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Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

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    #1

    Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

    I got this machine from my friend digge some years ago.
    It's been in my closet since I gave up about fixing it a long time ago.
    But yesterday I dragged it out again to see if I could get any further...
    I have confirmed that the BIOS is healthy, because a nice eBay seller named ceama sent me a known working copy a year or two ago.
    And it's a perfect match with the one that was already in this system.
    I can also read the BIOS dump with AMIBCP76.exe without any problems...

    I originally recapped the system for digge, but it did not bring it back to life, the UCC KZG 2200uF 6.3v CPU V_Core caps was what had gone bad...
    I tested the Fairchild N306AS MOSFET's yesterday with the diode check on my multimeter and they appear healthy.
    I also measure 1.73v V_Core on the capacitors for the CPU with a 1Ghz Celeron CPU installed. (Correct for this CPU).

    The mainboard is a WG-X66A v1.0E and while I have not found a manual for that I did find one for a very similar board.
    It's a Norco MB-X67 and it just has Intel NIC's instead of Realtek and some other minor differences:
    http://wenku.baidu.com/view/e04f2078...e05081465.html
    I used that manual to create the attached diagram with some voltages I have measured on different caps.
    I also made a PS/2 keyboard cable for it, when I start it up the LED's on the keyboard do flash once, but they do not respond to any keypresses.

    Before I was using a small PCI Port80H test device and it did not show much, but I tried a MiniPCI version instead and that did show something.
    If I have a CMOS battery installed the system never leaves the "reset" state.
    But if I power up without a battery the system "almost" leaves reset state.
    I could barely see that the LED on my Port80H device was still lit so I measured it, in reset I see 1.85v and when the system tries to leave it is at 1.40v.
    At the same time the Port80H debug LED shows a number, but it's different every time I try...
    There is actually someone here with a similar problem, though his system does boot: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=72450
    What could have been damaged to cause this weird behavior, where should I start to look?
    I attached a movie showing in detail what the system does during bootup with & without battery.
    The DMM is measuring directly across the "reset" LED on the Port80H debug card...
    Attached Files
    Last edited by Per Hansson; 03-15-2015, 03:57 AM. Reason: Attached Norco MB-X67 manual
    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

    Well what do you know, the 1Ghz Celeron CPU I was using for testing was actually dead.
    I put in a Pentium III Tualatin 1.4Ghz CPU today.
    Mostly because I had seen in the Intel manual for the CPU that the AGTL bus is handled differently in the Celeron vs Pentium line:
    It is possible that a mainboard may actually not support the Celeron CPU because of this.
    (See quote below, but I verified it was not so on this board because I had a 1.3Ghz Celeron which it also boots fine with).

    The system booted right up without the battery installed, and the 1.40v on the reset line was actually ok, but it still stands that if I put the battery back in it is always at 1.85v:
    And then the system does not boot, that also goes if I warm-reboot after the POST has intitialized; then the system will fail to POST aswell.

    So my issue is now exactly the same as described in the link which I referred to in my previous post aswell:
    https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=72450

    Unused AGTL+ (or AGTL) inputs must be properly terminated to VTT on PGA370 socket
    motherboards which support the Celeron and the Pentium III processors. For designs that intend to
    only support the Pentium III processor, unused AGTL+ inputs will be terminated by the processor's
    on-die termination resistors and thus do not need to be terminated on the motherboard. However,
    RESET# must always be terminated on the motherboard as the Pentium III processor for the
    PGA370 socket does not provide on-die termination of this input.
    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

      I did some further testing yesterday and found a battery it was able to POST with, I was using a 2.99v battery and a 3.12v made it POST.
      I figured then that the CMOS SRAM in the southbridge might be damaged and just likes a bit more voltage.
      So I read the specs for the ICH-2 southbridge and it supports from 2.0v up to 3.6v.
      Therefore I tried some more batteries:

      2.88v, 2.91v, 2.99v, 3.04v, 3.12v, 3.26v & 3.60v

      But it was ONLY able to POST with the 3.12v one, and intermittent at that.
      But before going to bed I realized one thing, the clock was not working, even without a battery.

