Fujitsu Futro S920 Thin Client as opnsense firewall

[antrax]

Hi All,

I've bought one fustro ( AMD GX-415GA SOC ) in order to make a Opnsense router/firewall. My ISP provide me 1900Mb/s download 600Mb/s upload link.

I've added a dual 2.5G PCIe Network Adapter, RTL8125B LAN.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0C4H4KCRJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Unfortunately when i'm running speedtest i'm not able to have more than 760Mb/s . seems related to the speed of pci port, I'm not sure to understand how can I modify this, did someone as made a tutorial to do it or maybe can explain how to acheive this.

Regards.

 

[antrax]

Hello guys!

So i've updated the bios with windows and then set the bios option for the PCI. When i'm cheking on ubuntu i'm not anymore in 1X

Then i've checked with opense i'm still stick at 900mbs average. This could be to the Realtek driver integration or so. If someone encounter the same issue or have a clue about this.

 

[unmesh]

Hi All,

I've bought one fustro ( AMD GX-415GA SOC ) in order to make a Opnsense router/firewall. My ISP provide me 1900Mb/s download 600Mb/s upload link.

I've added a dual 2.5G PCIe Network Adapter, RTL8125B LAN.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0C4H4KCRJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Unfortunately when i'm running speedtest i'm not able to have more than 760Mb/s . seems related to the speed of pci port, I'm not sure to understand how can I modify this, did someone as made a tutorial to do it or maybe can explain how to acheive this.

Regards.

Your card uses a PCIe Gen 2 x1 interface which is 5GT/s theoretical. The best people have seen in terms of throughput across the two ports is 3.2Gbps. If you're using only one port, you should see about 2.3Gbps with something like iperf3

 

[zibit]

Try a different drive? Also, is it supposed to boot secureboot or legacy/BIOS?

Hi,
Tried with different drive with same results. Installers finds drive fine and install goes ok. But still bios cant see/find drive, so I cant boot from it.
I also updatet bios to .18 version. Still cant find bios in bios.
Tried with secureboot and without, with legacy/uefi, tried all but cant find it.

 

[charly2kx]

Hi, just another question for this group. I recently bought an s920 4-core model, everything works perfectly, but I have found a problem and that is that when the power goes out, it does not turn on again even having the recovery on power options enabled in "always on" or "last state". Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[frauhottelmann]

Hi All,

I've bought one fustro ( AMD GX-415GA SOC ) in order to make a Opnsense router/firewall. My ISP provide me 1900Mb/s download 600Mb/s upload link.

I've added a dual 2.5G PCIe Network Adapter, RTL8125B LAN.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0C4H4KCRJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Unfortunately when i'm running speedtest i'm not able to have more than 760Mb/s . seems related to the speed of pci port, I'm not sure to understand how can I modify this, did someone as made a tutorial to do it or maybe can explain how to acheive this.

Regards.

The CPU and PCIe aren't really up to task of your internet speeds.
You're probably better of getting one of the router boxes from aliexpress with 2 or 4 2,5 GBit ports. With Intel N5095 or N100. They should be able to get you the speeds you're looking for.

 

[boerni666]

Hi,

I've also got a Futro S920 from ebay yesterday. Planning to use it as an Router for the new home with Fiber.

Flashed up-to-date Bios and edited the PCIe Link to Gen2. Installed OpenWRT 23.05.2 on it.

Was quite happy yesterday because i saw 2.3Gigabit/s NAT Performance (installed a Intel I225-V 2.5GB on the PCIe Slot and a Realtek 8125B on the Mini-PCIe Card).

Sometimes, it doesn't start up correctly. No Display-Out and no boot, no HDD activity, but also no beep either. :/ After the night (left it on) it appears to be dead. Nothing, but still pulls 10W from the wall when trying to start.

Did i just got a faulty model? Should I try again with another Model? It looks like it was pulled from a Corp (still had the Stickers from the IT-Service of a big german bank on it).

 

[gjvanderheiden]

Hi,

I've also got a Futro S920 from ebay yesterday. Planning to use it as an Router for the new home with Fiber.

