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    pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @thearamadon
      last edited by

      What exactly did you put in the file? You don't include 'set' there.

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        thearamadon @stephenw10
        last edited by

        @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

        What exactly did you put in the file? You don't include 'set' there.

        I tried both set boot_serial=NO and unset boot_serial. Both of these work if I enter them directly into the boot console, but not if I add them to the file

        stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @thearamadon
          last edited by

          Neither would work in the file, it should be just:

          boot_serial=NO
          

          Steve

          T S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • T
            thearamadon @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

            Neither would work in the file, it should be just:

            boot_serial=NO
            

            Steve

            That did the trick! Thanks so much for the help.

            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • N
              nielsjlarsen @thearamadon
              last edited by nielsjlarsen

              @thearamadon and @stephenw10

              I have the exact same issue. Also running 2.6 on x86 hardware.
              It's normally working perfectly, however for some reason we've had a few power outages lately and every time pfSense powers up again I need to manually power off, break the boot sequence (press space) and change the console to VGA (press 5) and continue with the boot process (press Enter).
              If I do nothing it just freezes, black screen and no action on any keyboard input.

              After getting fed up with this I researched and thought I might've installed the memstick serial image by mistake, so I downloaded the memstick VGA image and did a fresh install.
              I see the same behaviour with a completely fresh VGA install, with nothing more than assigning the adapters i.e. no restore from backup.

              I've tried adding boot_serial=NO in /boot/loader.conf.local with no luck.
              I've also tried reaching the prompt in the bootloader and run:

              set console=vidconsole
              

              but it fails and tells me there's no vidconsole, but efi and a few other options, none of which sound right.

              I've also tried assigning the VGA console as the primary console in the GUI and although this setting is persistent after a reboot, it changes nothing.

              Any help appreciated as I'm traveling more and more for work and I know I'll have a priority 1 incident if "the WiFi" fails while I'm away from home and my teens cannot watch TikTok etc.. 😂

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                It probably is an efi console. What does the menu entry say?

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                • N
                  nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10

                  What menu entry do you mean?
                  In the boot options or in the web GUI?

                  I've tried using efi console, but it doesn't work.

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                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    I mean what does menu option 5 in the loader show when you select it?

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                    • S
                      SeaMonkey @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 Thanks! I was suffering from the same issue.

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                      • N
                        nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10

                        When it boots it's set to serial regardless of the settings I've played with in loader.conf.local or in the console settings in the GUI.
                        I have to change that to video to be able to boot successfully.

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          So the menu shows option 5 as 'serial' and you press it to change to 'video' and then it boots correctly?

                          What do you have in loader.conf and loader.conf.local?

                          Steve

                          N stephenw10S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
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                            nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                            last edited by

                            @stephenw10

                            loader.conf

                            kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
                            kern.ipc.nmbclusters="1000000"
                            kern.ipc.nmbjumbop="524288"
                            kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9="524288"
                            opensolaris_load="YES"
                            zfs_load="YES"
                            kern.geom.label.gptid.enable="0"
                            kern.geom.label.disk_ident.enable="0"
                            autoboot_delay="3"
                            hw.hn.vf_transparent="0"
                            hw.hn.use_if_start="1"
                            net.link.ifqmaxlen="128"
                            

                            There's no loader.conf.local at the moment.

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                            • stephenw10S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @stephenw10
                              last edited by

                              @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

                              So the menu shows option 5 as 'serial' and you press it to change to 'video' and then it boots correctly?

                              N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • N
                                nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10

                                Correct

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Do you see a console type option in the gui in Sys > Advanced > Admin Access?

                                  You may have initially installed from the memstick serial image accidentally.

                                  Steve

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                                  • N
                                    nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10

                                    I do, and I have tried selecting VGA console as primary but it doesn't take effect.

                                    Yes this was my concern after having spent many hours troubleshooting and trying various things, so I downloaded and installed the VGA memstick image (triple checked), but there's no difference.

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                                    • stephenw10S
                                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                      last edited by

                                      Setting a value there should change what is in loader.conf, do you see that?

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                                      • N
                                        nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                        last edited by

                                        @stephenw10

                                        There's no difference in /boot/loader.conf when changing from VGA console to serial console (in System->
                                        Advanced->Admin Access->Serial Communication) and back again.

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by stephenw10

                                          Hmm, check in /conf. Do you have an enableserial_force file?

                                          If you do what exactly is that hardware?

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                                          • N
                                            nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                            last edited by

                                            @stephenw10

                                            There's no enableserial_force file in /conf.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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