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    Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

    Hardware
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    • G
      gilphilbert @stephenw10
      last edited by

      @stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

      That worked almost perfectly, thanks!

      As you noted I could not make it boot either TinyCore or OpenWRT from anything but the CF card it came with. Which is odd I don't recall having that issue.

      I also noted that after updating the BIOS it then failed boot TinyCore again from the CF. Not sure why.

      Also that it does not boot USB by default after updating I had to choose it from the boot device menu.

      Now that's interesting, my machine boots TC just fine after the upgrade (I did have to clear the CMOS though). I gave up entirely trying to boot FreeDOS - it's just too picky on these machines.

      Building that image was far more complicated than I expected, so I'm glad someone other than just me made use of it!

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      • G
        gilphilbert
        last edited by

        I'm not sure if this is normal, but I'm not getting any CPU temps from the box:

        # sysctl -a | grep temperature
hw.acpi.thermal.tz1.temperature: 29.9C
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C

# sysctl -a | grep "dev.cpu.*.temperature"
#

        Does anyone else see CPU temps? I installed an i3 and wanted to see what temp it was running at.

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          That with the default fan speed? Those temps are pretty good (low), what sort of i3 is that?

          I probably need to go and blow the dust out of mine!

          Oh wait you need to enable the coretemp module in Sys > Adv > Misc then check:

          sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 46.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 44.0C

          That's with the default G1820, without speedstep enabled and the fans set to 0x20.

          [24.03-RC][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 34.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 30.0C

          The G3420 with speedstep enabled and fans at 0x1b

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          • G
            gilphilbert @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 Ah, that did it (coretemp module):

            # sysctl -a | grep "dev.cpu.*.temperature"
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 51.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 49.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 52.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 50.0C

            It's a Core i3 4130 with SpeedStep enabled.

            I replaced the fans with Noctua ones (including the power supply) so I'm expecting the temps to be higher even with SpeedStep enabled.

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            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              Did you try just running the fans at a slower speed before replacing them?

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              • G
                gilphilbert @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 No, because my plan was to put this in my office... but that plan has now changed and it's going in a different room. Chances are I'll actually re-install the original fans for better cooling. When I do, I'll let you know what temps I get

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                • A
                  acsaba @gilphilbert
                  last edited by

                  @gilphilbert I appreciate your effort.
                  I have an M500 and I have tried to boot Firebox with the provided image and I do not have serial console access. The cable is good ( I have connection with the original firmware), so the question is if the image should work with M500. As I have seen in the specs, the motherboard is the same. In addition it is not clear for me if I need to reset the BIOS before to use the image or after.
                  I appreciate any feedback in this matter.

                  Many thanks.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    I used it on an M500. It's identical to the M400 other than the CPU and RAM which shouldn't make any difference for this.

                    Did you use the original CF card?

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                    • A
                      acsaba @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10
                      No, I have another CF and I have tried with USB stick as well. I have successfully boot Arc loader and ubuntu core.
                      Many thanks for your feedback. I will keep working on it.

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                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        It won't boot USB with the original BIOS but if you've got a CF that will boot at all that should work.

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                        • A
                          acsaba @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                          iI won't boot USB with the original BIOS but if you've got a CF that will boot at all that should work.

                          I can boot with the original bios using USB stick As I have mentioned, I did this couple of times.
                          The condition is to remove the CF.

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Hmm, curious. I never managed to make that work before flashing the BIOS.

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                            • A
                              acsaba @stephenw10
                              last edited by acsaba

                              @stephenw10

                              b9c86442-dc9d-4e1f-a556-29afb951c3b4-image.png

                              I manage to install Synology DMS 7.2 using an arc-24.6.2.img, then installed an SSD.
                              The boot is still on the USB stick.

                              I just ordered i5-4590T CPU as replacement for the original one and 8 GB CF to not brake the original CF.
                              I will keep you posted.

