Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

revsie · Jan 18, 2018, 9:50 AM

Well, a little further.

The i3-4130 arrived and is installed, there were no errors and the system loaded up successfully, I haven't flashed pfSense yet so it loaded the Watchguard firmware. But good news is the processor runs fine.

Scorch95 · Jan 18, 2018, 11:59 PM

Did you add more ram or are you gonna stick with 4Gb?

revsie · Jan 19, 2018, 6:55 AM

Hi,

For now, stick with the 4GB, see how it all goes.

Scorch95 · Jan 22, 2018, 2:43 PM

Any luck?

revsie · Jan 23, 2018, 9:51 AM

Not yet I'm afraid, had a few car troubles which have taken over and I also start a new job soon so getting ready for that!

I will get back to you as soon as I can though, I really want to get this up and running.

revsie · Mar 2, 2018, 6:09 PM

Well, finally had time to look at this, so far so good.

I just backed up the 4GB compact flash card, wrote the 64-bit nano image to the CF card, put it back in the Firebox M400, started up and voila!

I can connect using the front com port and I can connect to the web GUI using port 1, 0 seems to be for the WAN, haven't finished setting it up but can confirm everything seems to be ok, very simple to setup with no issues so far. Will update when I have some more info.

dlucas46 · Mar 2, 2018, 7:08 PM

Can you install flashrom from the terminal and then make a copy of the bios please?

The exact instructions for doing so should be the same as for the xtm 5

Thanks

stephenw10 · Mar 3, 2018, 12:29 AM

If you try to use flashrom on the M400 you will see this:

BIOS_CNTL = 0x0a: BIOS Lock Enable: enabled, BIOS Write Enable: disabled
Warning: Setting Bios Control at 0xdc from 0x0a to 0x09 failed.
New value is 0x0a.

I highly recommend not using it! Or you too can spend some fun hours in the flashrom IRC room. ;)
In the end I powered it off and it booted back fine but…

afudos or the Intel fpt tool seem to work better.

I took several backups and got different checksums each time. Not a good sign.

Also worth noting that board has a jumper to enable write access to the ME section of the flash. Didn't seem to make any difference.

All that said I did mod the BIOS and flash it back (only the BIOS section) and it was successful. Enabled console redirect. Set the fans to a rational speed. Enabled Speedstep.
The result is still password protected, I've yet to find a way to clear the password. So even though you can see the POST via serial you cannot enter the setup. :(

Steve

dlucas46 · Mar 3, 2018, 3:59 PM

Great so it looks like watchguard really locked the bios down this time!

What limitations does the stock bios have?

stephenw10 · Mar 3, 2018, 7:12 PM

Other than the 3 things I changed it also has turbo mode disabled. Boot order is probably an issue too. I think it boots CF by default first though it does boot USB if CF is not present/not bootable.

Steve

dlucas46 · Mar 3, 2018, 8:54 PM

@stephenw10:

Other than the 3 things I changed it also has turbo mode disabled. Boot order is probably an issue too. I think it boots CF by default first though it does boot USB if CF is not present/not bootable.

Steve

Have you tried booting / installing from a SSD or other HDD?

stephenw10 · Mar 3, 2018, 10:58 PM

I did a full install to CF card, no swap and /var and /tmp moved to RAM. Works fine…for now at least. ;)

I imagine it would boot from SATA no problem, the BIOS is not configured to only boot from CF just to boot from that first. So if you break your install you will need to format the CF card in something else or re-install in something else (which is what I did).

Steve

iJay-XTM5 · Mar 27, 2018, 1:38 AM

@Steve, would you mind sharing details on bios flashing/slowing the fans down?

By a bit of luck, I will have a M400 headed my way in the near future. Are there any details on how to install pfsense on an M400? I have previously installed pfsense on an XTM525 via a CF card as well as externally with an SSD. I am planning to transplant the 120 GB sata drive from the XTM 525 to the M400.

I'd appreciate any help/pointers with the installation.
Thanks!

iJay-XTM5 · Mar 30, 2018, 4:43 PM

I would like tp reiterate my request for help with the M400 box. I recently took delivery of the M400 and need help with flashing the bios. I have read the XTM5 thread but unlike my XTM525, the M400 box does not seem to display the bios menu, via the console, during the boot process.
I am not sure how the go about dumping the bios to the CF card, unlocking the options and flashing it back again. I'd be grateful if someone could point me to the right thread/direction.
Many Thanks for your help!

Scorch95 · Apr 18, 2018, 3:14 PM

What have you tried and what errors, if any are you getting? I would recommend putting a Hdd/ssd into an external enclosure and load pfSense that way. Then drop it into the m400 and finish setup that way. Remove CF entirely and it should boot after it doesn’t find a CF. When dealing with equipment outside what most will spend in a rack piece you’ll find yourself the guinea pig sometimes and will have to blaze ahead and create a new path so speak when you run into trouble.

iJay-XTM5 · Apr 19, 2018, 1:33 AM

@Scorch95, I have not installed pfsense in the M400 box yet but I do have a working SSD installation which was working flawlessly in an XTM525 box. So far I have only booted the M400 with stock Watchguard firmware while I monitored the console output. The fans on this box appear to be equally noisy if not more than the XTM5 and I was hoping I would get the fans and bios fixed when I transplant the SSD into this box. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find instructions on how to patch the bios and am stuck for now.
I have recently ordered an IDC12 connector to make a VGA monitor cable, so I can boot DOS. Hopefully I can use afu and get a copy of the bios to patch. I am not an expert at this and would rather prefer somebody smarter than me give me directions. I am willing to be the beta tester! At some point in the future I would also like to update the processor to an i3 which does AES-NI as the Celeron in the box currently is not able to execute AES-NI instructions.
Will post details when I get DOS going.

Scorch95 · Apr 21, 2018, 1:36 AM

I would go ahead and drop an ssd in with pfsense loaded and get it up and running before worrying about the other stuff. You can always look to replace the fans with quieter ones. Look for a used i3-4130 and you’ll be good

iJay-XTM5 · Apr 21, 2018, 9:11 PM

It appears the M400 bios has been configured to boot only from the CF card. I transplanted a working SSD installation that has previously worked flawlessly in an XTM525 and the M400 would not boot. I did a fresh reinstall of pfsense on the SSD using another PC and plopped it into the M400, just as I had previously done with the XTM525, and the M400 refuses to boot.
I also tried switching from the SATA 4 to SATA 2 port but no luck. If anybody's gotten the M400 to boot off an SSD, I'd like your input on what I am doing wrong. I have a 120 GB HP SSD by the way. I do not have access to a CF card reader and will try booting off a CF card after I find one.
Thanks for your help!

iJay-XTM5 · Apr 21, 2018, 11:22 PM

I managed to get the VGA port connected and the M400 is definitely not interested in booting anything other than the CF card. Here's the message the VGA screen displays:

Reboot and select proper Boot device
or InserBoot Media in Selected Boot device and press a key

Next step is to find a CF card reader

stephenw10 · Oct 11, 2018, 1:22 AM

Yeah, I couldn't make it boot USB. It should boot CF or SATA if CF is not present. So you should be able to write the install image to CF, boot from it and install to SATA and then boot from that after pulling the CF card.

Or you can install to CF in something else and swap it into the m400.

Steve