Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!
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Looks like I could be wrong about the SD-CF adapter though:
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,69618.0.htmlSteve
Damn…I just ordered a couple of regular SanDisk 256MB and 4GB CF cards a few minutes ago. Ah well. No big deal. I spent alot of time googling and thought for sure it's a flat no on the SD to CF being bootable.
Need to find out which adapter he used.
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I'm not really sure where the problem lies, but I've tried to accommodate just about every individual aspect that I can think of to no avail.
I'm running (or at least trying to run) a Firebox Core x700. Originally, mine came with a 32MB CF and no HDD.
Following many different sets of instructions, I've tried writing the pfSense images to 1GB and smaller, all the way down to a 64MB card. (Trying not to overwrite the 32MB card, as I know it boots and it's near too small anyway.)
The system will not boot from it. The LCD shows an error. Only corrupt characters display vis serial console.
Tried different cards. Tried different image writing utilities. Tried terminal in Linux and Mac OS X. No luck.
Tried the same with some really small 2GB and 6GB IDE laptop drives. No luck.
Tried changing the master / slave jumper with the HDD test. No luck.
Tried many different Null Modem cables and literally every setting combination I could think of for HyperTerm on XP. No luck.
The system boots ok and LCD says it's ok too when using the original Watchguard CF.
My 1GB CF would be ideal to start with, as it's the biggest on hand.
About the only thing I've not confirmed is the pinout of a known working Null Modem cable. (And I can do so if someone can confirm such.)
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Right so it's probably the wrong cable or a bad connection somewhere.
Boot the Watchguard CF and use that to check your serial terminal setup. At 115200bps you should see the entire boot sequence and be able to login at the end.What image exactly are you writing to the card? Please give a link. The 1GB CF card should be fine. The smallest card you can use is 512MB so what were you writing to the 64MB card?
Steve
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Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for this amazing resource.
Customer was moving offices and an x500 that was about to go into the dumpster seemed like too much hardware to waste so I grabbed it. Obviously I didn't want to deal with the licensing and limited features, so I was thrilled to see people had pfSense running on these boxes and not just made it "work", but had done so with relatively great success.
The only issue I had (And I spent a good 5 hours troubleshooting it, sadly :-[) was a poor serial connection. I had an issue somewhat similar to the poster above where I'd get nothing but gibberish after flashing the bios, on any baud using any combination of settings. Damn near thought I bricked my device as even the fallbacks weren't responding. Finally reseat my serial connection (And let it lie on the table rather than freely dangling) and got it working. Seemed I had to reseat it almost every restart after that, but since getting pfSense booted the first time I've yet to see the issue.
Aside from that, it went as smooth as I could have ever imagined. pfSense installed great, configuration was simple and error free, even lcdproc and WGXepc both worked for me on the first attempt, also error free.
Hell, installing DD-WRT was more troublesome than this.
Thanks again!
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Just to point this out for anyone else reading this: there is no reason flash the bios on the X-Core box (X500, X700, X1000, X2500). And in fact I don't believe there are any modified bios images available. If you attempted to flash the bios image from the X-e box it will have simply failed in the background, though you may not have seen any errors because the flashing program is using a graphical mode.
Anyway glad to see another box rescued from landfill. :)
Steve
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Ive got an X-700 I just acquired that Id be happy to part out if anyone needs it. I haven't powered it up since the donater originally showed it to me abput two years ago. so no guarantees.
Im in the US. You pay for shipping.
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What part of the US?
I have a mailing address in the Pacific NorthWest.
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PM sent
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Hi, I've just got pfSense up and running on an x700, just as I started to play with it the CPU fan started making a proper racket and has failed. can anyone recomend a compatible replacement?
Cheers
Mark
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If you read through this, now very long, thread there are a few suggestions and documented fan swaps. The radial fan fitted to the X700 was never that great in the first place. Depending on how you have the device mounted and how comfortable you are with case mods you can get a much better solution by using a standard axial flow fan and cutting a hole in the top.
