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    Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

    Hardware
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      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

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      • D
        dlucas46
        last edited by

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

        What limitations does the stock bios have?

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          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

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          • D
            dlucas46
            last edited by

            @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?

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              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

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              • I
                iJay-XTM5
                last edited by

                @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!

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                • I
                  iJay-XTM5
                  last edited by

                  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!

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                  • S
                    Scorch95
                    last edited by

                    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.

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                    • I
                      iJay-XTM5
                      last edited by

                      @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.

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                      • S
                        Scorch95
                        last edited by

                        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

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                        • I
                          iJay-XTM5
                          last edited by

                          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!

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                          • I
                            iJay-XTM5
                            last edited by

                            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

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              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

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                              • I
                                iJay-XTM5
                                last edited by

                                Thanks Steve, I was able to successfully install pfsense by booting with the CF and installing to SSD.

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                                • T
                                  Testing
                                  last edited by

                                  Hello,

                                  I have got an Firebox M500 with 4370T CPU. it boots fine in the original software, but won't install pfsense or opnsense.
                                  The error I get is: usr/local/bin/cpdup -vvv -I -o
                                  When I search on internet I find it has something to do with not enough RAM, but mine has 8gb ECC memory.
                                  How did you install it?

                                  Thanks in advance!

                                  ADDED: I can boot CF with opnsense or pfsense. I can run installer, but both installers(and both manually and auto) give this error.

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    It might have bad RAM. That's not the standard CPU, is it the factory RAM?

                                    Can we see a screenshot of the actual error you see?

                                    Can you boot and run a Nano image as a test?:
                                    https://nyifiles.pfsense.org/mirror/downloads/pfSense-CE-2.3.5-RELEASE-2g-amd64-nanobsd.img.gz

                                    Steve

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                                      Testing
                                      last edited by

                                      Ram during start of opnsense and pfsense: both show 8120mb present and usable.
                                      Ram is factory standard, box wasn't opened until I replaced CPU. Box worked fine with factory OS.
                                      After replacing the CPU(for AES-NI support), box still worked fine with factory OS.

                                      Now I tried to install pfsense and because of error, also opnsense. Both halt at exactly the same command.

                                      I have removed Dimm0, box gives error during installation.
                                      I have removed Dimm1, box gives error during installation.

                                      Tried the Nano image: box works fine.

                                      Saw on internet that opnsense and pfsense updated to freebsd 11.1 and that gives errors.

                                      Maybe I will try installation of older pfsense/opnsense?  Or maybe more ideas? I will post picture of error tomorrow.

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        You're booting the installer on a CF card and installing to hard drive? Is the drive standard in the m500 or something you added?

                                        Personally I installed to a CF card in another box and then moved it across into the m400 I have. Never had any issues.

                                        You might try a 2.4.4 snapshot. If it's a known FreeBSD bug it might have been fixed in 11.2:
                                        https://www.pfsense.org/snapshots/

                                        Steve

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                                          Testing
                                          last edited by

                                          Drive is not standard in m500, m500 is the same as m400 only with 8gb ecc memory instead of 4gb. I added a 120gb ssd, works fine in notebook. Also it receives some files, but not all(stops at the error).

                                          Thanks for your suggestion! Will try that tomorrow.

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                                          • T
                                            Testing
                                            last edited by

                                            Tried version 2.4.x(newest)=>error
                                            Tried version 2.3.x(newest)=>error

                                            Error message is different on opnsense vs pfsense.
                                            Pfsense: CAM status: Uncorrecatable parity/CRC error
                                            It keeps retrying a couple of times and then gives up.

                                            Which sata port did you use?

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