Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100

rcoleman-netgate

@jvamos said in Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100:

Is the replacement drive soldered?

Pardon? The drive is a M+B m.2 NVMe.

jvamos

@rcoleman-netgate

OK thanks.

I don't understand why Netgate stopped documenting how to swap the drives.

rcoleman-netgate

@jvamos as I said earlier:

Modification of the hardware could result in damage to these specific models (the fit is very tight). That's all I'm getting at.

You could break the cover, disrupt the airflow, etc. This is not a system that can just get the cover taken off and get you a slot easily - the entire system relies upon that passive cooling and any damage it will likely cause damage to your system longterm

hrx

Hey there,

does anyone here have a recommendation for compatible SSDs for the 4100/6100.

We now have some of these series with defective eMMCs that are no longer under warranty and have to offer solutions for our customers.

Thank you very much for your support!

stephenw10

I can't recommend anything specific myself but there are a few threads in the Netgate Hardware section with reports of drives other users have fitted.

Steve

hrx

We found a Transcend NMVe M2. SSD (TE452T, 128GB), bought and installed it in the appliance. We were also able to install the pfSense software without any problems, but now a "warm start" no longer works.

This means, for example, that we cannot restart the pfSense software (via reboot). The system then no longer boots (the BlinkBoot UEFI loader no longer appears).

SSD specs are here: https://www.transcend-info.com/embedded/product/embedded-ssd-solutions/mte452t-mte452t-i

"Cold" restarts, i.e. power cycling, work.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks

stephenw10

Hmm, nope not seen that on a 4100. What output do you see on the console?

hrx

There's no output anymore after i.e. restarting pfSense software:

---------------------------snip---------------------------

*** Welcome to Netgate pfSense Plus 23.09.1-RELEASE (amd64) on pfSense ***

Current Boot Environment: default
Next Boot Environment: default

WAN (wan) -> ix3 ->
LAN (lan) -> igc0 -> v4: 192.168.1.1/24
WAN2 (opt1) -> ix2 ->
WAN3 (opt2) -> ix0 ->
WAN4 (opt3) -> ix1 ->
LAN2 (opt4) -> igc1 ->
LAN3 (opt5) -> igc2 ->
LAN4 (opt6) -> igc3 ->

Logout (SSH only) 9) pfTop
Assign Interfaces 10) Filter Logs
Set interface(s) IP address 11) Restart webConfigurator
Reset webConfigurator password 12) PHP shell + Netgate pfSense Plus tools
Reset to factory defaults 13) Update from console
Reboot system 14) Enable Secure Shell (sshd)
Halt system 15) Restore recent configuration
Ping host 16) Restart PHP-FPM
Shell

Enter an option: 4

You are about to reset the firewall to factory defaults.
The firewall will reboot after resetting the configuration.
All additional packages installed will be removed.
Do you want to proceed [y|n]? y

Netgate pfSense Plus is rebooting now.
pflog0: promiscuous mode disabled
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process vnlru' to stop... done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process syncer' to stop...
Syncing disks, vnodes remaining... 0 0 0 0 0 0 done
All buffers synced.
Uptime: 2m38s
uhub0: detached

---------------------------snip---------------------------

That's it. After 10 minutes of waiting we pulled the plug and power-cycled. That of course works.

stephenw10

So when you reset the config? Does it do it when you reboot normally?

hrx

The reboot using menu #5 is giving the same result.
Also does a change of the boot priority order (by invoking the boot menu pressing F2) - so it's not related to the OS itself I'd say.

stephenw10

What do the LEDs show?

There some internal LEDs that may show something if it's stuck at some lower power state.

There's not much we can do there though. There's nothing to change.

hrx

It's the circle LED in solid orange.

stephenw10

Hmm, then it's failing to POST. The internal LEDs may tell you more but, as I say, there's nothing that can be set to affect that.

hrx

At the moment I would suspect it's related to what other users also experienced in https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/15110

stephenw10

Yes, very likely the same issue. That specific drive is mentioned.

Make sure you're running the current Blinkboot version. Though I'm not aware of any specific fixes in it.

hrx

Thanks, will also check later whether there's an update the Netgate Firmware Update package will offer.

Ihis is a really annoying issue, we already have some 4100 and 6100 with defective eMMCs and OOW.... (and we are not the only ones).

hrx

Not a real success here. 03.00.00.03t-uc-18 is on the device and also the firmware version offered by the latest Netgate Firmware Upgrade package (23.05.01) which comes along with pfSense 24.03.

stephenw10

Yup, that's the current version.

arri

Any word on what the most compatible M.2 B Key is to put into a 4100?
I have a number of them I need to protect given I wasn't aware of how short they would last without turning on a RAM disk and avoiding packages until mine started failing after two years.

mcury

@arri said in Upgrade M.2 storage on Netgate 4100:

most compatible M.2 B Key is to put into a 4100?

Most compatible I don't know, but I'm using the WD SN520 128G, 2242 form factor, 100 TBW endurance in my SG-4100.
Edit: I'm using a heat sink for that drive, so if you choose this drive, get a heat sink also.