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                              • I
                                iJay-XTM5
                                last edited by

                                This M500 may have an unlocked bios, otherwise, it would not boot from USB IIRC. I had to unlock the bios through the serial console using the password others have posted in this forum. I was able to enable USB booting after unlocking the bios and successfully booted from a USB flash drive that had the USB memstick installer (Serial Console). I chose to install pfsense on the internal CF card as I did not want to open the box. The box boots off the CF now without a fuss.
                                I upgraded the CPU to an i5-4590T and installed low noise fans on my M400 previously, but it hangs on reboot every single time, so I left the M500 's original configuration as is.

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                                • A
                                  acsaba @iJay-XTM5
                                  last edited by

                                  @iJay-XTM5
                                  Appreciate your feedback. I have a second M500 (I used both in datacenter in HA mode), so I can test on this as well. Yesterday did the CPU update and I'm looking forward to replace the fans as well. Unfortunately a low noise fan is expansive, so in case you have any hint please share with me.

                                  Regarding CPU temperature, it is ~60-62C in full load with the original fans.

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                                  • stephenw10S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by

                                    You can lower the fan speed existing fans to reduce the noise using WGXepc

                                    That seems quite hot though. I assume you replaced the heatsink compound when you fitted that?

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                                    • A
                                      acsaba @stephenw10
                                      last edited by

                                      @stephenw10 said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                                      That seems quite hot though. I assume you replaced the heatsink compound when you fitted that?

                                      Yes. I did.

                                      What is a normal temperature on your end ?
                                      Many thanks.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by stephenw10

                                        Depends on the ambient temp I guess but for a 'T' rated CPU I expect lower. My M500 with a 4670S runs slightly cooler than that at max:

                                        last pid: 57560;  load averages:  4.20,  3.66,  2.22                                                                     up 0+00:13:56  19:53:36
187 threads:   9 running, 157 sleeping, 21 waiting
CPU 0: 29.1% user,  0.0% nice, 70.9% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 1: 29.9% user,  0.0% nice, 70.1% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 2: 30.7% user,  0.0% nice, 69.3% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
CPU 3: 32.7% user,  0.0% nice, 67.3% system,  0.0% interrupt,  0.0% idle
Mem: 106M Active, 9212K Inact, 339M Wired, 118M Buf, 7411M Free
Swap: 192M Total, 192M Free

  PID USERNAME    PRI NICE   SIZE    RES STATE    C   TIME    WCPU COMMAND
44930 root        135    0    12M  2076K RUN      2  10:53  99.97% yes
44987 root        135    0    12M  2072K CPU1     1  10:52  99.88% yes
44788 root        135    0    12M  2072K CPU0     0  10:54  99.87% yes
45189 root        135    0    12M  2068K CPU3     3  10:52  99.86% yes
    0 root        -60    -     0B   672K -        3   0:00   0.05% [kernel{if_config_tqg_0}]
57560 root         20    0    14M  3992K CPU2     2   0:00   0.03% top -HaSP
    6 root        -16    -     0B    16K pftm     0   0:00   0.02% [pf purge]

                                        [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature dev.cpu.2.temperature dev.cpu.3.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 58.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 54.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 57.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 55.0C

                                        The fans are pretty loud at that point!

                                        [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64 -f
Found Firebox M400/500
Current fanspeed is 78, minimum fanspeed is 1b

                                        Also it's the hotest day of the year today in the UK so the ambient is ~30C in my 'office'.

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                                        • A
                                          acsaba @stephenw10
                                          last edited by

                                          @stephenw10
                                          Many thanks for the info. I will replace the heatsink compound again. Currently I'm using a Ceramic polysynthetic thermal compound which should not be bad :)

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                                          • stephenw10S
                                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                            last edited by

                                            I wouldn't expect to need anything too special there. Just not trying to reuse the crusty stuff Lanner put on it 10 years ago!

                                            For reference at mostly idle I see:

                                            [24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: sysctl dev.cpu.0.temperature dev.cpu.1.temperature dev.cpu.2.temperature dev.cpu.3.temperature
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 38.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 42.0C
[24.03-RELEASE][root@m500.stevew.lan]/root: ./WGXepc64 -f
Found Firebox M400/500
Current fanspeed is 2e, minimum fanspeed is 1b
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