Watchguard XTM 5 Series

stephenw10

what is the fastest CPU the XTM 510 could handle?

'Fastest' is an interesting term. For some workloads you are better to have a dual core at higher frequency. Once you introduce more processes though, like Snort, it helps to have more cores.

The XTM5 has a smaller PSU than the Lanner unit it's based on. The single core Celeron did not require huge power and it did come with hungry hard drives. So it might be expected that the fastest listed CPUs may give problems.
However I'm not sure anyone has seen issues yet. There are a number of CPU swap options detailed in this thread.

Steve

Mathiau

@fmertz:

@zanthos:

Does anybody have the correct settings for lcdproc package (now available again, thanks!) to use with an XTM5?
(COM port, Display size, Driver, Port speed)

SDEC driver, the parameters do not matter. It's a parallel port device, the same for all Watchguard boxes with an LCD, so all parameters are coded in the driver.

booom! works, nice

chpalmer

@Mathiau:

Out of curiosity, what is the fastest CPU the XTM 510 could handle? I have an E4500 in a newly acquired box but wanted to use SNORT and such and was thinking if a quad would be too much for the board / psu or if a bios update would be required..

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz 4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

running in my XTM5 for a couple of years now. ;D

stephenw10

Nice! :)

There you go that's a 95W TDP CPU so gives you options.

Steve

Mathiau

@chpalmer:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz 4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

running in my XTM5 for a couple of years now. ;D

Good to know, i may be able to score a Q6600 for free. You use the stock fans in it for cooling or changed out?

[Edit: Moved quote tags for clarity]

uknownme123

I don't see the benefits of a unlocked Bios, if everythings works with the original.

Grtz
DeLorean

Sorry to repeat this so much but:" Thank you Steve for the unlock bios, access to bios allows for USB booting." USB booting makes things so much easier when you have the unit on a rack shelf.

chpalmer

@Mathiau:

@chpalmer:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz 4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s)

running in my XTM5 for a couple of years now. ;D

Good to know, i may be able to score a Q6600 for free. You use the stock fans in it for cooling or changed out?

[Edit: Moved quote tags for clarity]

Stock fans. :)

DeLorean

A little notice about the fans of a XTM 5
The XTM 5 has 4 fan connections on the mainboard,
the 2 closest connections to the Cpu heatsink are for the CPU fans, and the other 2 for the case fan(s).
The fan speed of all is thermal controlled by the Bios, but for more lowering of the fan speed,
there is the package WGxepc or WGxepc64.
But this package can only lower the fan speed of the case fan, the fan speed of the cpu fans is not infected by this.
But when you connect al fans together with Y splitters, to the case fan connection of the mainboard,
then you can made these boxes even more silent.
The only glice is, that setting the fan speed to low, that the CPU temperature wil rise,
so you must make a compromise between fanspeed (noise) and CPU temperature.
A value between 30 to 50 is what i use in WGxepc64.

Best regards
DeLorean

stephenw10

Hmm, interesting. I imagine there might be a register to set for the CPU fans too.

WGXepc only sets the minimum fan speed. It is still set to thermal control using whatever target temperature is in the BIOS. So if the temp you set is exceeded the fans will still spool up to full speed to stay cool.

When it's below that the fans slow to the minimum so settings a relatively high target temperature allow the fans to run slow.

Steve

stephenw10

For anyone struggling to get this to boot from USB (as I just have been ::)) the key BIOS setting is to set 'Always boot from CF' to disabled.

Steve

dhoffman98

Thank you to all of you for all the detailed posts in this thread. I have a question.

I know version 2.3.3 came out a couple months ago, (and now 2.3.3-p1 is out) is out. Has anyone tried it on their XTM 5?
Is there any reason it shouldn't work?
Is there any reason to stick with an older version?

I have a box on its way to me and this will be a good project for me this weekend.

stephenw10

It will work fine. No reason to use an older version.

I'm running 2.4Beta on mine currently.

Steve

dhoffman98

@stephenw10:

It will work fine. No reason to use an older version.

I'm running 2.4Beta on mine currently.

Thank you Steve for the quick reply. Have you seen any issues with 2.4?

Also, am I right in understanding that 2.4 will be the last version that will work with the XTM 5 series?
I saw that 2.5 is going to require a CPU that has AES-NI, and there are no LGA 775 CPUs that include it.

stephenw10

No issues with 2.4. I run it on almost everything I have here that can run it.

