Recycling a Checkpoint T-110

WARNING:

This is mostly my notes to myself, as I haven't actually put these into production yet. So it might have some horrible flaw that makes it useles that I haven't found yet.

Introduction:

I recently found a few Check Point T-110 low-end firewall appliances in a pile of junk to be recycled. I'm always interested in curious hardware, so I grabbed a couple for investigation. They were very interesting, it tured out, so I went back and grabbed all five. Of the five, four fired up just fine, one is seemingly dead.

I am NOT at all a Check Point product line expert. How much of what I have to say here applies to other systems by Check Point, I have no idea. I also can't say how "identical" Checkpoint T-110 systems are, very often a product model number is just a market place holder; a manufacturer may swap out different kinds of hardware and give it the same model number if what is presented to the customer doesn't change.

As I write this (2023), the CP T-110 is very much out of support, and of little use to most people, so I would expect a very low price on them, free wouldn't be out of line.

Specs

Processor: Intel Atom D525 1.8GHz. Dual core, 64bit capable.
Memory: 2G on all the ones I have (except for the broken one, which was stripped of memory). PC3L (DDR3 laptop RAM).
Two memory slots, one occupied on mine.
One internal 2.5" SATA drive. My functional ones all had 320G drives, the broken one had a 250G drive in it, but it had some signs of having been swapped out at some point. There's enough room for even a very fat 2.5" drive, much bigger than you will ever see in a laptop.
SIX Intel (em(4) in OpenBSD) 1Gb NICs on the front
Serial console redirection.
One RJ-45 Cisco-style serial port on front near NIC ports
12v 3.3A, center positive power feed
Real power switch for turning on the on and off, but the system can also power down via ACPI.
Dimentions:

Notes

Power: The origianl power pack is 12V 3.3A. My first thought was that the computer would be able to take almost any power source of probably 10V to 20V, and ran it off a laptop power supply at around 19V. However, the 12V supply directly feeds the 12V fans and the hard disk (the hard disk isn't a problem, since I'm not aware of any 2.5" HDs that use 12V). Plus when I started looking at it closer, I saw that most of the capacitors near the power input were rated at 16V. So 19V is too much. Didn't seem to harm my machine in the short period it was over-voltaged, but probably good I have some spares.
Update: talked to a coworker who helped administer these things, and he told me the power packs for them were quite unreliable. Good news, it's easy to replace with a third party. Bad news: you may well need to. Or maybe it was done by now.
Memory -- the four functional ones I have all had one 2GB SO-DIM installed in one of two slots (fifth one was missing memory; obviously it was stripped). I tried a couple memory upgrades:
- 2G + 4G worked fine.
- 2G + 8G did not boot.
- (lots more should be tested here)
Serial console: defaults to 9600bps. I'd suggest leaving it there. RJ45 jack is compatible with Cisco standard serial cables.
Getting to BIOS: hit "DEL" during POST.
BIOS has a password preventing you from getting in. Password is "uranus"
My efforts to remove the password failed, both by trying to clear it in the BIOS and via jumpers on the board.
SATA is configured as "IDE" -- very slow. You want to change this to "AHCI".
By default, the system was set to ACPI v1. In this setting, OpenBSD ran with unusually high interrupts -- 50% of one core, and was in general, painful to run. Changing it to ACPI v3 fixed the interupt problem on OpenBSD. Highly recommended.
I could find no UEFI support in the BIOS. So you will be doing an MBR/BIOS config.
PXE boot worked well from port 6. I did not have luck doing a USB boot, but I didn't try very hard. To do a PXE boot, hit "L" during POST.

I found it interesting that the system was "detuned" to run in IDE and ACPIv1 modes, rather than apparently superior AHCI and presumably better ACPIv3 modes. Almost like they didn't want this little box competing with their "serious" options.