Flashed up-to-date Bios and edited the PCIe Link to Gen2. Installed OpenWRT 23.05.2 on it.

Was quite happy yesterday because i saw 2.3Gigabit/s NAT Performance (installed a Intel I225-V 2.5GB on the PCIe Slot and a Realtek 8125B on the Mini-PCIe Card).

Sometimes, it doesn't start up correctly. No Display-Out and no boot, no HDD activity, but also no beep either. :/ After the night (left it on) it appears to be dead. Nothing, but still pulls 10W from the wall when trying to start.

Did i just got a faulty model? Should I try again with another Model? It looks like it was pulled from a Corp (still had the Stickers from the IT-Service of a big german bank on it).

I would suspect the fault to be in 3 main categories:
1 Electronics fault on the main board or NIC board
Could be a faulty one. Because it quits working after a while, I suspect it has got something to do with the little machine getting warm. When electronics has a fault and gets warm / hot, the fault can become apparent. For someone with an electronics interest / background that shouldn't be a problem.
2 Air flow / heat problem
Could also be a problem with overheating, with a safety feature shutting it off.
3. To much load on power supply on motherboard
The input voltage of 19-20 volt needs to be stepped down to 12 and 5 volt. This is managed by the power supply circuitry on the motherboard. I haven't looked into, but this seams to be quite robust on this board.

I would check the thermal paste on the CPU, that would be my main suspect and you want to be sure it is ok. I had to wipe off mine, to identify the main CPU and it looked good on mine. (Not dried out) (main problem category 2).

I would pull out the 2 NIC cards and see how it does over time. Another unit wouldn't help if a NIC turns out to be the problem. Could be a fault on the Nic too or it get's too hot in there.

The 10 watts from the mains plug is probably because there's still stuff taking power, like the NICs. It tells you that the power supply is _probably_ ok, not really a definitive test.

Or just buy another one and swap see what happens. No warranties for this kind of money I'm afraid, some need a little bit of attention. But everything looks well build. I love the pictures of thermal tests in the PDF posted in this thread. It gives some confidence in the robustness of the motherboard. The level of detail in the docs is really great. I think the motherboards will be repairable with a bit of knowledge in electronics.

Sorry, I can't give an answer on "Should I buy another one", that's up to you.

 

[boerni666]

yap, when I've pulled out the i225V, the system seems to behave normally, slid it back it, and it booted up, its running for 1 day now.

Still gonna see if the NAT performance is good enough between the two RTL8125B Card, since they share a single PCIe2.0 x1 Link over the MiniPCIe Card. Maybe if i replace the i225 by another PCIe RTL8125B...

The Powersupply can't be the issue, its a USB-C to 5,5/2,5 20V Trigger Cable on a 100W PSU.

Also quite happy with the Wireguard-Performance on that little thing! Way faster than the Fritzbox 6660 i run at home for now.

Heres a test from my notebook (attached via RTL8156B 2.5GBE USB Dongle) to the futro:

Spoiler: iperf3 over wireguard

BusyBox v1.36.1 (2023-11-14 13:38:11 UTC) built-in shell (ash)

_______ ________ __
| |.-----.-----.-----.| | | |.----.| |_
| - || _ | -__| || | | || _|| _|
|_______|| __|_____|__|__||________||__| |____|
|__| W I R E L E S S F R E E D O M
-----------------------------------------------------
OpenWrt 23.05.2, r23630-842932a63d
-----------------------------------------------------
root@openwrt-s920:~# iperf3 -s
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201 (test #1)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Accepted connection from 10.0.8.2, port 36934
[ 5] local 192.168.1.1 port 5201 connected to 10.0.8.2 port 36946
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-1.00 sec 123 MBytes 1.03 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 1.00-2.00 sec 128 MBytes 1.07 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 2.00-3.00 sec 130 MBytes 1.09 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 3.00-4.00 sec 129 MBytes 1.08 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 4.00-5.00 sec 131 MBytes 1.10 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 5.00-6.00 sec 106 MBytes 891 Mbits/sec
[ 5] 6.00-7.00 sec 130 MBytes 1.09 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 7.00-8.00 sec 131 MBytes 1.10 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 8.00-9.00 sec 131 MBytes 1.10 Gbits/sec
[ 5] 9.00-10.00 sec 129 MBytes 1.08 Gbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate
[ 5] 0.00-10.00 sec 1.24 GBytes 1.06 Gbits/sec receiver
-----------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on 5201 (test #2)
-----------------------------------------------------------

Edit: yeah: after replacing the Intel i225V by another Realtek RTL8125B, the above described Problem never occured again.