I have considered using an old laptop fan since they are usually radial type and often much quieter.Steve
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I did some more digging on this. I want to avoid modding the case as I'm going to shift the unit on once it's fully prepped - I just snagged an XTM 510 on eBay for a good price which is more suited to my needs. The original fan is made by CoolJag and seem readily available in the US, however not here in the UK. In the meantime though I found this fan on Amazon which seems to be a like for like replacement: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008P72QYS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's coming from HK so will report back once I've fitted it!
Cheers
Mark
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Hope it's quieter. ;)
Just blowing the hot air from the CPU into the case and relying on the tiny rear fans to extract it always seemed a bad design to me. Maybe consider some ducting? It will slow the air though. I await your report.
Good luck with the XTM5.Steve
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Yeah, it's not what you could call 'discrete' is it! I figured that it was the 30mm case fans at the back that were making most of the racket though. From reading through the XTM thread it seems like they're a lot quieter anyway thanks to the built in thermal control.
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Oh yes, the XTM5 is much quieter and has ducted cooling.
Steve
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I have an X series Watchguard Firebox that has issues with it's power supply. It constantly reboots the system from 30-60 seconds when turning on the unit. It ran fine for the last year and a half without issue. I pulled the proprietary 9-pin power connector that goes to the motherboard and took measurements. Everything falls under the +-12V and +5V rating so it's a bad power supply.
Physically examining the power supply everything looks normal, no bulging capacitors or noticeable burn areas. I took ESR readings of the biggest 3 capacitors and they seem to check out.
I took a couple of resistor readings thinking they were start resistors but the numbers don't seem to indicate any normal resistor so I'm thinking I'd have to take them out of circuit to get a proper reading.
Anyone else have a better idea what else to test before putting this in the spare parts bin?
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I found these documents very useful showing the hardware of these Watchguard's.
Detailed Hardware Guide for Watchguard X-Core, X-Peak, and X-Peak-e:
http://www.sechsender.com/bilder/forum/WG_pfsense_guide.pdfWatchguard X-Core De-Manufactoring Instructions:
https://www.watchguard.com/docs/corporate/wg_coreDe-MFR_instructions.pdfI wanna hook up a GPS that does NEMA to my Watchguard X700 so I can use it for GPS timing. pSense sees a "cuau0" listed as available, but trying to figure out what port is this on the motherboard. Anybody done this yet?
I am also having trouble getting bind package to work. I get crypto errors. Any fix or alternate DNS package? I want to setup my Watchguard x700 as slave DNS server for my Windows Server 3003 running BIND.
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cuau0 will almost certainly be the front console port which you won't be able to use if you're running nano. Does it list cuau1?
Have you tried the tinydns package? Or Unbound?
Steve
I only see cuau0. I will have to open the box and see what connectors are on motherboard in case it has 2nd serial port. Some Watchguard's have 2 serial ports where one is the front console port and other is typically not used, but available.
TinyDNS and Unbound, I cant figure out how to setup the pfSense as Slave. BIND on pfSense is more user friendly and more advanced, but running into those weird crypto errors. My Windows Server 2003 is my the master DNS.
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cuau0 will almost certainly be the front console port which you won't be able to use if you're running nano. Does it list cuau1?
Have you tried the tinydns package? Or Unbound?
Steve
I only see cuau0. I will have to open the box and see what connectors are on motherboard in case it has 2nd serial port. Some Watchguard's have 2 serial ports where one is the front console port and other is typically not used, but available.
TinyDNS and Unbound, I cant figure out how to setup the pfSense as Slave. BIND on pfSense is more user friendly and more advanced, but running into those weird crypto errors. My Windows Server 2003 is my the master DNS.
I just opened up my Watchguard X700. I see COMA1 which is the console port near front of motherboard. I also see a COMB1 right next to that will require DB9 Serial Add-A-Port Adapter though.
Example (Watchguard XTM 5 Series): https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=43574.msg430594#msg430594
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It will also need to be enabled if it's not showing up. Probably in the bios.
Steve