Yes, in all likelihood 2.5 will not run on it as there are no AES-NI capable CPUs as you said. Even those modded Xeons.

That's some way off yet though and 2.4 is not just going to disappear.

Steve

dhoffman98

I have gotten my hands on an XTM 5. This is the NC2AE8, which I think is the second generation XTM 5. This one is configured for XTM 535 and still has the original system on the card.

The bios shown in the boot screen says "WG BIOS 1.3". The OS running now says "Fireware 11.9.3".

I am getting confused with the various posts on here about whether or not I need to flash the bios. Is this a generation 2 XTM 5? Is there a new BIOS for it?

This box only has a 1GB CF card, and I want to install 2.3.3, So the first thing I'm doing is going out to find a larger card. (Probably end up having to buy a 16GB. Can't find any 4 or 8 around, and if I order them, they are just as expensive as a 16. I HOPE I can get it built with the 2.3.3 image.

So… can anyone answer my question about the BIOS, and any other tips I should watch out for with this box?

Thanks much!

dhoffman98

Oh, and a second question as well….

Does anyone know if this one (see post above) is bootable from USB and how to get it to do so?

chpalmer

@dhoffman98:

I have gotten my hands on an XTM 5. This is the NC2AE8, which I think is the second generation XTM 5. This one is configured for XTM 535 and still has the original system on the card.

The bios shown in the boot screen says "WG BIOS 1.3". The OS running now says "Fireware 11.9.3".

I am getting confused with the various posts on here about whether or not I need to flash the bios. Is this a generation 2 XTM 5? Is there a new BIOS for it?

This box only has a 1GB CF card, and I want to install 2.3.3, So the first thing I'm doing is going out to find a larger card. (Probably end up having to buy a 16GB. Can't find any 4 or 8 around, and if I order them, they are just as expensive as a 16. I HOPE I can get it built with the 2.3.3 image.

So… can anyone answer my question about the BIOS, and any other tips I should watch out for with this box?

Thanks much!

Does anyone know if this one (see post above) is bootable from USB and how to get it to do so?

We had a second generation box come through. It has-

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU E3400 @ 2.60GHz 2 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)

Vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
Version: 080015
Release Date: 02/03/2010 BIOS is identically identified as my earlier box that came with a single core proc.

You have to flash the BIOS if you want -

To change any settings in BIOS..
To see a red Arm/Disarm LED in contrast to a green color when you first boot the box and before your copy of WGXepc64 does it work..
To disable boot to CF if you want to boot from the USB drive as explained by Steve a few posts up.
To play with the fan controls in BIOS.

The box will boot pfSense from a cf card without flashing the BIOS.

DeLorean

Untill now i havn't updated the BIOS on a XTM5 series,
but i'm considering of doing it.

If the BIOS chip wasn't soldered on the motherboard, i had tried this a long time ago.
On the previous Watchguard model like the X-E Core series, the BIOS chip is easy to remove,
and i have spare empty chips and a programmer available, so nothing can't go wrong.

But before i go that way on the XTM5 series, i want to know if there is a step by step guide to do this,
and a step by step guide how to recover from a bad BIOS update?
I have seen a post by Stephenw10 about a selfmade cable, but that wasn't clear for me.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Grtz
DeLorean

dhoffman98

@chpalmer:

You have to flash the BIOS if you want -

So… does that mean you have flashed a second gen box?
If so, then what file did you flash from? (Have a link?)

@DeLorean:

But before i go that way on the XTM5 series, i want to know if there is a step by step guide to do this,
and a step by step guide how to recover from a bad BIOS update?
I have seen a post by Stephenw10 about a selfmade cable, but that wasn't clear for me.

Yes, I agree. Since this is my first Watchguard box, I want to be completely up to date with all the options, so I'm looking to do the LCD mod as well, but the BIOS is my main concern at first.

StephenW10… any hints or howtos you can offer about flashing the bios in a second gen XTM 5?

Thanks.

stephenw10

I've never seen a second gen XTM5 so I can't tell anything for sure but as far as I'm aware they are identical. Only the CPU changed. I believe the BIOS should work on either though I've never tried it. (Your firewall may catch fire etc! ;))

The SPI header is standard from what I can see. You should be able to program it with any SPI compatible device.

I used the incredibly simple parallel port cable because I had parts available at the moment, it worked fine. I'm not sure I have a machine with a parallel port any longer though. ::)

Steve