pfsense , unable to resinstall
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hi,
my pfsense crashed. It cannot boot anymore. I tried reinstall it with a usb stick. I’ve done this a couple of times without any issue. But now, the install fails.I used UFS, entire disk. It shows the partition layout, i select ada0 and click the finish button, then i get an error « error mounting partition, file system is not clean».
i am stuck. No internet at home :(
Can i just wipe the disk and install fresh?
thanks
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@jgauthier
Yes, I would do a fresh installation with ZFS.But you can also try to repair your filesystem: Troubleshooting Disk and Filesystem Issues
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Yup try that ^ first.
If it still fails try cleaning the target disk:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/multiple-disks.html#clear-the-disk -
@stephenw10 i have read the article about Clear the disk, but i am not sure how to do this.
Must i boot from a usb media installer?
Could you guide me on the steps to completely erase my drive as fresh new?thanks
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Boot the installer then choose 'Rescue Shell' to reach a command prompt where those things can be run.
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@stephenw10
just some clarification to what i did:- Auto UFS
-Partition <entire disk>
-ada0, finish, commit
Error mounting partition /mnt
… file system is not clean.Isn’t the drive already deleted clean when we select <entire disk>? if so, why creating the new partition structure fails, i don’t get this. It looks like it doesn’t yet wipe the disk and can’t wipe the partition before creating the new partition structure.
I hope my ssd drive isn’t dead…
Does a fsck running in single user mode could really fix it or slim chances?
As soon as i get out of hospital, i’ll look at this and the rescue shell you pointed that.
thanks
- Auto UFS
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@viragomann Do you believe that a ZFS install could overcome the issue that i have creating the UFS partition?
I never used zfs before, i am totally beginner on this. Do i have to go through complex settings or could i let everything as default?
Could i change it back to ufs by reinstalling if i ever needed?
thanks
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@jgauthier
I don't know any drawbacks with ZFS. However, it's more robust against power outages than UFS.During the installation process you're asked for mirroring settings. Since you only have a single disk, select "stripe: 0 disks".
Look into the pfSense docs > ZFS for details.
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Yup I would try ZFS since it will ignore any remaining UFS info on the drive.
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@stephenw10 i am at a ZFS configuration screen where i need to choose between ada0 (my ssd drive) and label/swap0.
I have selected ada0 (i had chosen stripe prior). But when i confirm, i get a message: stripe:not enough disks selected. Any idea?
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@jgauthier haha, i found it: spacebar on the disk to flag it before doing enter.
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Guiding My wife on the phone going through the process of installing pfSense with ZFS step by step. When we reboot i get a bunch of gibberish messages including multiple « INCORRECT BLOCK COUNT » followed by a bunch and:
Filesystem marked clean
Filesystem was modified
error: impossible to mount file system…Does it mean my ssd is failed and unrecoverable ?
Going back home tomorrow and will see whether i can manage something from the rescue shell, wipe the disk, but until then, was thinking you may have ideas.
I had ordered as a plan B, a new m2 drive if it is doomed.
thank you
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Mmm, I'd want to see the actual logs but that doesn't sounds good. Could very well be a bad drive.
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@stephenw10
i've managed to change the SSD for a new one and voilà! This was indeed a bad drive apparently. I've ran pfSense 24/7 for over 5 years, eventually SSD drives are not lasting forever...So, i've installed it with ZFS and was reloaded my prior config automatically (my config.xml was on the USB installation media). Really snappy.
However, I run into something I have never seen before. My packages have not been reinstalled. When I go in PAckages/Available Packages, I see "Unable to retrieve package information".
I ran "pkg-static -d update" in command prompt. I can see I have multiple this error message: SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate.
Found a similar post and ran this: pkg-static upgrade -f pfSense-repoc
This fixed the problem!thanks
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There was an issue with the pkg server earlier today that may have come into play. Glad you got it fixed though.