OpenBSD dmesg

OpenBSD 7.4-beta (GENERIC.MP) #1373: Thu Sep 21 09:26:32 MDT 2023
    deraadt@amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
real mem = 2120810496 (2022MB)
avail mem = 2036862976 (1942MB)
random: good seed from bootblocks
mpath0 at root
scsibus0 at mpath0: 256 targets
mainbus0 at root
bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 2.6 @ 0xfce20 (25 entries)
bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "080015" date 03/22/2012
bios0: CheckPoint T-110-00
acpi0 at bios0: ACPI 4.0
acpi0: sleep states S0 S1 S3 S4 S5
acpi0: tables DSDT FACP APIC MCFG OEMB HPET GSCI
acpi0: wakeup devices P0P1(S4) USB0(S4) USB1(S4) USB2(S4) USB3(S4) EUSB(S4) P0P4(S4) P0P5(S4) P0P6(S4) P0P7(S4) P0P8(S4) P0P9(S4) HDAC(S4) USB4(S4) USB5(S4) USBE(S4) [...]
acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 24 bits
acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat
cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
cpu0: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz, 1795.55 MHz, 06-1c-0a, patch 00000107
cpu0: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE,SSE3,DTES64,MWAIT,DS-CPL,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,MOVBE,LONG,LAHF,PERF,SENSOR,MELTDOWN
cpu0: 24KB 64b/line 6-way D-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
cpu0: smt 0, core 0, package 0
mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support, 8 var ranges, 88 fixed ranges
cpu0: apic clock running at 199MHz
cpu0: mwait min=64, max=64, C-substates=0.1, IBE
cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 2 (application processor)
cpu1: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D525 @ 1.80GHz, 1795.60 MHz, 06-1c-0a, patch 00000107
cpu1: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,DS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE,SSE3,DTES64,MWAIT,DS-CPL,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,MOVBE,LONG,LAHF,PERF,SENSOR,MELTDOWN
cpu1: 24KB 64b/line 6-way D-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
cpu1: smt 0, core 1, package 0
ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 3 pa 0xfec00000, version 20, 24 pins, remapped
acpimcfg0 at acpi0
acpimcfg0: addr 0xe0000000, bus 0-255
acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318179 Hz
acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0)
acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus 1 (P0P1)
acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus 2 (P0P4)
acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus 3 (P0P5)
acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus 4 (P0P6)
acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus 5 (P0P7)
acpiprt6 at acpi0: bus 6 (P0P8)
acpiprt7 at acpi0: bus 7 (P0P9)
acpipci0 at acpi0 PCI0
acpicmos0 at acpi0
com0 at acpi0 UAR1 addr 0x3f8/0x8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
com0: console
acpibtn0 at acpi0: PWRB
acpicpu0 at acpi0: C1(@1 halt!)
acpicpu1 at acpi0: C1(@1 halt!)
pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "Intel Pineview DMI" rev 0x02
inteldrm0 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "Intel Pineview Video" rev 0x02
drm0 at inteldrm0
intagp0 at inteldrm0
agp0 at intagp0: aperture at 0xd0000000, size 0x10000000
inteldrm0: apic 3 int 16, PINEVIEW, gen 3
"Intel Pineview Video" rev 0x02 at pci0 dev 2 function 1 not configured
uhci0 at pci0 dev 26 function 0 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 16
uhci1 at pci0 dev 26 function 1 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 21
ehci0 at pci0 dev 26 function 7 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 18
usb0 at ehci0: USB revision 2.0
uhub0 at usb0 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
azalia0 at pci0 dev 27 function 0 "Intel 82801H HD Audio" rev 0x03: msi
azalia0: no HD-Audio codecs
ppb0 at pci0 dev 28 function 0 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci1 at ppb0 bus 2
em0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:6c
ppb1 at pci0 dev 28 function 1 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci2 at ppb1 bus 3
em1 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:6d
ppb2 at pci0 dev 28 function 2 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci3 at ppb2 bus 4
em2 at pci3 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:6e
ppb3 at pci0 dev 28 function 3 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci4 at ppb3 bus 5
em3 at pci4 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:6f
ppb4 at pci0 dev 28 function 4 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci5 at ppb4 bus 6
em4 at pci5 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:70
ppb5 at pci0 dev 28 function 5 "Intel 82801H PCIE" rev 0x03: msi
pci6 at ppb5 bus 7
em5 at pci6 dev 0 function 0 "Intel 82583V" rev 0x00: msi, address 00:1c:7f:39:51:71
uhci2 at pci0 dev 29 function 0 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 23
uhci3 at pci0 dev 29 function 1 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 19
uhci4 at pci0 dev 29 function 2 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 18
ehci1 at pci0 dev 29 function 7 "Intel 82801H USB" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 23
usb1 at ehci1: USB revision 2.0
uhub1 at usb1 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel EHCI root hub" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 1
ppb6 at pci0 dev 30 function 0 "Intel 82801BAM Hub-to-PCI" rev 0xf3
pci7 at ppb6 bus 1
pcib0 at pci0 dev 31 function 0 "Intel 82801HBM LPC" rev 0x03
pciide0 at pci0 dev 31 function 1 "Intel 82801HBM IDE" rev 0x03: DMA, channel 0 configured to compatibility, channel 1 configured to compatibility
pciide0: channel 0 disabled (no drives)
pciide0: channel 1 ignored (disabled)
ahci0 at pci0 dev 31 function 2 "Intel 82801HBM AHCI" rev 0x03: msi, AHCI 1.1
ahci0: port 0: 3.0Gb/s
scsibus1 at ahci0: 32 targets
sd0 at scsibus1 targ 0 lun 0:  naa.5000c500452e5a86
sd0: 953869MB, 512 bytes/sector, 1953525168 sectors
ichiic0 at pci0 dev 31 function 3 "Intel 82801H SMBus" rev 0x03: apic 3 int 17
iic0 at ichiic0
spdmem0 at iic0 addr 0x51: 2GB DDR3 SDRAM PC3-10600 SO-DIMM
usb2 at uhci0: USB revision 1.0
uhub2 at usb2 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb3 at uhci1: USB revision 1.0
uhub3 at usb3 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb4 at uhci2: USB revision 1.0
uhub4 at usb4 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb5 at uhci3: USB revision 1.0
uhub5 at usb5 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
usb6 at uhci4: USB revision 1.0
uhub6 at usb6 configuration 1 interface 0 "Intel UHCI root hub" rev 1.00/1.00 addr 1
isa0 at pcib0
isadma0 at isa0
pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 irq 1 irq 12
pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
wskbd0 at pckbd0 mux 1
vga0 at isa0 port 0x3b0/48 iomem 0xa0000/131072
wsdisplay at vga0 not configured
pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
spkr0 at pcppi0
wbsio0 at isa0 port 0x2e/2: W83627DHG-P rev 0x73
lm1 at wbsio0 port 0xa00/8: W83627DHG
vscsi0 at root
scsibus2 at vscsi0: 256 targets
softraid0 at root
scsibus3 at softraid0: 256 targets
root on sd0a (719006e99ae907a9.a) swap on sd0b dump on sd0b
inteldrm0: 1024x768, 32bpp
wsdisplay0 at inteldrm0 mux 1
pckbd_enable: command error
wsdisplay0: screen 0-5 added (std, vt100 emulation)

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