Successful Install on Watchguard Firebox X700!

Sifter

@dotdash:

Drop to a shell and enter:
echo 'hw.ata.ata_dma="0"' >>/boot/loader.conf

At this point, there is no ssh access, only console. Is there a way to break out of this harddrive mounting screen?

Dayblade

WOOT!!!! - finally got it working.

Had to download a new terminal program so that it would recognize the "ENTERS" - Windows Proggy - Indigo Terminal 2.

Had some hiccups with certain character counts so had to enter a few characters "twice" … ie ad2s1a was ad22s1a etc.

Will keep ya posted.

Dayblade

dotdash

@Sifter:

At this point, there is no ssh access, only console. Is there a way to break out of this harddrive mounting screen?

You could pull the card and add the line on another box or you could try:
set hw.ata.ata_dma=0
boot

Sifter

So just for fun and curiosity, I wrote a m0n0wall image to a 512meg cf card and stuck it into the watchguard cf slot. It booted with no issue. I then put my atheros mini-pci wireless card into the mini-pci slot, and it recognized it immediately.

I too, am getting watchdog timeout's. I had a ping going from my desktop and randomly, Id say every 10-20 seconds, my ping would timeout, which would then be followed by a watchdog timeout registering in my serial console window. At the time, I only had 2 cables plugged in, internet to interface re0, and lan to re1. Most of the watchdog timeouts were on re1.

So I find it interesting the watchdog timeouts are both on pfsense and m0n0wall.

I have also installed a 512meg memory stick, but only 256meg is recognized. Are there jumpers that need to be moved in order to see the rest of the memory?

emigrating

What kind of serial cable are you guys using? I picked one of these boxes up on eBay and unfortunately it didn't come with one - figured I could use the console cable for my Linksys SRW2016, but I get nothing on-screen.

jahonix

@emigrating:

the console cable for my Linksys SRW2016, but I get nothing on-screen.

But that's due to the fact that the Linksys cable is all but wired in a known standard.
I have some SRW2008 switches at home and tried that serial cable for a console connection to some other equipment.
Well, grabbing my Null-modem cable worked as expected, the Linksys did not.
And my Null-modem cable didn't work with the Linksys switch, of course. Didn't have the gutts to actually measure the pinout, just labeled it 'Linksys switch ONLY'…

emigrating

Figured as much really as the Linksys cables are straight-thru cables.
Oh well, off I go to eBay to pick up a USB -> null modem combo. Sure it'll come in handy again :)

On a slightly related note, have anyone found the keyboard pinouts on the x700 motherboard? I've only had a quick look (only received it today) but nothing stands out as the prime suspect.

jahonix

@emigrating:

Figured as much really as the Linksys cables are straight-thru cables.

Then they have the connectors wrong!
Null-modem cable should be {DB9-female - DB9-female} and
straight through should be {DB9-female - DB9-male} making it an extension.

Everything else is proprietary.

emigrating

Well, to be perfectly honest - that's not the only thing they have wrong :) Took me a good while to flash the SRW2016s to an acceptable firmware which actually included all the features they were advertised as having. Good switches once that was done though.

Oh well, nullmodem cable on it's way now. Grabbed a 5GB microdrive also to see if that'll be recognized so guess I'm shelfing the project for a couple more days.

Hmm, whilst I'm at it - anyone got ideas on a mini-pci wifi card I could stick in it?

GruensFroeschli

I preferr this card http://pcengines.ch/wlm54g23.htm or this card http://pcengines.ch/wlm54sag23.htm depending on if i need 802.11a support or not.
I never had problems with them :)
(except on pfSense 1.0 but that was because of a bad client)…

Sifter

Again, has anyone upgraded the memory on these boxes and gotten it to see the additional? I placed a 512meg module in the box, and it still registers at 256meg. I tried 2 separate sticks.

Perhaps jumper settings somewhere on the board?

Sifter

Anyone have any updates? Such as successful additional memory, no more watchdog timeouts, installs on a microdrive?

drvcrash

I have a 512 stick in one of mine and it sees it all. make sure you have pc133 ram. I also have a 80 gig 2.5in laptop drive in it running the full install

Dayblade

@Sifter:

Again, has anyone upgraded the memory on these boxes and gotten it to see the additional? I placed a 512meg module in the box, and it still registers at 256meg. I tried 2 separate sticks.

Perhaps jumper settings somewhere on the board?

Upgraded it to 512 MB just this week:

Kingston KVR100x64C2/512 512MB PC100 CL2

Also changed out the heatsink and fan - that is the MAJORITY of the noise factor in the x700 - they use a fan designed by Y.S. Tech (?) that was pushing 7200+ RPM's. I switched and installed a lower/larger fan combo @ 5500 RPM's and temps dropped by 10C and the noise is SUBJECTIVELY quieter.
(Granted I did not test decibel levels prior to the fan switch out)

Hope that helps - <3 pfSense on my WatchGuard btw - still working on getting the LCD to do its thang…otherwise, it works like a champ.

Dayblade

emigrating

Updates…

Well, it's not booting from the 5GB microdrive I picked up (although to be honest, I never expected it to). Stuck a 4GB drive in there and it's chugging along nicely though. (PoI: the LCD displayed a very basic BIOS setup selection when I stuck the 5GB drive in there).

Also picked up a Atheros mini-pci wificard on eBay (not the one recommended) which seems to be working fine, although it's not much in use yet.

As for timeouts, I've had none on the WAN, LAN1, LAN2 or WiFi port. LAN3 gets the occasional dropout, but nothing that worries me too much. Since the last reboot (2 weeks ago) it's logged 17 drops on the dashboard which doesn't seem bad at all.

Haven't got the LCD to display anything yet, although haven't spent too much time on it.

Also haven't upgraded the memory, but it's currently running at around 30% utilization so not really necessary at this point.

All this with a 24/3Mbps connection. Oh, running the 1.3 alpha builds.

CryoGenID

Wow what a great thing ;D

The question I now have is:
Does this also work with a FireBox Core x750e ?
I have one standing around here and would like to use it with pfSense…
It has a lot of CPU-Power, 8 GBit-Ports...

I have just tried to boot the Live-CD, install it onto a normal ATA-HDD and
plug that one into the standard IDE-Port of the Firebox and connect via
Serial-Port to my PC...
But unfortunately I don't see anything on HyperTerminal.

If you connect your Firebox and for example don't put any HDD's/CF-Cards
into your box do you see anything via the serial connection?

Thanks a lot for your help!

I hope we can get this running ;D

Best regards,

Chris

CryoGenID

Update:

I have just read the part (missed it somehow in the first place) with the
Linksys-Serial-Cable (with which I tried it g), so I have now used
another serial-cable (in German: "Nullmodemkabel"), but I only
get scrambled output (see attached picture) from the original
Watchguard-CF-Card.

Does anybody know what is wrong here?

I've tried to change the handshake (Hardware, none), speed (9600, 19800, 56000)…

But I always get this scrambled output...

Help please ;)

Thanks and best regards,

Chris

WG_1.jpg_thumb

jahonix

First, forget about HyperTerminal and get TeraTerm Pro:
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.html

Looks like you're using wrong emulation.

GruensFroeschli

Also did you make sure that your flow control is set to "none" and NOT to hardware or Xon/Xoff

CryoGenID

Thanks for your replies!

I've just solved it…
It was the speed of the serial console, I had to set it to 115200...
If I used a slower speed, only that garbage could be seen... Now I can see it :-)

I'll now try to get pfsense working on it :-)

Thanks again!!!

Best regards,

Chris