Comments on: Upgrading the Cisco PIX 506E

By: Griffin Willard

Griffin Willard — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:54:31 +0000

I need to know how do i get a 515E FO pix server changed to a 515E R or a UR license, I get a 51E PIX Firewall VPN server of ebay, but in real life its was a FO not a UR

By: Stifferd

Stifferd — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 04:11:08 +0000

Ummmm, Untangle??? I know this thread is very old, but i just gotta say….seriously?

untangle has got to be the WORST open source firewall I have ever seen. Even with a core2quad and 4th of ram that thing barely kept up with web browsing lol

It’s the most inefficient firewall I have ever seen. The only open source firewall comparable to a pix IMO is pfsense…

By: Ironman

Ironman — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:59:51 +0000

Lots of fun, but what a waste of resources.
An old computer and Untangle gets you a lot more for a lot less effort in the Unified Threat Management Area…
I guess if your a Cisco Pix hobbiest that is ok,,good to have a hobby.
But if your looking for best bang for buck for Firewall and threat management..ease of configuration, flexibility, lack of licensing etc. Then look to open source firewalls.
Good luck folks…just my $.02

By: junkets

junkets — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 01:54:22 +0000

So has anyone been able to get a hold of jj’s ios 8.x that has the patches for the 506e-515e upgrade? I never use the pdm anyway and would really like to be able to use one new feature of 7.2 or higher. Thanks.

By: Integrator

Integrator — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 21:46:03 +0000

I found a article that someone has DIY his PIX 506E, upgraded the Flash memory from 8MB to 16MB.

If the PIX 506e has 16MB flash, does it mean PIX 506e can run PIX OS 7.24 and 8.04?

http://www.right.com.cn/forum/viewthread.php?tid=24823

By: gpumroy

gpumroy — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:17:49 +0000

I found this article about installing IOS 7.0 in PIX 506e but have not tried it. Version 7.0 does not support PPTP which I want to still use in an emergency.
http://www.netemu.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=366
The real issue is, since the pix 506e motherboard is essentially the same as a PIX 515e and it has 16mb of flash, why doesn’t the 506e? I came accross a little utility program that reformats the flash but have not used it on the 506e yet. I did use it to solve a boot problem in a 515e but the 515e has 16mb of flash already. If the 506e flash reformat yielded 16mb, then I’m assuming any OS could be installed, unless as was mentioned earlier, that IOS beyond 6.0 is locked out by code.
Which brings up another possiblity, 3DES/AES unlimited. The activation code is tied to the serial number which is stored in an EPROM and not the flash. Could the EEPROM be reprogrammed with a Willem EPROM programmer, etc.? I know, all the chips on the motherboard are soldered in place, but, is that such a difficult task to unsolder the chip and replace with a socket such as PCs have? Since the whole PIX 500 series is past end of life for the manufacturer, could that be a problem?
So much to do and so little time to do it!

By: mvalpreda

mvalpreda — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:48:39 +0000

For those who want to upgrade the RAM, look for 2x MT4LSDT864AG-133B1. Those are Micron 64mb SDRAM modules and they work well. I have 1 of those plus the original 32mb in my 506e and this is what I get:

#show mem
Free memory: 42040760 bytes
Used memory: 58622536 bytes
————- —————-
Total memory: 100663296 bytes

Looks like it will use much more than 32mb!

To upgrade the processor, get a SL4CM as mentioned by gpumroy. I have a couple on the way and looking forward to faster 3DES/AES connections.

Now can 7.x be shoehorned into this thing? :)

By: gpumroy

gpumroy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:31:03 +0000

The PIX 506e is alot of fun to play with. Since Cisco came out with ASA, the PIX 506e has been getting very cheap on eBay. My main problems with PIX 506e are 1. Runs to hot because of poor thermal design of the cabinet 2. CPU is only 300mhz thus too slow and 3. Power supply is to expensive and plastic.
I solved the cabinet cooling issue by drilling a matrix of 3/16″ holes above the cpu and extending over to the memory slots. Air is drawn in thru these holes by the fan, cooling the 440BX chip and first row of memory. The warm air exits out the rear of the cabinet. Cabinet top now is cool to the touch and eliminates thermal degradation of the cpu while passing heavy traffic.
CPU improvement is somewhat straightforward, keeping in mind the 440BX is a 100mhz chipset. Choosing a cpu in the FSB speed of 100mhz makes for a predictable result. I choose 600/256/100 SL4CM that is available from eBay for about $7. The retention clip had to be recontoured to ensure heatsink would sit flatly on the CPU. Higher speed CPUs are available but the goal of reaching the same speed as the PIX 525 was accomplished with the 600mhz.
Power supply was easy also. While repairing a PIX 515e, I discovered the motherboard is identical to the PIX 506e. Failover was connected and basically a connector that transitions to a pci bus is present but the rest is the same with BIOS differences. The power supply used is an ASTEC AA20270. This ASTEC model appears in the Cisco 2600 series routers as well as the PIX 515e. This ASTEC model is plentiful on eBay for around $5. Simply unplug the internal power cable harness from the motherboard in the PIX 506e and plug the ASTEC in. Great for lab use. An alternate configuration is to adapt the ASTEC wires to a cable from a bad Cisco ADP-33AB. Plug directly in the rear of the PIX-506e – DONE.
Performance of the PIX-506e is greatly improved with these changes. My bench test is to create a 3DES tunnel to the PIX and and pass data thru (1.104GB). Before changes, a single tunnel passed 1.104GB of 3DES thru in about 13 min. After, the same data passed thru in about 6.5 min. A PIX 520 with 600mhz slot1 was also around 6 min.
I plan to obtain a rack mount adapter from eBay to install the PIX 506e with ASTEC power supply. PIX 515e done another way!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:03:38 +0000

Go to the Support, Download Software, Security, Firewall, PIX to download the software.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:00:35 +0000

Hi all;

Does anyone have the “correct” URL @ Cisco for an upgrade to my 506(e)?

For show ver, I get:

PIX-506, 32 MB RAM, CPU 200 mhz
Flash is 8 MB
BIOS Flash is 32KB

I’m on an older version, 6.2(1)

I have a Cisco account, but can’t find a upgrade/download section for it. Please copy and paste the URL if you got it.

Thanks, Steve

By: S

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:43:13 +0000

Can anyone send me the latest firmware ?
need for a 515
sjw@techie.com
Thanks

By: Master

Master — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:16:00 +0000

How can upgrade the 506E to 16MB Flash?

Just replace the Flash from 8MB to 16MB? The 506E Bios can detect 16MB Flash?

By: pillow

pillow — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:37:14 +0000

Is there anyone who has got contacted with jj?
Or could the owner of this website tell me the e-mail of jj?

By: mvalpreda

mvalpreda — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:50:41 +0000

Anyone found a place apart from eBay that has the “shorter” PC100 SYNCH RAM that is needed in the 506e? All I have is RAM that is too tall to fit in the device with the cover on.

By: danny

danny — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:38:43 +0000

Hi, can anyone get hold of the cisco pix v8 os for me. I’ll pay! email me at: dannyuw2000@yahoo.co.uk