 

[neuralreticulator]

Hello Everyone,
I purchased a Fujitsu Futro S920 AMD 2.2GHz with 4GB RAM and an 8GB SSD from eBay Germany, sold by 'piospartslap' in September 2022 after watching a video on Wolfgang’s channel about turning it into an OpenWRT router. I used a freight forwarder (Aramex Shop&Ship) to bring it to West Asia, where I reside. Unfortunately, due to health issues, I couldn't inspect it for a year. In December 2023, when I finally took a look at it, I discovered that I needed adapters like 'DisplayPort to HDMI' or 'DVI-I to HDMI' to connect it to my LG 27MK430H monitor. I purchased generic adapters from AliExpress for both, but I haven't been able to get any signal to the monitor with either of them. However, I've successfully used the same DisplayPort to HDMI adapter on an HP t620 PLUS for a pfSense project.

When I power up the Fujitsu Futro with the original 40W adapter (Model: ADP-40PH, Output: 20VDC, 2A) it came with, the white power LED on the motherboard turns on steadily, and a blue LED next to it on the left side flashes once. However, pressing F2 repeatedly on system power-up using the connected USB keyboard doesn't display anything on the monitor, and there are no beeps from the buzzer. Pressing F12 for the boot menu on power-up also yields no success. The monitor shows a 'no input signal' message, even though I've selected the correct input port in the monitor settings. Removing the only 4GB RAM module from the motherboard triggers one beep repeatedly, maybe every 5 seconds.

Could you all please share your insights on what I might be doing wrong and suggest what I should try next? Additionally, could you all recommend display adapters that you've successfully used with your monitors for a similar project and provide links to purchase these adapters/cables? It would be helpful if you could also mention the monitors you use. Thank you so much for any help.

Hardware I used:





Power Adapter:


Monitor:



Display Adapters:

 

[antrax]

Your card uses a PCIe Gen 2 x1 interface which is 5GT/s theoretical. The best people have seen in terms of throughput across the two ports is 3.2Gbps. If you're using only one port, you should see about 2.3Gbps with something like iperf3

Hi, with the new Qnap 2x2.5gbp/s with intel chip I'm able to reach 2gbps download speed test using the fustro as router.

 

[gjvanderheiden]

@neuralreticulator Mine didn't give any signal either, it just beeped. No matter what I tried with the DDR memory. I updated the firmware, with the default settings and that fixed it. See post #43. Post #43 is how I found this site with a google search. In order to know the CPU type I had to remove the heatsink, clean it and afterwards apply thermal paste again. Some of these had a GPU card installed, so the bios might expect that with the current settings.

Also, there's a switch on the mainboard, which detects if the case is closed. The frontpanel normally pushes this switch in. There's an option in the bios to detect the unpressed switch as an intrusion. Current bios settings might have that enabled.

Last, you have the optional "Trusted Platform Module". The one with the security screw. Mine came with that module too, I unscrewed it with pliers around the screw head. "Kombizange" is the German word for the type of pliers I used. I removed that before resetting the bios settings. Didn't want to get into that stuff with the module, but I'm not sure it mattered in the end.

I don't know how good or bad those adapters are, I used a DVI to HDMI and the display port, both worked.

 

[boerni666]

As stated earlier, it doesn't like certain displays. I've added a 2nd Futro to my collection (since i bought a 2nd one to replace the "fault" first one, but now both turned out to be fine) and i'm using it now as thin client streaming jellyfin from my Server to my TV, since it uses less power than the solution before. it didnt like my DVI-> HDMI adapter, but a DP-> HDMI cable worked.

