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    Watchguard XTM 5 Series

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • D
      DeLorean
      last edited by

      @chpalmer:

      @dhoffman98:

      Ok… so the bios can't be flashed with a utility run from the OS? (Like AWDflash)?

      Not true.  Ive used AWDflash every time.

      Use a command window via com port or SSH.

      Enter these commands one at a time from the console.  ( selection 8 )

      pkg

      pkg install flashrom

      rehash

      cd tmp

      fetch https://sites.google.com/site/pfsensefirebox/home/xtm5_83.rom

      md5 xtm5_83.rom

      flashrom -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal

      This of course assumes you have pfSense already up and running on the box which is possible without ever touching the BIOS settings.    :)

      Can these commands also be done trough the Web UI and go to Diagnostics -> Command prompt ?

      Grtz
      DeLorean

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

        @DeLorean:

        Can these commands also be done trough the Web UI and go to Diagnostics -> Command prompt ?

        Maybe but I would not want to. If it asks you to hit 'y' to continue for example the GUI page will just hang. You would have to be sure it won't.

        Just use SSH instead. I'd prefer that over the serial console that can sometimes show odd characters etc which you don't want when you're flashing the BIOS!

        Steve

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        • D
          DeLorean
          last edited by

          @stephenw10:

          @DeLorean:

          Can these commands also be done trough the Web UI and go to Diagnostics -> Command prompt ?

          Maybe but I would not want to. If it asks you to hit 'y' to continue for example the GUI page will just hang. You would have to be sure it won't.

          Just use SSH instead. I'd prefer that over the serial console that can sometimes show odd characters etc which you don't want when you're flashing the BIOS!

          Steve

          Thx, i shall try SSH.
          Any idea of the Nano programmer in my previous post could work ?
          That way, the BIOS can be flashed "offline" with the firewall off, and with the powercord connected to the firewall,
          so that the BIOS chip is already powered up.
          This method (if it works) can then also be used to recover from a bad BIOS update.

          Grtz
          DeLorean

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

            Looks like it might potentially but I'd have to research it. You'd need some sort of adapter cable, looks like it's designed to flash SPI chips that are removable.

            Steve

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              I had a chance to re-visit my code that controls over the weekend and unfortunately I had not simply omitted the CPU fan register.

              For some reason, even though the superio chip has control for 3 fans built in, the CPU fans are controlled by another chip which is only accessible via SMBus. Outside my coding skills at this point.  ::)

              Steve

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              • D
                DeLorean
                last edited by

                @stephenw10:

                Looks like it might potentially but I'd have to research it. You'd need some sort of adapter cable, looks like it's designed to flash SPI chips that are removable.

                Steve

                I have ordered a so-called SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clip socket adapter :
                http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/SOIC8-SOP8-Flash-Chip-IC-Test-Clip-socket-adapter-BIOS-24-25-93-Programmer-93C46-/162448341653?var=&hash=item25d2acfa95ⓂmcsHYzReWIaiehW6J_jJUCg
                Normally this wil fit the Nano programmer that i have.
                I let you know if it worked when it arrived (normally within a couple days).

                Grtz
                DeLorean

                ![SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clip socket adapter.JPG](/public/imported_attachments/1/SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clip socket adapter.JPG)
                ![SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clip socket adapter.JPG_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/SOIC8 SOP8 Flash Chip IC Test Clip socket adapter.JPG_thumb)

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                • D
                  dhoffman98
                  last edited by

                  I'm thinking about upgrading the memory on my XTM 535.

                  What is the max it can take, and does it have to be done in pairs? I currently have two 1gb sticks.

                  I'm finding that buying 2 4GB sticks is much cheaper than 2 2GB sticks, and one 8GB stick would be just a little more.

                  So the first question is, "what are my options for upgrading?"

                  And the second question, "What is the benefit of upgrading?" (In other words, would it make any difference or just be a waste of money?)

                  I have a fairly small network, about 30 machines, and then guests/visitors that could be sometimes another 40-50 devices.
                  I am thinking about using Snort and Squid. Install is on a 2.5" hard drive with plenty of space (had a spare 500gb drive laying around) so that would be used for the Squid cache.

                  So do I want more memory? Do I need more memory? Or is 2gb sufficient?

                  Thank you.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • D
                    DeLorean
                    last edited by

                    For normal use is 2Gb RAM more then enough.
                    For running Squid and/or Snort, i recommend 4Gb RAM and a faster cpu, if that's not already happend.
                    Also, the speed of the RAM is important, it must be a least 667Mhz, lower will not work.
                    I use always 800Mhz RAM, same speed as the RAM that came with this type of XTM5.

