Wont Boot because USB device plugged in wrong port

[adamoutler]

Hello pfSense community,

I'm encountering an issue with my pfSense setup that I hope someone can help me with. Here's the problem:

Problem Description:
When I plug in my USB-tethered hotspot into a different-than-usual USB port on my pfSense device and then restart it, the unit fails to complete the boot sequence. I receive the following error message repeatedly:

ugen0.4: <MEIG LTA-A Module> at usbus0
ugen0.4: <MEIG LET-A Module> at usbus0 (disconnected)

Additional Details:

• The USB-tethered hotspot is used as a backup internet connection and works fine when plugged into the correct port initially.
• However, if it's in the wrong port during boot, the entire unit refuses to complete the boot sequence.

I'm seeking advice on how to resolve this issue or mitigate its impact. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[stephenw10]

What's the difference between the ports?

That looks like the USB device is continually rebooting or at least reconnecting. Does the tethered device show anything?

Steve

[adamoutler]

@stephenw10 unsure. The device has an internal battery so there's no dependency on power aspect. It should be hitting the regulator and be maxed out either way.

[adamoutler]

But the real problem comes when the USB interface won't come up. Disconnected or restarting.

[stephenw10]

Is the modem appearing as a mass storage device? Does it have an SD card slot?

pfSense could be trying to mount root from it incorrectly.

Do you have the full boot sequences when it fails and when it completes to compare?

[adamoutler]

@stephenw10 no. This is later when the interfaces are brought up. I watched it boot from a PiKVM I have connected. It started bringing up named interfaces and then it stopped and looped because my USB modem was on the wrong port.

[stephenw10]

How does the modem usually appear? As a USB Ethernet device? ue0?

[adamoutler]

@stephenw10 yes. It's UE0

[adamoutler]

Here's some fuller logs I came across

<118>Filesystems are clean, continuing...
<118>Mounting filesystems...
<118>Mounting ZFS boot environment... done.
<118>
<118>        __
<118> _ __  / _|___  ___ _ __  ___  ___
<118>| '_ \| |_/ __|/ _ \ '_ \/ __|/ _ \
<118>| |_) |  _\__ \  __/ | | \__ \  __/
<118>| .__/|_| |___/\___|_| |_|___/\___|
<118>|_|
<118>
<118>
<118>Welcome to pfSense 2.7.2-RELEASE...
<118>
<118>Checking dump device /dev/ada0p3 for crash dumps ... no crash dumps on /dev/ada0p3.
<118>...
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0
<118>ELF ldconfig path: /lib /usr/lib /usr/lib/compat /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib/compat/pkg /usr/local/lib/compat/pkg /usr/local/lib/ipsec /usr/local/lib/perl5/5.34/mach/CORE
<118>32-bit compatibility ldconfig path:
<118>done.
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0 (disconnected)
<118>>>> Removing vital flag from php82... done.
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0
<118>15386
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0 (disconnected)
<118>External config loader 1.0 is now starting... ada0p1 ada0p2 ada0p4
<118>Launching the init system...Updating CPU Microcode...
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0
ugen0.3: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0 (disconnected)

Later it repeats these logs until it is changed over to a different USB port.

ugen0.2: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0
urndis0 on uhub0
urndis0: <RNDIS Communications Control> on usbus0
<6>ue0: <USB Ethernet> on urndis0
<6>ue0: Ethernet address: e2:8b:8a:8a:3d:91
ugen0.2: <MEIG LTE-A Module> at usbus0 (disconnected)
urndis0: at uhub0, port 6, addr 16 (disconnected)
urndis0: detached

[stephenw10]

Does it do the same thing on a cold boot? Like after power cycling entirely?

I have a modem here which does something similar but only on warm boot.

Can you not just plug it into the port which works?