For folks hitting this old thread from Google, read this sticky post instead:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,28264.0.html

I updated the page to reflect the current size limit.

It's not possible or practical to use anything less than 512MB, and even then that's a stretch. Given how cheap CF media is, even for 4GB cards, there's no reason to cling to (probably old) small CF cards. Newegg has 4GB cards for $12-20. Well worth the price.

I was thinking that the command line did not auto detect the nic as up in command line setup portion.
but once in GUI mode I was able to assign ip with out issue.

We successfully 'mode switched' a Novatel 3g modem in another thread by simply 'ejecting' the virtual cd-rom.
Unfortunately the cdcontrol command is not included in pfSense by default to you need to copy it across from a FreeBSD install. This probably won't work for a lot of modems but it's worth a try as it's easy.

Steve

That is by design. When you do an upgrade, the slice not currently in use is upgraded, and then you switch to it. If the upgrade fails, you go back to the first slice.

i solved it now.

i installed the newest bios, and did an reinstall of pfsense.

and now it works. :)

i had to do an reinstall, otherwise pfsense wouldnt start…

Update…

So, i was digging into possible issues, and I found some bios updates available for the motherboard and I was unsuccessful installing them :(
I took everything out of the machine and put it back in and all of a sudden it allowed me to install it to the HDD.
I move it to the location of my switches and then it just loops through setup over and over, (exact problem happening originally)
Then after its 6th time through it finally catches and allows me to setup the NIC's . Everything is up and running.
Here is the question though...

I feel this system is flaky and likely wont reboot properly the next time power goes out or reboots.
Anyone have an idea what could be causing these issues?

HDD passed DFT hard drive test
Ram passed Memtest
Board Passed Qa Win 32

Only thing I haven't tested is the PSU, I did extend the cables on this myself a few months ago for another project, but it was never used until now. Could this be the issue?

An issue I ran into at one point was the CF card was a tad smaller than the image I was writing to the card.  Try writing the 2GB image to the 4GB card and see if it boots.

Cheers!

Dan

ok con la 2.0 embendedd non ho nessun problema e finalmente riesco ad installare anche i packages. :D

@jimp:

You don't install it from the console, after you fix the config you can get back into the GUI and do it there. :)

AHH yes .. I just figured that out and was coming back to post … helps if I think before i speak! I appreciate the help Jim!

Josh

:D

SOLVED

Thank you for your reply. I'm installing pfSense on a full hd, 2.5.

Thanks for your reply!
pfsense is right now working perfectly and I dont want to mess around with it, its such a good product.

Yeah I figured the benefits from doing this dont quite match the hassle required to learn a new OS like freebsd… I have more than enough with getting linux to do more than bash scripting ...

I will look at the application later on, in the meantime, if anybody know without doing much work, how to do this, please share with us!

Thanks!

@e:

I have also powered down the cable modem and pfsense

Others have reported that the power needs to be off for some seconds, at least long enough for the power supply capacitors to drain.

Have you done the suggested packet trace on the wan interface?

Might be time to talk with your ISP's technical support.

Hi Cry Havok,

Thank you for your comments.
I need to connect the other computers to the same network because they need to share the internet connection.

According to what you said, would it be better if I put the web server behind the pfsense firewall ?
that is : modem/router –-> pfsense firewall  ----> web server
                                                            ----> local network on different subnet

Will the web server still be able to serve webpages in this arrangement ?

patrick.

Are there any upstream proxies that might be interfering?

Can you load this URL from a PC on your LAN?

http://www.pfsense.org/pfSense/pkg_tester.php

If you get a PHP array, it should work from the router.

You can also try this from the pfSense console:

jojoepsp

Just checked the link, and it works fine.

the only way to do it in this case is to install it on an HD in another computer and move it to the alix. you will have to make sure that you keep the boot settings (install it on master with no other drives) otherwise it wont boot.
after you have done this, go to the web gui and enable the serial output.

@jimp:

Whoever had the bright idea to use link-local addressing for anything should be fired (and fired at).

+1 with the possibility of torture…as its torture.

The video will stop at that point. That's where the output switches to serial.

In addition to those serial port setttings (putty is better for that, btw), you must be using a null modem serial cable.