This looks like a bug yes. Check: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/11805#change-53054 And the following forum post: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/162924/to-2-5-1-or-not-that-is-the-question/65?_=1618838285034

The upgrade process is an "online' activity. How can you download an upgrade if there are no interfaces == no network ?

@brians Same issue here: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/162924/to-2-5-1-or-not-that-is-the-question/65?_=1618564501919 You can install 2.5.1 and import your config from 2.5.0, but a update should not mess with the boot device in the first place.

@virgiliomi Same problem for me but on 21.02.2 (SG-1100) Although DNS seems to be working since the ntp log shows the server IP. I'm using 2 pools - us.pool.ntp.org & time.cloudflare.com Apr 15 14:35:53 ntpd 96301 Soliciting pool server 74.6.168.72 Apr 15 14:34:52 ntpd 96301 Soliciting pool server 2606:4700:f1::1 Apr 15 14:34:49 ntpd 96301 Soliciting pool server 162.159.200.1 It looks like it is also trying to try IPv6 occasionally even though I tried forcing IPv4 in NTP settings.

@trumee SHA256 (pfSense-CE-memstick-2.4.5-RELEASE-p1-amd64.img.gz) = aa40595d090465f20fff1890092e6a14a753cd9486ccc7101d81301cad8b8840 This file content was downloaded from netgate when this version was still available.

Okay, I instead updated to the deprecated 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1, and that went fine. I then updated from that to 21.02_1, which also went fine. Problem solved. Sorry for the noise.

@jimp In case it's helpful or necessary, here is the ipsec portion of my config file. (Don't have any actual ipsec tunnels configured.) <ipsec> <phase1>i</phase1> <logging> <dmn>1</dmn> <mgr>1</mgr> <ike>1</ike> <chd>1</chd> <job>1</job> <cfg>1</cfg> <knl>1</knl> <net>1</net> <asn>1</asn> <enc>1</enc> <imc>1</imc> <imv>1</imv> <pts>1</pts> <tls>1</tls> <esp>1</esp> <lib>1</lib> </logging> </ipsec>

If you contact support at https://go.netgate.com they can look up your info in other ways and get you the installation image for Plus on your Netgate hardware.

@danielduarte 2.4.4 is out of service it has been removed you need to upgrade to 2.5.0

@jimp At this point, I might as well wait for 2.5.1 and probably a couple of weeks after that to see the experience from other users. I'll post back once I've actually attempted to upgrade.

@jdeloach Great to know! and thank you!

@steveits Thanks. Just did that and was able to reinstall and load my config file and am now sorted.

Finally, I managed the setup and my old config.xml hast been recognized and everything ist working again with 2.5.0 During the setup process I have choose the wrong console. With ANSI I was mit able to select any options. With VT100 everything went very smoothly in about 15 min. Kind regards Alex

@daniellltorres Seems to be an issue with the LSI Raid chip. Maybe a BIOS or firmware update can solve it. Or you can deactivate / pull out the LSI and use the other disc controller if available.

@vargr Just a quick follow-up and officially closing down this thread: The problem is solved! Gertjan was right and a new firmware was required. It was very easy to obtain and following the link above easy to install (but I always feel nervous when updating firmware). Remember, that pfsense resets its IP-address to 192.168.1.1 as well as its admin password. Thank you again to Gertjan!

@fresnoboy Have a look here , a way to "fallback" https://forum.netgate.com/post/965219 /Bingo

This issue is resolved. I opened a support ticket, and they had me reimage the device with the 21.02_1 image (they linked me the correct image to use). There was an option to recover an existing config before install, and using that I was able to recover my old config. System is back up now and working ok, original config intact, so it was an easy recovery. I have also learned about the free online config backup service PFsence provides. I will be using that from now on, incase this happens again. Thank you.