Watchguard Firebox M400/M500
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@Mookatroid
Hi Mookatroid
Thanks for getting the BIOS file. I'm very much interested. I can also mod the BIOS again with the latest Microcode patches, UEFI drivers, default settings and so on.
It will take a while, during October I probably won't have time to do it. -
@iJay-XTM5
I dropped a link into a chat for you :)
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@zanthos
Hey Zanthos,
I dropped the link into a chat with you.
Please let me know when you download it OK and keep me posted on your mod'ing efforts.
Many thanks ! -
Does anyone know what the fan noise is like in comparison to a Dell R210/220?
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A lot quieter! At least a modified BIOS/fan settings. Those Dell units are loud.
Steve
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That’s what I was thinking but figured someone here would know. I’ve been told the r210ii/r220 are very quiet compared to their other units however.
Whats your opinion if it has a non modded bios? Right now my cpu temp is staying around 50C +- 3C so I’m hesitant to lock fan speeds slower.
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Well I could be mistaken about that particular Dell model. All the Dell units I've ever heard have been loud.
What load? What ambient temp? Do I recall you swapped out the CPU in yours?
Mine runs 40-45C with lower than stock fan speeds but is mostly idle. 20-25C ambient.
Steve
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@stephenw10
I did swap out to an i3-4370. Ambient is 22C. Load is idle basically. No packages running outside of base install and shellcmd. -
Hmm, well that's hotter than I might have expected but not dramatically. I'm running an i3-4160. I did spend some time optimising the heatsink as it looked a bit crude.
It does not reboot with that CPU, I think you see that too?Steve
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It does hang. Last I looked we were all thinking it had to do with running a hdd instead of the compact flash. That’s interesting. Wonder what a different cpu can cause that to happen...
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Indeed. I have to find some time to poke the settings. Still running from CF here so not that.
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I wouldn’t mind running the pentium g3420 from the M500 but like the M400’s g1820, it doesn’t support aes-ni. Even though it’s no longer a requirement for 2.5 when ever it does release I would rather not give it up along with the hyper threading. As far as I’m aware the i3 series is the first point where either or both are available.
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Has anyone been able to get their box to boot from usb with an unlocked bios for the purpose of install to a hdd or is it hard locked to prevent this?
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If you use the BIOS @zanthos posted you can do whatever you want. It's completely unlocked. To a dangerous level!
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I just picked up a 4130 off eBay so we’ll see if the rebooting issue goes away when it arrives and I get a chance to install it.
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@stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400:
If you use the BIOS @zanthos posted you can do whatever you want. It's completely unlocked. To a dangerous level!
I may give it a shot to unlock mine but I’m in no place to unbrick it if it goes badly so we’ll see.
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This post is deleted! -
Hello again,
I thought I would chime in with my M400 deployment progress :)
As noted earlier, the factory M400 accepted 2 x 8GB PC3-14900E DIMMs and I am running an i3-4130 CPU while I wait for my Xeon to arrive.
While waiting, I purchased a Lanner PCI-E Riser for the FW-7585.
Installation was simple enough, however, I have not found a way to enable that slot for PCI-E video yet.
Using a riser on my previous firewall (Caswell CAR-2030) was an easy solution to add VGA output, but so far no joy with same on the M400 + riser.
So I pushed forward and made a custom cable for the onboard VGA header.
As it turns out, the 2mm pitch header is the same as the old 2.5" IDE drives, so I was able to turn this old IDE adapter ...
into this ...
by just soldering up Red, Green, Blue, Hsync, Vsync and Ground.
Works like a charm ! :)
From there, the newly acquired VGA output made backing up the password-protected M400 factory BIOS a much easier task followed by flashing the unlocked/mod'ed BIOS provided by Zanthos.
So things are progressing well now, short of the money invested into the PCI-E riser than may never find a purpose.
But it is what it is :)
Will update again once I install my pending Xeon CPU and take a crack at installing pfSense onto a SATA SSD. -
Update time ! :)
Xeon E3-1265L v3 arrived.
Installed it and posted without issue.
Dropped a 128GB SATA SSD onto SATA4 interface and tucked it into the front left corner.
Pushed USB installer image to CF card.
Powered up and booted from CF.
Installed to SSD without issue.
Reboot and running pfSense 2.4.4 from SSD without issue
:)PS ... fan control set manually to 67
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So it reboots correctly? Did it reboot with the 4130?
Steve