If the blue hdd access light is doing something, the machine is coming up at least, thats what i can say having experienced a "dead" Futro (dead by incompatible networkcard, which made the machine totally dead and not coming up, even having a headless openwrt-linux installed).

 

[neuralreticulator]

I updated the firmware, with the default settings and that fixed it. See post #43. Post #43 is how I found this site with a google search.

@gjvanderheiden, Thank you for your response.
I've already gone through post #43 and even saved it as a bookmark, though initially, I didn't consider it might be helpful for my situation. Just to clarify, can the firmware reset be performed without connecting a monitor to the Futro S920 motherboard?

Is there no other way to identify the motherboard version without removing the heatsink and physically examining the CPU? I inspected the backside of the mainboard, and it had these markings, as can be seen from the image:

• W26361-W3452-X-04
• W26361-W3452-Z1-07-36

Can these markings be used to decipher the mainboard version?




Currently, I don't have high-quality thermal paste on hand, so I'm hesitant to remove the heatsink and physically check the CPU markings. I plan to do that after purchasing suitable thermal paste.

At the moment, the Futro S920 mainboard powers up as soon as the adapter pin is plugged in when it is inside the cabinet. Outside the cabinet, sometimes I need to press and hold the intrusion detection push button to trigger this behavior, and other times pressing the power-on button is needed. Is this behavior expected?

I've attempted to boot it up and connect it to a monitor both with the cabinet on and off, but so far, no luck in posting to monitor with the currently available adapters.

Could you provide information on the location and purpose of the 'Trusted Platform Module'?

For the firmware reset, should the RCV pin header jumper be connected as shown in the image below?



And would it be wiser for me to acquire more adapters and attempt to connect with a different monitor before attempting a firmware reset with default settings like mentioned in post #43?

 

[neuralreticulator]

@boerni666, I appreciate your response and the encouragement that the S920 might not be "dead" as I fear; your mentions that it doesn't like certain displays and it didn't work with your DVI->HDMI cable are offering me a glimmer of hope.

I'm contemplating getting another unit if experimenting with branded (HP, Belkin) video cables/adapters doesn't yield any positive outcome. I also plan to test with different monitors, although I don't have any available at the moment.

The blue HDD LED briefly shows activity shortly after booting, then goes silent.

In my attempts, I'm working with the bare unit without any NICs or additional hardware.

I'm intrigued by the headless OpenWRT install on Futro S920 that you mentioned. Could you direct me to a write-up, tutorial, or forum thread that provides guidance on this?

 

[gjvanderheiden]

@gjvanderheiden, Thank you for your response.
I've already gone through post #43 and even saved it as a bookmark, though initially, I didn't consider it might be helpful for my situation. Just to clarify, can the firmware reset be performed without connecting a monitor to the Futro S920 motherboard?

Yes, that worked for me. It whistles all kinds of happy beeps. Mine came with an external speaker for extra effect. When the update is done, it makes longer beeps or something. Don't know exactly, because my son was very excited with his new VR thing and was making noise I disconnected everything from the box.

Is there no other way to identify the motherboard version without removing the heatsink and physically examining the CPU? I inspected the backside of the mainboard, and it had these markings, as can be seen from the image:

• W26361-W3452-X-04
• W26361-W3452-Z1-07-36

I haven't found any resources / info on those numbers.

Currently, I don't have high-quality thermal paste on hand, so I'm hesitant to remove the heatsink and physically check the CPU markings. I plan to do that after purchasing suitable thermal paste.

Yes, I waited for my thermal paste to arrive before going any further. I did clean it and performed the bios update. I figured it didn't had time enough to get really hot.

At the moment, the Futro S920 mainboard powers up as soon as the adapter pin is plugged in when it is inside the cabinet. Outside the cabinet, sometimes I need to press and hold the intrusion detection push button to trigger this behavior, and other times pressing the power-on momentary switch is needed. Is this behavior expected? I've attempted to boot it up and connect it to a monitor both with the cabinet on and off, but so far, no luck with the currently available adapters.

