Bricked fortigate 300A

[Mike_Berube]

Hello, I received a Fortigate 300A for a sister company and for whatever reason I cannot get it to boot. I think this unit was used as a backup unit for the main production one. I forget the term Fortinet uses for this. Anyway, when I turn the unit on the fans run at high speed and stay like that forever. Nothing on the display panel. I was wondering if there was any way around this to make the unit boot so that I can access it. Thanks

[ede_pfau]

Any signs of life over the console port (serial)? If you don' t see any messages here during boot you cannot re-flash the FGT. Try 9600/19200/38400 baud, it might have been reconfigured. Without any boot messages ' bricked' would be the appropriate term then.

[Mike_Berube]

I’m green when it comes to console port serial access. Do I need to download some type of client to install in Windows to access via serial port? Is there a procedure somewhere?

[ede_pfau]

You must be waaay younger than me, post-modem age. In Windows, you' ve got the Hyperterm application. It' s rudimentary but it works. Google for Hyperterm PE or Hyperterm Private Edition if you want more bells & whistles. Create a new connection, using COM1, parameters 8-N-1 (8 bits, no flow control, 1 stop bit). Baudrate 9600 to start with (19200 and 38400 later). Connect the FGT serial cable to your PC' s serial port (COM1) and the console port on the FGT. Hit ENTER once to open the connection. Reboot (the hard way, power-cycle) and watch.

[billp]

You must be waaay younger than me, post-modem age. In Windows, you' ve got the Hyperterm application. It' s rudimentary but it works. Google for Hyperterm PE or Hyperterm Private Edition if you want more bells & whistles.

Funny. Back in the 80' s we used to make our own serial cables with the help of a soldering iron and a Multitech breakout box Every printer and device seemed to have a different standard. If you have Windows XP, you can borrow the Hyperterm app that' s bundled with it -- you need hypertrm.exe and hypertrm.dll. They stopped including it with Vista and Windows 7, but it' s still compatible. . .and free. The newer versions are only available for a 30-day trial, I believe. The old XP version seems to work fine for basic serial port configs on the Fortigate.

[ede_pfau]

I didn' t notice that they ' upgraded' their program to now include SSH protocol. And of course leave the shareware sector. HyperTerm PE 6.3 is still available here http://www.brothersoft.com/hyperterminal-private-edition-247129.html and offers more functionality than the XP version while running on Win7 as well. BTW: the first modem I used was a 300 baud audio-coupler type.

[Mike_Berube]

It seems I have tried Hyperterm in the past because the application was expired on my XP test console. I downloaded Putty and tried to connect but the screen stays black. I tried multiple Baudrate and rebooted the fg every time. No pulse. Is there any possible manual reset in or on the box?

[rwpatterson]

Make a test with a working console (working FGT) to see if the cable is any good.

[Mike_Berube]

Yep cable works fine connecting to a working FG unit. There is still no connection to the 300A. So I guess it’s going into the dumpster unless anybody else has an idea. TY

[ede_pfau]

That would be a pity, it' s not one of those little shoeboxes. IMHO it could be the power supply or trouble with the flash (card). With the internal PSU you could measure the output voltage(s) to see if it' s working at all. Roaring fans alone don' t make it. Maybe you could open the case and remove the flash and see if that makes her boot. If it does I' d replace the card (in other units it' s a (lame) CF card).