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    Watchguard XTM 5 Series

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • chpalmerC
      chpalmer
      last edited by chpalmer

      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.

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

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        The BIOS modifications should make no difference there.

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

        Steve

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        • T
          TraderX
          last edited by

          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

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

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

            Steve

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            • T
              TraderX @stephenw10
              last edited by

              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

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              • D
                diesel678 @stephenw10
                last edited by

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

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                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  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

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                  • F
                    Fffrank
                    last edited by

                    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

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

                      @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..?

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

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                      • F
                        Fffrank @chpalmer
                        last edited by

                        @chpalmer It just came in from ebay last week. I opened it up and cleaned it, upgraded the processor and ram. It's running off of a 30gb SSD.

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                        • F
                          Fffrank
                          last edited by

                          One more thought: I don't have the right serial cable to initialize my switch so I've been using all 5 of the XTMs ethernet interfaces bridged. Could this be causing the problem? It seems MUCH more stable with only 1 lan port connected.

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                          • F
                            Fffrank
                            last edited by

                            Seems to definitely be related to the drive. I've got errors and if I run a full smart scan it crashes it every time. It's a generic 30gb SSD. I had another one so I tried to install on that and had the same issues.

                            The only other drives I had on hand were a first generation SATA 36gb WD Raptor and a very old 60gb SATA drive that I peeled out of a MacBook. Neither of them would boot no matter what bios options I tried.

                            I'm going to purchase a new HD and try again, any recommendations? Should I stick with an SSD or is a traditional drive better?

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by

                              Yeah those errors all look drive related.
                              I have seen some really weird stuff with a bad SATA cable, I'd swap that out if you haven't already.

                              As a test you can install to CF. The size will be limiting but it will prove the rest of the hardware. Be sure to remove the SWAP slice during the install and move /var and /tmp to RAM drives after the initial setup to limit writes to the flash if you do.

                              Steve

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                              • F
                                Fffrank
                                last edited by

                                My problems have gone from bad to worse. I still can't boot from a SATA drive.... in fact, now I can't boot at all. The bios boot sequence comes up and I can get into the BIOS setup menus but it will never proceed past that. Even with no USB or SATA hooked up. Even with USB/SATA disabled.... it POSTS but then it just freezes up. No lights blink and it never proceeds to look for boot medium.

                                Is it bricked?!

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Hmm, doesn't sound good. Does it show any devices in the boot selection in the BIOS?

                                  Try booting a Nano image written to a CF card if you can. The default settings will try to boot that.

                                  Steve

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                                  • F
                                    Fffrank
                                    last edited by

                                    Yes, it shows the hdd in the BIOS. It also recognizes both the USB and the hdd and lists them during bootup.... And then it just stops. It never seems to get to the point of looking for boot media. No dice on the CF, either.

                                    In fact, even with USB and IDE disabled and no CF card installed..... I don't get an error message. It boots, runs the memory test, and stops.

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                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Hmm, the Nano image should definitely boot since there are no install options. How did you write it to the card?

                                      Are you using the correct baud rate? I think the BIOS will be at 9600 by default but pfSense and the bootloader (everything after what you're seeing) will be at 115200.

                                      Steve

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                                      • F
                                        Fffrank @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10 I burned the CF Card with Rufus and checked that it was bootable with BootableUSBTest. Here's all I get on boot:

                                        https://pastebin.com/sthY2FXC

                                        I did notice that my CPU is HOT (!!) 65-72 at idle. I'm wondering if I might have received a bad CPU or if I didn't apply enough thermal paste and it overheated. Think that could cause the problem?

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          It will run hot with only the BIOS setup, there is no CPU idle process at that point.

                                          The fact it's showing the BIOS setup proves the CPU is good.

                                          That output is at 115200bps?

                                          Steve

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                                          • F
                                            Fffrank
                                            last edited by

                                            This post is deleted!
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