      So today I scavenged what I believed was a 32.768kHz crystal from another board, and then I replaced the "X1" crystal on the board with this one.
      I first booted up without a battery; now the clock was working!
      Next I tried a battery which did not work before; it booted up again!
      Final test I turned off the PSU, waited for 5 minutes and turned it on again: it successfully POST:ed and still kept the time!
      It's now able to soft reboot without hanging.
      And I was able to complete a test installation of Win2K which had only come until the step before the graphical bootup phase;
      Before it just hardlocked there with a blinking cursor, now it finished the installation
      Attached Files
      Last edited by Per Hansson; 12-10-2020, 01:31 PM. Reason: Added picture
      "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

        Thanks for documenting your repair logs on this.

        I have a socket 478 motherboard that sometimes posts and sometimes does not. I haven't looked at it in probably 2 years, but someday when I pull it out, I will be sure to check some of the things you mentioned especially the clock crystal.
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        We respectfully ask that you make some time and effort to read some of the guides available for basic troubleshooting. After you have read through them, then ask clarification questions or report your findings.

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        Comment

          #5
          Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

          Hello Everyone

          I'm a noob here so I have Watchguard Firebox X that I bought from Ebay (good price). I try to install pfsense on it and screwed up the bios where it will boot into when trying to install the bios but nothing else. I was able to get an error message due to corrupt bios but that is it. Is there a way of clearing the bios and installing the new bios again. I've searched and found no way of doing it (seen post from other site that says once the bios is corroupt your screwed.). I don't believe it and hoping someone can help me. Thank you

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

            Hi, you will need to reprogram the BIOS chip in an external programmer...
            "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

              Per Hansson


              Thank you for your response but how can I do that and are there any instructions on how to do it.

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                You will either need to buy an external programmer, I use a Willem True-USB PRO GQ-4X Programmer.
                Or buy a pre-programmed chip, but it's not easy to help you when you have not provided much info, e.g. what type/model of firebox you have.
                "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                  The model is Watchguard Firebox (Firebox X)SSL Core is what I have if you need anymore information just let me know. Thank you for your help.

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                    You mean it's not one of these models then?
                    https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Pf...hguard_Firebox
                    "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                      No its WatchGuard Firebox X500 just like this one:http://www.ebay.com/itm/WatchGuard-F...item27f734ba09

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                        Through PM's we have concluded that bass29 has flashed the wrong BIOS to his box.
                        I had several PMC Pm49FL004T BIOS chips but my box will not POST with them.
                        Strange since the configuration looks the same as the original SST 49LF004B?
                        Both these chips conform to Intel LPC Interface Specification Revision 1.1
                        But I only get POST code "75" directly on poweron and there it's stuck...
                        So guess the FW82801BA (ICH-2) is not compatible with it for some reason.
                        IOSS has a warning on the page about their RD1-PMC4 BIOS Savior to the same effect, it seems to use the same BIOS chip...
                        I even tried hot-swapping with Uniflash v1.47re.09 now in DOS.
                        The original chip is identified fine but the Pm49FL004T is not, and neither is the IOSS RD1-PMC4

                        So I have told him to buy the original SST 49LF004B from any place that offers to sell it pre-programmed.
                        I have attached the BIOS that ceama sent me, which matches the BIOS that my X-Core X500 came with.
                        This BIOS should work on the following boxes: X-Core X500, X700, X1000, X2500
                        I also attached the datasheets of these BIOS chips.
                        Attached Files
                        "The one who says it cannot be done should never interrupt the one who is doing it."

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Watchguard Firebox X-Core X500 stuck in reset

                          B and T variants have different sector layout because orf the different bootblock location.

                          Comment

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