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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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    • 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:

      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.. 😂

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

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

              N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 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.

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

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

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

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

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • 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.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • 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
                        • N
                          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.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • 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

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • 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

                                N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • 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.

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

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

                                    N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • 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.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • 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?

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

                                          @stephenw10

                                          There's no enableserial_force file in /conf.

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

                                            Hmm, setting that line to 'video' does exactly the same thing as using set console=vidconsole at the prompt. But you say only one of those things works which makes no sense.

                                            What other console options do you have there? Is it a UEFI BIOS?

                                            If it was booting as expected before losing power though it's possible you have some filesystem damage. The easiest thing here is [probably going to be reinstalling clean.

                                            Steve

                                            N 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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