Watchguard XTM 5 Series

TraderX · May 21, 2018, 3:19 AM

I've removed cleaned and repasted the E8400 proc with similar bios temps
but guessing that is secondary at this stage.

the second box runs at 45dec Celsius so will look at first box temps

Swapped out ram, hdd, switched sata ports, replaced drive, removed partitions but cf card with image above still
wont boot BUT can confirm both boxes boot and work from nana image using etcher which
confirmed was burned sucessfully.

Downloaded last image from pfsense NY USA site where first image was pfsense asia

Will try 2.35 serial amd64 installer but doesnt seem likely will work given 2.43 is stable

Running out of idea of than that?

EDIT: sigh 2.35 did start and installed to hdd so back to troubleshooting why 2.43 wont install on my XTM530?

stephenw10 · May 21, 2018, 1:52 PM

Did you verify the file checksum?

Allow Etcher to extract the file? (write the img.gz file directly).

I have done exactly that on my box here and it worked fine.

You can always just update from 2.3.5.

Steve

TraderX · May 22, 2018, 12:26 AM

didnt know etcher could extract the img.gz file but great feature.

In hindsight may have well been a checksum error, as again downloaded 2.43
serial from another pfsense site and it installed last night.

We learn the most "doing" through our own and other peoples experiences so
thanks so much Steve and hope others will benefit from this.

TraderX · May 22, 2018, 12:37 AM

Next ;) would like to unlock the bios with added features, from your experience which is the
latest safe image I could upgrade too?

And the cpu fans are definitely spinning up high then slows which I repasted the cpu heatsink, what else could
be causing the high temps. The heatsink sheild are warm to hot so transfer seems effective.

stephenw10 · May 30, 2018, 8:50 AM

I think either of the two images linked in this thread should be fine. I've only tested the one I modified. Quite a few people have flashed that now and I haven't had any reports of failure.

t-rexky's bios includes the modified DSDT table if you have one of the CPUs he's using.

Flashing the BIOS is inherently risky. You have been warned etc!

Steve

TraderX · May 30, 2018, 8:50 AM

Thanks Steve.

I'm guessing the failure rate when flashing is very low, much the same as a pc motherboard
as you say noone has reported failure?

Did I recall seeing someone or you sucessfully recovering a bricked unit with with some hardware
or replacing the bios chip but again guessing its surface mounted

stephenw10 · May 31, 2018, 12:17 AM

Yeah, I bricked mine a few times using an older bios editing program that had glitchy results. I recovered it using 4 resistors and a parallel port cable. I don't think I have anything with a parallel port that still work though.

The actual images available now

Steve

diesel678 · Aug 9, 2018, 6:36 PM

@stephenw10 Hmm.. I tried again upgrading from 2.4.1 to 2.4.3_1 and again after the update it will not boot anymore. It just gets stuck on this screen and will not boot into pfsense anymore with no console output. As it seems i can't update to 2.4.3, but 2.4.2 works fine, do you know a way to just update to 2.4.2 and not to a later version?

chpalmer · Aug 9, 2018, 10:43 PM

@diesel678 said in Watchguard XTM 5 Series:

2.4.3_1

Ive been on 2.4.3_1 here since it was released.. What happens if you console into it?

diesel678 · Aug 10, 2018, 10:04 AM

@chpalmer I can't console into it because pfsense will not boot. So there is no console output. Did you upgrade to 2.4.3_1 from 2.4.1, or did you install 2.4.3_1 straight from the start with no upgrading?

diesel678 · Aug 10, 2018, 1:05 PM

@diesel678 I tried just booting from a new install of 2.4.3 too. It boots into PFsense fine on a new install on 2.4.3, but when i try to upgrade to 2.4.3_1 it breaks again and will not boot anymore. PFsense does not boot and there is no console output except the POST info at boot. Are you using the stock bios? do i need to flash the bios?

chpalmer · Aug 10, 2018, 4:52 PM

Im using a modified BIOS. But I did get pfsense running first back when I did it.

If you can read German or use Google translate a little.. I saved this page a while back and now host it for my own benefit.. http://airsignalinfrastructure.com/

Original but not working right now.. - http://www.triebwerk23.de/joomla/index.php/firewalls/watchguard-xtm-5-xtm-505-515-525-545-pfsense-64-bit

Maybe there is something there that helps.

stephenw10 · Aug 12, 2018, 12:00 PM

The BIOS modifications should make no difference there.

Have you tried a 2.4.4 snapshot? https://www.pfsense.org/snapshots/

Steve

TraderX · Aug 15, 2018, 6:47 AM

Seems like I'm locked out of my 5 series running 2.43.1 yet again on admin and second account for some reason!!!

Though thats not my main reaspon for posting as I cant seem to see the boot menu option for single use mode using this guide to reset my password.
https://www.netgate.com/docs/pfsense/usermanager/locked-out-of-the-webgui.html

Pfsense seems to be working as I get the webgui login that I cant login but when at the console on cold boot I see the bios startup the disk confirmed at bios the green cursor flashing spinning jumping all over screen finally get the login prompt and again credentials fail.

So I thought I may have changed the colour font or terminal setting but to no success can get it working again.

I've been successfully using the box for 3mths now, using putty serial with usb2rj45 console cable which using 115200,8,1,none

Seems like a terminal or display issue but strange thing is (maybe red herring) but it did show the boot menu on 1 or 2 occasions

stephenw10 · Aug 15, 2018, 2:58 PM

You can interrupt the boot loader and enter boot -s to reach single user mode too. That also requires a functioning console though.

Steve

TraderX · Aug 15, 2018, 10:27 PM

So what are my option then ;(

I have backup up but guess I cant restore that either only rebuild the box ;(((

Could I have set the wrong emulation or colour in putty?

thanks steve

diesel678 · Aug 17, 2018, 12:49 PM

@stephenw10 The 2.4.4 snapshot boots and works fine. Seems like only when i do upgrades does it break

stephenw10 · Aug 20, 2018, 5:05 PM

So it fails again updating between 2.4.4 snapshots?

Very odd if so. With nothing after the BIOS like that it seems like it's using completely the wrong console. But it should be the default serial console there.
It's hard to imagine what might be changing there at upgrade.

Steve

Fffrank · Sep 9, 2018, 7:12 PM

I'm a complete newbie to PFSense but jumped in with both feet on a Watchguard XTM. I got everything up and running (eventually) but my hardware has been crazy unstable. I can't find anything in PFSense logs but I did record this console output as it was crashing. Anyone offer any insight?

https://pastebin.com/K5p3TeD8

chpalmer · Sep 9, 2018, 7:40 PM

@fffrank said in Watchguard XTM 5 Series:

Anyone offer any insight?

https://pastebin.com/K5p3TeD8

My guess is that its going to be hardware related. (especially since I have a few of these out there working flawlessly as do others) First thing is to clean it.. Then re-seat everything you can.. CPU, memory.. ect.. You will need some heat sink compound to do the CPU.

Are you using a CF card or hard drive? Or..?