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    can't find '/etc/hostid' /boot/entropy size=0x1000

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    22 Posts 10 Posters 18.6k Views
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    • A
      angryspec
      last edited by

      I am having this same error and I have tried every bios setting that seemed relevant. I have an ASRock Q1900M that used to work fine with pfsense until the new 2.5 version was released. It actually broke my install when trying to upgrade from 2.4.4 to 2.5. I don't know what they changed but I don't think its a hardware issue. More likely since pfsense used to work its a software change that is causing an unnecessary hardware issue. I am at the frustration point of having to buy new hardware just to get pfsense running again.

      S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • S
        skogs @angryspec
        last edited by

        @angryspec but did you do a full reinstall after each significant bios change?
        I would still recommend doing the annoying reset the whole mobo to factory defaults, then fresh load.

        A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • A
          angryspec @skogs
          last edited by

          @skogs at first no, but eventually yes. I’ve been at this this for over two weeks in my spare time. I’ve tried different ssd’s, checked the ram, 3 different usb sticks, every iteration of uefi/legacy mode and ahci/ide. It was working fine until I upgraded. The upgrade broke the install to where it wouldn’t even boot. I just found a repository of old versions so I guess I either go back to 2.4.4 or buy new hardware.

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          • B
            badriance @BigMTL
            last edited by

            @bigmtl I had the same thing so many times until I went to the boot menu and chose "usb key" not "UEFI usb key". UEFI never worked and I got the same error you experienced.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Z
              ZQt784
              last edited by ZQt784

              I had the exact same problem with an old ASRock UBox 111N.

              None of the recommended and other BIOS changes helped.

              Finally figured it out: switched to OPNSense.

              I installed OPNSense from a memstick then my ASRock booted normally, connected to the GUI, etc.

              I'd never heard of OPNSense until this pfSense problem. It's a fork from pfSense that happened in 2015. The code's much better so far, at least with older computers.

              Whew.

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              • H
                HandyManDM @BigMTL
                last edited by

                @bigmtl I am trying to reload a SG-4860 via usb stick. Everything for the install finished and I'm able to do some configuring by hand....but after I started to restore the configuration from an "identical" machine the rebuilt one starts "hanging" right after the title msg. TURNS OUT it isn't actually hung as by accident I left the machine alone for several minutes and found that it had come up and the web interface was alive and working as was the router functionality that had been setup. What was happening is at the point the machine appeared to freeze, it was actually that the console USB Serial port is somehow becoming disabled and no more I/O happens until I reboot. This only starts once I start to import the previous config so further investigation may show what part of the config causes the problem.
                Does anyone have any ideas? The twin brother machine's console from which I'm importing the backed up config seems to work fine.

                4 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 4
                  4o4rh @HandyManDM
                  last edited by

                  @handymandm hostid is required for ZFS. It seems to be a defect. workaround below
                  https://forum.netgate.com/topic/141691/defect-etc-rc-d-hostid-file-for-zfs-not-generated-from-uuid/4?_=1669295521699

                  rmaederR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • rmaederR
                    rmaeder @4o4rh
                    last edited by

                    @4o4rh
                    This just happened to me when trying to install latest pfsense to a iKoolcore R2max.
                    Had to go into single user mode and create the hostid as described in the referenced link.

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Most systems will show that error at boot because there is no uuid passed by the BIOS. It's harmless though, you shouldn't need to do anything.

                      rmaederR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • rmaederR
                        rmaeder @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10
                        not entirely harmless: it failed to continue booting. After install, the reboot hung right after printing the message about /etc/hostid.
                        I then rebooted in single user mode, created /etc/hostid as described in the link mentioned earlier in this thread, only then did it reboot normally.

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

                          I've never seen that. That was in a current version? Net installer?

                          rmaederR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • rmaederR
                            rmaeder @stephenw10
                            last edited by rmaeder

                            @stephenw10
                            Yes, latest net installer, purchased (for USD 0) from netgate two days ago.
                            System is an R2max with N100, 8GB RAM, 128 GB SSD.

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

                              Hmm, what error did you see when trying to install ZFS before setting a hostid?

                              rmaederR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • rmaederR
                                rmaeder @stephenw10
                                last edited by

                                @stephenw10 I didn't notice any errors during the setup process
                                (pfSense CE, ZFS, GPT, stripe, nda0). At the end I rebooted it, and then it hung.

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                                • stephenw10S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by

                                  Ah so it just fails to boot the install without a valid hostid? Does it hang exactly at the hostid error?

                                  rmaederR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • rmaederR
                                    rmaeder @stephenw10
                                    last edited by

                                    @stephenw10 IIRC the message about the missing /etc/hostid was the last message before the hang (I neglected to make a screenshot).

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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