WatchGuard Firebox XTM505 pfsense conversion - what to do next?

transmitlikeadataman

Re question 2:
Yes it booted off the SATA HDD no BIOD modding required. I simply installed pfSense using an old laptop and selected standard kernel as the last option.

Also to add, the settings backup from Nano BSD and restore to to the full install BSD worked without issue. The packages were shown in the menus but failed. After installing the packages all worked as previously (in terms of settings).

Re question 1:
Can anyone share any preferences to RAM chips? There are loads on eBay that say only AMD compatible, so presume given this is an intel setup I cant choose those - although I would like to as they arent as high so I know they would fit in the case without issue.

Thanks.

stephenw10

As far as I know any DDR2 DIMMs should work as long as they are rated fast enough. The chipset should support 8GB but one user reports 2x4GB failed to boot:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=43574.msg413569;topicseen#msg413569

RAM is not normally specified as AMD or Intel specific, do you have a link?

Steve

transmitlikeadataman

Hi Steve,

example link shown:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-8GB-4X2GB-DDR2-800Mhz-PC2-6400U-240pin-Dimm-Memory-Ram-Fit-AMD-Motherboard-/141233430289?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_MemoryRAM_JN&hash=item20e22b1f11

It talks of it being high density ram only compatible with AMD. I've just bought some hynix RAM off eBay (2X2GB). Waiting for the E4500 CPU, thermal paste ans SATA caddy to arrive and going to do it all in one hit.

My setup is still very hot though, 57C on idle. Admittedly its in a cupboard, but I've built an in line extract fan into the cupboard (sucking hot air out).

stephenw10

Hmm, odd. I've never seen that before and it doesn't make much sense to me. The DDR2 standard is not platform specific. Anything that claims to only work in specific boards is probably best avoided I would think. At the very least you wouldn't be able to return it if it didn't work.

57C doesn't seem too hot to me though it is a lot hotter than my box runs. What's the ambient temperature in the cupboard? Do you have the fans run as the default temperature target?

Steve

transmitlikeadataman

Hi Steve,

I ended up purchasing some "hynix" branded ram that matched brands with that of my stock XTM505. 4gb works no problem. I've also swapped the CPU for an E4500 with some Cooler Master copper paste. Current idle temps are about 39-40C with no other environmental changes.

The Bios is currently stock - next on the list to modify to get the fan speed up! Cupboard temps are around 24C, but the main heat i believe comes from a Netgear GS748T switch - that thing gets hot for no reason!

stephenw10

Hmm, my test XTM5 here idles at about 30C in a ~20C ambient. That's with the modyfied bios but the fan speeds and target temperatures set as standard. I wouldn't worry too much those temps are well within the limts.

Steve

uknownme123

In my experience, I ran into some memory that would not work. Those specified as for AMD only will not work, they are high density. Only the low density DDR2 will work. I did some research a few years back, and I think it had something to do with AMD cpus at this time had the memory controllers on the CPU, while Intel CPUs depended on motherboard chipsets to control the memory. AMD therefore had a wider range of RAM compatibility. As a result the low density, high capacity DDR2 are more rare to find and cost more.

Comfirmed DDR2-400, DDR2-533, are too slow and will not work. DDR2-667,not sure
Confirmed DDR2-800, DDR2-1066 works

Regarding the temperature you see on these XTM5/8. It relies on coretemp software in pfSense. Years ago I found out that when coretemp was compiled for pfSense the range temperature were base on 0 to 100C. This really messed up the range for CPU's who max temp (Tcase) were below 100C, which included a lot of the server CPU. I don't think this ever got fixed in pfSense, its a minor bug, basically the temperature scaling is off. I'm using Intel L4520, and the bios temps is usually 10~15*C lower than coretemp.

I'm no expert, hopefully someone can confirm or deny this information.

stephenw10

Indeed the actual figure reported by the driver is the offset value from TJMAX and that value is often incorrect for the CPU resulting in a constant offset from the real temperature.

You can find out what value it thinks TJMAX is:

[2.3.2-RELEASE][root@xtm5.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 29.0C
dev.cpu.0.coretemp.throttle_log: 0
dev.cpu.0.coretemp.tjmax: 85.0C
dev.cpu.0.coretemp.resolution: 1
dev.cpu.0.coretemp.delta: 56
dev.cpu.0.cx_usage: 100.00% last 475us
dev.cpu.0.cx_lowest: C1
dev.cpu.0.cx_supported: C1/1/0
dev.cpu.0.%parent: acpi0
dev.cpu.0.%pnpinfo: _HID=none _UID=0
dev.cpu.0.%location: handle=\_PR_.P001
dev.cpu.0.%driver: cpu
dev.cpu.0.%desc: ACPI CPU

The indicated temperature is tjmax - delta.

There are some values hardcoded into the driver and others are read from an MSR if it's available. I don't believe there's any way of changing that other than recompiling the driver with different values.
https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/release/10.3.0/sys/dev/coretemp/coretemp.c?revision=297553&view=markup

Steve

chpalmer

Only to add here- this box is capable of the 64bit build if your not already doing so..

:)

stephenw10

Indeed and you should switch now if you're still running 32bit before it becomes an issue. 2.4 is still beta….. for now.

Steve