                    Grtz
                    DeLorean

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                    • D
                      dhoffman98
                      last edited by

                      OK, so I need to verify something with flashing my BIOS because something didn't work (and thankfully didn't do anything to the box).

                      I'm going to put as much information here that I hope might be helpful.

                      Command "flashrom –programmer internal" returned:

                      flashrom v0.9.9-r1955 on FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p19 (amd64)
                      flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://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) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff00000.
                      No operations were specified.

                      Then I ran "flashrom -V -r –programmer internal".
                      It comes back with a bunch of info. I trimmed what you see below to the lines I think might be the most important.

                      Initializing internal programmer
                      No coreboot table found.
                      Using Internal DMI decoder.
                      DMI string chassis-type: "Desktop"
                      DMI string system-manufacturer: "To Be Filled By O.E.M."
                      DMI string system-product-name: "To Be Filled By O.E.M."
                      DMI string system-version: "To Be Filled By O.E.M."
                      DMI string baseboard-manufacturer: "To be filled by O.E.M."
                      DMI string baseboard-product-name: "To be filled by O.E.M."
                      DMI string baseboard-version: "To be filled by O.E.M."
                      Found Winbond Super I/O, id 0x82
                      Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R" with PCI ID 8086:27b8.
                      Enabling flash write… Root Complex Register Block address = 0xfed1c000
                      GCS = 0x810460: BIOS Interface Lock-Down: disabled, Boot BIOS Straps: 0x1 (SPI)
                      Top Swap: not enabled
                      ...
                      Maximum FWH chip size: 0x100000 bytes
                      SPI Read Configuration: prefetching disabled, caching enabled,
                      BIOS_CNTL = 0x01: BIOS Lock Enable: disabled, BIOS Write Enable: enabled
                      SPIBAR = 0x00000008007c5000 + 0x3020
                      ...
                      The following protocols are supported: FWH, SPI.
                      ...
                      Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI).
                      Reading flash... done.

                      I tried the following command to flash (adding the -V for verbose output): "flashrom -V -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal"

                      Enabling flash write… Root Complex Register Block address = 0xfed1c000
                      GCS = 0x810460: BIOS Interface Lock-Down: disabled, Boot BIOS Straps: 0x1 (SPI)
                      ...
                      Maximum FWH chip size: 0x100000 bytes
                      SPI Read Configuration: prefetching disabled, caching enabled,
                      BIOS_CNTL = 0x01: BIOS Lock Enable: disabled, BIOS Write Enable: enabled
                      ...
                      Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff00000.
                      Chip status register is 0x00.
                      Chip status register: Status Register Write Disable (SRWD, SRP, ...) is not set
                      Chip status register: Bit 6 is not set
                      Chip status register: Block Protect 3 (BP3) is not set
                      Chip status register: Block Protect 2 (BP2) is not set
                      Chip status register: Block Protect 1 (BP1) is not set
                      Chip status register: Block Protect 0 (BP0) is not set
                      Chip status register: Write Enable Latch (WEL) is not set
                      Chip status register: Write In Progress (WIP/BUSY) is not set
                      ...
                      Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI).
                      Flash image seems to be a legacy BIOS. Disabling coreboot-related checks.
                      Reading old flash chip contents... done.
                      Erasing and writing flash chip... Trying erase function 0... 0x000000-0x00ffff:S, 0x010000-0x01ffff:S, 0x020000-0x02ffff:S, 0x030000-0x03ffff:S, 0x040000-0x04ffff:S, 0x050000-0x05ffff:S, 0x060000-0x06ffff:S, 0x070000-0x07ffff:S, 0x080000-0x08ffff:S, 0x090000-0x09ffff:S, 0x0a0000-0x0affff:S, 0x0b0000-0x0bffff:S, 0x0c0000-0x0cffff:S, 0x0d0000-0x0dffff:E, 0x0e0000-0x0effff:S, 0x0f0000-0x0fffff:S
                      Erase/write done.
                      Verifying flash... VERIFIED.
                      Restoring MMIO space at 0x8007c8070
                      Restoring MMIO space at 0x8007c807c
                      Restoring MMIO space at 0x8007c8078
                      Restoring MMIO space at 0x8007c8076
                      Restoring MMIO space at 0x8007c8074
                      Restoring PCI config space for 00:1f:0 reg 0xdc

                      Finally, when running the command to verify the image: "flashrom -v xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal"

                      flashrom v0.9.9-r1955 on FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE-p19 (amd64)
                      flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://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) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff00000.
                      Reading old flash chip contents... done.
                      Verifying flash... VERIFIED.

