2.4.0 does not boot without Monitor
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@pippin what worked for me was to enable csm and in the csm options switch only the monitor item to legacy. I did not change the entire bios to legacy. I also kept the serial ports disabled although not sure that was necessary. You tried the same? The bios is already 4 years old so that was not the issue.
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CSM is enabled but have to look the options, when I'm back home.
Thanks.
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Thanks @spillemw
After changing CSM --> Video to Legacy, it boots through.
AMI BIOS does complain with five short beeps but everything works as far as i can tell.Thanks.
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I have just faced the very same issue and RESOLVED as follows:
The machine is running pfSense 2.4.4-RELEASE-p1
To fix the issue I went to System -> Advanced -> Serial Communications -> Checked "Enables the first serial port with 115200/8/N/1 by default, ". Make sure the Primary Console is set to "Serial Console".
As said by user "derelict" above, if the system is set to Primary Console VGA, it could cause pfsense to wait for a monitor during the boot process. I noticed the Primary Console was not explicitly set to VGA, but once the Serial was not enabled, I guess VGA was the only available option, causing the boot process to wait for a monitor.
Good luck!
Eduardo -
Just in case someone finds this in 2021; I am running PfSense on an Intel NUC DC3217IEY (updated with the last bios released like 6 yrs ago) and I didn't have any issues until the 2.5.1 release. I'm using a usb to ethernet for my LAN connection and the connecting the WAN to the built in port. I also had issues with the NUC not booting unless an HDMI monitor was connected, and was able to solve by turning on all optimizations in the bios for video, usb, and peripherals. There is no serial port on this nuc so I'm not sure what was hanging it up, but allowing fast boot seemed to fix the issue on this particular box. If anyone needs more info feel free to shoot me a DM.
Cheers.
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I encountered this same problem in 2.5.2 running on a Celeron J1900 4-port fanless mini PC (purchased back in 2017 from AliExpress -- link). It has an American Megatrends BIOS dated 2015. After looking at the various responses in this thread, I tried toying with the UEFI settings.
The available UEFI configuration options in my BIOS were:
- Win8 UEFI
- Win7 UEFI
- Win8 Legacy
- Win7 Legacy
The problematic configuration was the currently-selected Win8 UEFI setting. The Legacy options didn't work for me, as no boot device was found (I would have needed to reinstall pfSense, which I didn't want to do).
Thankfully, selecting Win7 UEFI resolved the issue for me, and pfSense will now boot headless.
I know the thread is very old, but I'm adding to it because this was the most relevant search result when I went looking for information on my problem. I hope this helps someone in future. Happy 2022, folks!
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@astroslug Thank you!
Through several releases I've just been hoping that no power outage lasted long enough to drain my UPS, as even with VGA console selected as the default, pfSense would try to use Serial by default and then would hang. Selecting
Windows 8in the UEFI boot settings fixed it. -
After 2 years I had the same issue again, this time with release 2.5.2
The issue was solved by going into the BIOS and disabling all Serial ports.
Now Pfsense boots without a monitor connected to the CPU
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2.7.2?
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@stephenw10 No, 2.5.2. I am afraid I am a little behind... not proud of it though...
