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    Watchguard Firebox M400/M500

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    • M Offline
      Mookatroid @jriofrio
      last edited by

      @jriofrio
      Directions are rather generic as there will be variances when it comes to the colour coding for each wire in a VGA DB15 connector.

      In short ......

      ab102ecf-d613-4530-b695-a0b905cfeba2-1581859391918-vga.jpg

      .... VGA header pins, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 on the M400 PCB ..... need to be connected to ......... Red, Green, Blue, Hsync, Vsync and Ground, on the DB15 VGA connector.

      I had to use my meter to determine which VGA wires were the required wires before I could connect it all.

      J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • J Offline
        jriofrio @Mookatroid
        last edited by jriofrio

        @Mookatroid ... Hello and thank you for replying to my question.
        I took your picture and put some info in it in order to explain myself but I don't find the way in how to upload it the way you put the pic with your comment. Could you share in how I could insert a picture with my comment please.
        Anyway, what I am trying to get is like:
        12 pin header. ------------------------- 15 pin VGA
        Pin 1 _-------------------------------------------- pin 1
        Pin 2 ----------------------------------------------- pin 3

        And so on.... Cause my lack of knowledge in this kind of connections makes difficult to me to know which pin header connects to db15 pins. Using the pins numbers will make less probable to screw things up. I know the position and order number of the DB15 pins.
        Thank you for your help on this matter.

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

          There should be a button to upload an image:

          Screenshot from 2025-11-12 01-37-35.png

          J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • J Offline
            jriofrio @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 Polish_20251111_022443356.jpg

            Well I hope this works....
            Thank you for your advice

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

              See the pinout below that picture here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_connector

              You only need actually need 6 connections like:
              Screenshot from 2025-11-12 04-27-56.png

              J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J Offline
                jriofrio @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 ...... Beautiful :) thank you. How they said, a picture is worth a thousand words.
                A last inquiry if I may.... How you manage the keyboard/mouse input?
                I'm very appreciative for your help.
                Best regards.

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

                  Use a USB keyboard. But you still shouldn't need to use it at all. The serial console is sufficient.

                  G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • G Offline
                    gilphilbert @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    As @stephenw10 said, there's no need for the VGA cable. You can watch the BIOS POST, update the BIOS and boot an OS all with the serial cable!

                    J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                    • J Offline
                      jriofrio @gilphilbert
                      last edited by

                      @gilphilbert:
                      Hello gentlemen.... I have an inquiry that for sure you know the answer.
                      I have been running pfsense in a PC, I installed an IBM card with 4 Ethernet ports, plus one that the PC already had. Pfsense treats the PC port as the WAN interface and the others 4 as LAN interface, each LAN port is an independent LAN. The IBM card works as a 4 port router.
                      Now, my question: the WatchGuard M400 has a WAN interface and LAN ports too. In pfsense Do these LAN ports are treated independently or as one switch group that will share and IP.
                      Let me know please...
                      Thank you for your time and support.
                      Good day

                      K chpalmerC 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • K Offline
                        korenchkin @jriofrio
                        last edited by

                        @jriofrio they are separate networks,if you want them 'switched',use bridge,but it uses cpu cycles...so if you have powerful cpu,go ahead,but i suggest cheap switch for this (unles you have for example something like cheap home router or some mikrotik,where they use cpu---switchchip---severalethernets - then your packets can go either over switchchip,or pass through to cpu and back)

                        J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • chpalmerC Offline
                          chpalmer @jriofrio
                          last edited by

                          @jriofrio said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                          @gilphilbert:

                          Now, my question: the WatchGuard M400 has a WAN interface and LAN ports too.

                          pfSense treats them as they are designed.

                          They are actually 9 separate interfaces that can be used for any network task you assign them to..

                          I have 3 WANs set up and 4 different LANs running on a box that was a "display" unit at a Watchguard "dealer".. been going for over 5 years strong at this point.

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

                          J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • J Offline
                            jriofrio @chpalmer
                            last edited by

                            @chpalmer .... Great to hear it. I see by your post you have done some improvement to the box.
                            Did you update the BIOS? How it went!
                            I mean did you encounter any difficulties updating the BIOS..... Do you have any advice for the process!
                            Thank you for your comment....

                            chpalmerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • J Offline
                              jriofrio @korenchkin
                              last edited by

                              @korenchkin ... Thank you for your clarification, is good to know. I didn't know all the Ethernet ports were independent.... Yeah, I do have a few wireless home router s that I can use.
                              Hasta la vista :)... Good day

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                              • chpalmerC Offline
                                chpalmer @jriofrio
                                last edited by

                                @jriofrio said in Watchguard Firebox M400/M500:

                                @chpalmer ....
                                Did you update the BIOS? How it went!
                                I mean did you encounter any difficulties updating the BIOS..... Do you have any advice for the process!
                                Thank you for your comment....

                                No worries! ;) I did update the BIOS but it has been years. I did it with a package on pfsense itself if I remember correctly.. I have never had any kind of VGA connector on any of these (except the one box with a VGA connector) just use the serial port.

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

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