                      So…. the way I'm seeing it, it supposedly flashed the chip.
                      But then I shut the system down, and then power on again.
                      I get to a shell and again run: "flashrom -v xtm5_83.rom --programmer internal"

                      This time, I get this:

                      Calibrating delay loop… OK.
                      Found chipset "Intel ICH7/ICH7R".
                      Enabling flash write... OK.
                      Found Micron/Numonyx/ST flash chip "M25P80" (1024 kB, SPI) mapped at physical address 0x00000000fff00000.
                      Reading old flash chip contents... done.
                      Verifying flash... FAILED at 0x000dc000! Expected=0xff, Found=0x05, failed byte count from 0x00000000-0x000fffff: 0x113

                      And when I go back into the BIOS next time, everything is still the same, and everything is locked except for date and time.

                      I'm open to suggestions.
                      Did I miss a step?
                      Did I use the wrong commands?
                      Did I use the wrong file?

                      Thanks in advance.

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Looks like you didn't actually run the write command so it never wrote the file to the flash.

                        Steve

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                        • D
                          dhoffman98
                          last edited by

                          Is this the proper command to write the file?

                          flashrom -V -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • chpalmerC
                            chpalmer
                            last edited by

                            @dhoffman98:

                            Is this the proper command to write the file?

                            flashrom -V -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal

                            Ive never used the -v switch but my guess is it should go after the write switch if your going to use it.

                            flashrom -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal -v  or

                            flashrom -w -v xtm5_83.rom --programmer internal

                            Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                            Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • chpalmerC
                              chpalmer
                              last edited by

                              pkg

                              pkg install flashrom

                              rehash

                              cd tmp

                              fetch https://sites.google.com/site/pfsensefirebox/home/xtm5_83.rom

                              md5 xtm5_83.rom

                              flashrom -w xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal

                              needs a little bit of updating for the 2.4 branch.

                              ;)

                              Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                              Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • D
                                dhoffman98
                                last edited by

                                Add to those instructions to pull the battery for a while after flashing. That was my problem, I had been writing the flash file, and it said it was verified, but after reboot, still locked out. Pulled the battery for 10 minutes, put it back, booted up and all is good now.

                                So now I have my BIOS flashed.
                                I have LCDProc working great.

                                Memory. I have two 1GB sticks on board now.
                                Considering some of what I've been reading about 2.4 and using ZFS file systems, it looks like creating a RAM disk is a good idea.
                                I believe someone on here posted that they have gone up to 8GB with no issues. Assuming that's 2x4GB… What else are the specs for RAM?
                                DDR2
                                800MHz
                                PC2-6400 ? Is that correct ?
                                240 pins

                                What else do I want to do before I make this "production-ready"?

                                Suggestions? Favorite add-on packages (already have Shellcmd and LCDProc).

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • D
                                  dhoffman98
                                  last edited by

                                  @chpalmer:

                                  flashrom -w -v xtm5_83.rom –programmer internal

                                  That one won't work. The file name has to be after the -w.

                                  Turns out mine was working… I just needed to pull the battery while powered off and when I brought it back up, the new BIOS was running.

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                                  • chpalmerC
                                    chpalmer
                                    last edited by

                                    @dhoffman98:

                                    That one won't work. The file name has to be after the -w.

                                    Turns out mine was working… I just needed to pull the battery while powered off and when I brought it back up, the new BIOS was running.

                                    What- you didn't read through the 20,000 plus pages to find out you need to pull the battery??  :o ;D

                                    We tend to take things for granted sometimes and forget to mention that.  :P

                                    Glad ya made it work!

                                    :)

                                    Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                                    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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                                    • chpalmerC
                                      chpalmer
                                      last edited by

                                      @dhoffman98:

                                      Memory. I have two 1GB sticks on board now.
                                      Considering some of what I've been reading about 2.4 and using ZFS file systems, it looks like creating a RAM disk is a good idea.
                                      I believe someone on here posted that they have gone up to 8GB with no issues. Assuming that's 2x4GB… What else are the specs for RAM?
                                      DDR2
                                      800MHz
                                      PC2-6400 ? Is that correct ?
                                      240 pins

                                      Im running 4GB ram here and a 120GB hard drive.  Cannot speak whether the board will handle 8GB or not..

                                      Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                                      Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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                                      • ?
                                        A Former User
                                        last edited by

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          You have to extract the modules from the bios then search through it for the string that's sent to the LCD and edit it in hex. It's been a while since I did it I don't recall exactly which module it's in.

                                          Steve

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                                          • ?
                                            A Former User
                                            last edited by

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