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    First time boot after installation hangs at WAN line

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • R Offline
      richardsago
      last edited by

      @Gertjan thanks for replying. These are my answers:

      Answer to the first question: In the current workaround the one WAN is connected through Static (IP 192.168.2.2 ; Subnet 255.255.255.0 ; Gateway 192.168.2.1)

      Answer to the second question: Before setting up the current workaround, what I did was attached the ISP's router RJ45 to the switch. ISP's router provides DHCP and so all our connected clients got DHCP IP Address in the 192.168.2.1/24 address. This did not work great for us because we have more users than /24 IP addresses can provide. That's why we set up the current workaround of installing pfsense, setup its LAN to /20 (to bunch the different VLAN users in this one address space) and leaving it on the last stage of installation and without rebooting. Please let me know where I'm messing up. Thank you

      @stephenw10 thanks for replying. Yes this is after running from flashdrive the netgate-installer-amd64.img.gz image (using balena) that was downloaded from netgate last Feb 26. The three PC have different onboard NIC. Two of the PC used a NIC card and the one remaining PC used a different NIC card. I chose to use this last PC because it has a higher specs than the earlier two PC even though it hangs one line earlier during pfsense bootup. Also, the system hangs on the same line even when I chose the onboard NIC or the separate NIC as the WAN for all three PC. Please let me know where I'm messing up. Thank you

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      • stephenw10S Offline
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @richardsago
        last edited by

        @richardsago said in First time boot after installation hangs at WAN line:

        setup its LAN to /20 (to bunch the different VLAN users in this one address space)

        What actual subnet is that? It could easily conflict with the WAN....

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        • R Offline
          richardsago @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 thanks for replying. The current workaround's LAN is 172.16.96.1/20 and the WAN is 192.168.2.1/24

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          • stephenw10S Offline
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Ok no problem there then.

            Can we see exactly where it stops during the boot?

            Try hitting ctl+t at the console when it stops. That may show what it's waiting for.

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            • R Offline
              richardsago @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 thanks for replying. Sorry for the delay. In this new test an older PC and a different internet connection (starlink) was used but it also has the same issue after reboot. What's different this time was I can't make static IP for WAN work so I set it to DHCP for the test. The installation was successful as before and when the installer prompted to restart the computer it will get stuck on the line:
              php-fpm 399 - - /rc.linkup : Ignoring link event during boot sequence.

              I paste screenshot of when I had used ctrl + t three times. Please let me know where I'm messing up, thanks.
              cd131650-6278-4824-88d9-a2afd689c79e-image.png

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              • stephenw10S Offline
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Ah OK so it's asking you to reassign the interfaces because the config contains em1 and there is no second em NIC present. It has just written some other stuff to the console afterwards.

                So either it wasn't configured with that or it has defaulted the config for some reason.

                It's waiting for you to answer the VLANs question. It looks like they just haven't been configured yet after the install.

                I will add that rl0 is a truly terrible NIC. There's a good chance you will see issues running that.

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                • R Offline
                  richardsago @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 thanks for replying. Does this mean that I only need to type the letter "n" (for no, not to setup the VLAN) and the bootup will continue?

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                  • stephenw10S Offline
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    You need to enter 'N' ( assuming you don't need VLANs) then assign the WAN and LAN appropriately.

                    In CE you (almost) always have to assign the interfaces at the first boot after install.

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                    • R Offline
                      richardsago @stephenw10
                      last edited by

                      @stephenw10 thanks for replying. Your solution worked! Thank you

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                      • stephenw10S Offline
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        No problem, glad I could clarify. 👍

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