HELP! HELP! Watchguard x750e suddenly won't start any more
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Hi there,
My x750e suddenly stopped working and now I cannot start box at all. It switches on but with long beep sound in the beginning and that's all. Does anyone know what's wrong? I'm completely out of any connection (using Internet from the phone to write this), so any help of any ind will be appreciated. Best!!
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I'm running out of ideas (well, with the very little idea that I have with WatchGuard hardware). Does anyone know anything about those vary long beep at the startup? Tried replacing CPU and RAM, no joy yet. :(
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PuTTy in to the box and boot it up to see if BIOS is posting and/or any errors are displayed.
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Doesn't sound good.
One long beep like that indicates some sort of hardware error.
Do you get all the status LEDs lit internally? If not it's not passing the POST.Steve
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Nope, it's not passing the POST at all. Turned out to be a faulty memory slot, the one closer to the power supply. It's boots up fine with one memory strip (in the other slot) but the moment I put two, the long beeps starts and doesn't boot at all. Very tempted to ask if it's fixable (my guess is not). Best!
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Sometimes the plastic slot cracks near the ends where the thumb levers are. I have successfully used a few thin zip-ties around the base of the slot to squeeze the memory slot back together in the past, but I wouldn't recommend using this machine as a production system.
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Indeed, you may be able to repair it if you can locate the fault. However unless you have replaced the DIMM slot completely using professional surface mount re-working tools you can never have much confidence in it.
You can still put 1GB (at least) in the remaining slot which is more than enough for most things in pfSense.Steve
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I tried with a 2GB strip and it's passing the memory check with full 2GB. I'm using this for home but we are very much dependent on Internet at home, including a lot of office work. Just wondering, if I should still use that my main FW/Router.
On a separate note, according to the WG Firebox spec, there is Firewall throughput difference between x550e and x750e - how is possible, given the fact that they run on the same hardware. Is it still true even if I use pfSense? I have spare x550e and wondering if I sure use that as my main Router from now. Best!
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They were restricted in software under the Watchguard OS. The NICs only ran at 100Mbps for example on the X550e.
The hardware is identical so they perform exactly the same under pfSense.Steve
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First of all, I originally meant "Firewall throughput" (corrected in OP) and aren't x-core-e series (550e, 750e, 1250e) got Gigabit NICs?
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Yes, they are all identical and all the NICs are Gigabit.
However when running the Watchguard OS the NICs on the X550e were restricted to 100Mb in software in order to allow them to sell you the software upgrade.
Other things were also restricted which is why you see different numbers shown for them in the Watchguard documents.Steve
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aahhhh….... now it makes sense why there were that much of differences.
Anyway, I was wrong with the RAM size, jut noticed that it cannot actually read more than 1G. -
Sometimes the plastic slot cracks near the ends where the thumb levers are.
thanks fibrewire! The faulty slot came back into life. All I did pressed a little hard by the side. Looks like your trick did it well. Best!
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Nope! no use. It stopped working again :'(
You can still put 1GB (at least) in the remaining slot which is more than enough for most things in pfSense.
What about if I run squid - 1G should be okay?
Best! -
Nope! no use. It stopped working again :'(
As the slot warms up, it may relax into a non-working state - hence the zip tie "lasso" around the base of the slot. In one scenario the ram slot was mostly broken on the side next to the good ram slot - I resolved that one with a lollipop stick folded in half to provide pressure on the broken side of the slot supported against the good ram slot. You may be able to obtain the same result with a large binder clip that fits over the ram module and still has room for the lid to close :-\