Probably. There's also a bios setting to control the power state after plugged in if I remember correctly. You can put a tie wrap around the switch to keep it pushed in.

Could you provide information on the location and purpose of the 'Trusted Platform Module'?

It is a raised little board. In your picture below you can see the edge of it. It is on the bottom left corner. It is below the SSD drive. It has a funny screw, that you can tighten with a screwdriver, but not untighten. Search around this thread, there are some interesting links to PDF's. Very detailed.

For the firmware reset, should the RCV pin header jumper be connected as shown in the image below?

View attachment 34303

And would it be wiser for me to acquire more adapters and attempt to connect with a different monitor before attempting a firmware reset with default settings like mentioned in post #43?

That's the correct setting for recovery mode. (The pins with the silk screen ReCoVery are shorted). One of the PDF's also have info on this. Maybe you can perform a factory bios reset as another thinker option.

I would _definitely_ try other cables first. Or try on another display with a display port or something. Keep in mind that my unit started with only beeps indicating it was not happy about something, power rails where fine, I checked.
Once you have a picture on your screen you can see the CPU in software / bios. You can than choose to update or leave it.

I had succes with a display port to display port cable, and a DVI to HDMI cable. Both not sourced from Ali I should say.

 

[boerni666]

I'm intrigued by the headless OpenWRT install on Futro S920 that you mentioned. Could you direct me to a write-up, tutorial, or forum thread that provides guidance on this?

Since the Futro is generic x86_64 Hardware and the boot-process is like any other standard-pc, the standard OpenWRT Guide For x86_64 hardware is sufficient.

[OpenWrt Wiki] OpenWrt on x86 hardware (PC / VM / server)

openwrt.org

If you decide to use the EFI image, you need to install an EFI Boot Menu Entry with an Linux-LiveCD and efibootmgr as well.

 

[neuralreticulator]

Since the Futro is generic x86_64 Hardware and the boot-process is like any other standard-pc, the standard OpenWRT Guide For x86_64 hardware is sufficient.

@boerni666, Thank you for your reply and the link.

If you decide to use the EFI image, you need to install an EFI Boot Menu Entry with an Linux-LiveCD and efibootmgr as well.

I think I may have misinterpreted the expression "even having a headless openwrt-linux installed" in your initial response. I assumed you were talking about installing OpenWRT on a Futro S920 without a connected display. However, I now understand that you probably meant it in the context of lacking a graphical user interface ('GUI') and relying on a command-line interface ('CLI') am I right?. Nonetheless, doesn't this approach require a monitor connected to S920 for selecting the boot device? I apologize if my question seems trivial or stupid.

Or, were you suggesting the idea of removing the internal mSATA SSD, writing an OpenWRT image to it, attempting to boot from it, and accessing the instance over a secure shell from another machine in the same network?

 

[neuralreticulator]

@gjvanderheiden, I appreciate your detailed response. I've downloaded the motherboard identification PDF manual from the Fujitsu website.

I want to confirm if the module in the picture below with the security screw is indeed the 'Trusted Platform Module.' Is it recommended to remove it before resetting the firmware to prevent potential issues later on? Also, wouldn't there be an option to disable it in the BIOS if I can access the BIOS, so I can leave it on if needed? The idea of removing the screw with a needle-nose plier from the main board makes me a bit nervous. I'll search for the PDFs about this module in this thread as you mentioned.



I'll explore this thread and other resources to understand how to perform a 'factory reset', especially if it's different from the 'ReCoVery reset'. Thanks for sharing that information.

I plan to try new adapters and, if possible, borrow a display with DisplayPort to test if the board is indeed giving a video signal. Your encouraging words mean a lot and keep my spirits up. Thanks again.

 

[gjvanderheiden]

@neuralreticulator that is the module and screw. I just removed it, because I thought it would give me less trouble. You can leave it and take it out if it causes you trouble. Don’t be afraid to undo a screw. Besides, it is on it’s own plastic thingy. Bottom line: just try. Bit first goal is to see something displayed.