clip I can attach directly to the chip and to the BlackCat programmer, with a bit of luck I should be able to flash it that way.

The parallel port is still an option once I get the SOIC clip, if the BlackCat programmer is fruitless :)

Eamon

Eams

Ste,

I've built the 4 resistor parallel port SPI programmer.

SPIPGM gives back FF's when reading and no chip is identified. However it does ay that WH# (I think) needs to be pulled high.

Looking at the SST chip datasheet this looks like pin 3(WH#) needs to be connected to pin 8 (VDD) would that be right?

I'm using 100ohm resistors, but I see the same design but with 145ohm and 150ohm resistors do these need changing you think?

Eamon

stephenw10

I remember reading the datasheet for the chip in the XTM5 and thinking that I would need to pull some pins one way or the other but in the end I didn't need to. The circuitry provided on the board did enough. Reading back the write protect pin is not conneceted at all on the XTM5 but that didn't seem to be a problem. If you try to pull up the WP pin use a resistor to be safe.

The original developer uses 150Ohm resistors. The value is not critical, they must be sufficiently large that the parallel port doesn't try to sink or supply too much current and the voltages on the pins are able to be distinguished as logic high or low. I used two 150Ohm and two 160Ohm resistors because that's what I had. Going higher is less likely to cause problems as long as you're still orders of magnitude lower than the input/output impedance of the parallel port (which I don't know but is probably ~10KOhms ;)).

Steve

stephenw10

Forgot to mention it's important to keep the cable length as short as possible. Long cables can pickup interference and cause problems. My cable was as short as I could make it, ~15cm.

Steve

Eams

Thanks for the info Ste.

My lead is about 15cm long too!

Eamon

Eams

Ok, so I've been trying this out the parallel port hack over the last couple of weekends.

What I've discovered so far - the XTM8 doesn't seem to power the chip when it's in standby - SPIPGM reports chip as unknown.

When the PSU is fully off and the board it's in standby, SPIPGM reports the SST25VF016B chips as being detected but WH# needs to be set to high.

Having connected WP# (Pin3) to VCC (Pin8) and HLD# (Pin7) - still no joy in being able to erase/write to the chip - (in standby or off).

Looks like I have to go the full way and connect a battery and capacitor to complete the circuit as per http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EN9HFZFkT5Y/UCXczDe11mI/AAAAAAAAARY/64Wap6-FXBM/s1600/simple_diagram.jpg.

More fun and games!

Eamon