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    pfSense CE 2.8.0 upgrade stalls after reboot and gets stuck in Stage 2

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • B Online
      bamypamy
      last edited by bamypamy

      When I boot with kernel.old during the first restart after updating from 2.7.2 to 2.8.1, it boots without any problems and completes the update. After the next restart, it boots with kernel FreeBSD15 under 2.8.1.

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      • stephenw10S Offline
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        Huh so boot's correctly after switching back the upgraded kernel?

        B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • B Online
          bamypamy @stephenw10
          last edited by bamypamy

          @stephenw10 Sorry, I didn't express myself clearly.
          I started the update from 2.7.2 to 2.8.1. When the firewall rebooted, I selected option 6 in the boot menu and chose the old kernel. The firewall then booted with the old kernel, and at one point it also says that pfsense 2.7.2 is booting. Nevertheless, the update to 2.8.1 continued. When that was finished, the firewall restarted again. This time I did not select a different kernel. The firewall booted up without any problems and I was presented with version 2.8.1, and the kernel was also the new one (FreeBSD 15-Current).

          Unfortunately, changing the video mode did not work for me, see comment above.

          I would have liked to try setting up a new VM directly with 2.8.1, but since there is now only the netgate installer and I have to use a proxy for Internet access and this cannot be specified in the installer, unfortunately this was not possible. I would have been interested to see whether this VM would start without any problems or also get stuck.
          For me, this means installing with 2.7.2 from now on, because there is an image for it, and then updating with the above workaround.
          It's a shame about the installer; I hope netgate will add the option for a proxy in the installer.

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          • stephenw10S Offline
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Yup more features are coming to the Net Installer.

            I'll try to replicate that in Proxmox. I have numerous VMs that look identical to that though that didn't it. Yet.

            If you can try upgrading a VM set as machine type Q35 there. See if that still hits it.

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            • B Online
              bamypamy @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10 Just tested setting the VM to q35 when still running 2.7.2 and updated to 2.8.1 but it gets stuck at the same point.

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              • B Offline
                benand20
                last edited by

                Welp... At it seems I am running into the same issues as some other posters as I did notice a post a while back about HP DL systems running into an identical problem. After doing a fresh install of 2.7.x upgrading to 2.7.2 and then trying to upgrade to 2.8.1 using the update configuration the system goes into a boot loop.

                My exact configuration for bare metal hardware is the following:
                HP DL360 GEN9 64GB ECC Ram, 2x Samsung 500GB in ZFS Mirror
                2X - Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2660 v3 @ 2.60GHz

                • qnap qxg 10g2t x710
                • Sun Oracle 7014776 Intel G58497 Dual-Port 10GbE Base-T Gen2 PCIe NIC

                The QNAP nic is for the reason of being ISP agnostic as it can cover all Gig speeds.

                I have tried the following:
                1.) Install from memstick media with 2.7.x and then proceed to select the option to update to 2.8.1. After the system goes trough the install it then proceeds to attempt to boot. However, when loading the initial boot splash from the bootloader it counts down but the moment it hits the end the system is triggered into a reboot. This then keeps happening every time the system boots.

                2.) One of the prior fixes was stated to hit "6" at the bootloader to failback to the older kernel. This then seemed to force the system to upgrade packages which it stumbled through for a bit to which point it would then reboot when done and go right back into the bootloop.

                3.) The next attempt was to try to download the newer NetGate installer and attempt to run through a fresh install dialog, it seemed to attempt the installation pulling down from the Netgate mirror however, it still exhibited the same issue when trying to boot as it would just bootloop again.

                Thankfully this is a new build so it is not in any sort of "production" environment at the moment however, this issue occurs on an exactly identical hardware configuration for 2.7.2 going to 2.8.1 for my primary router as well. So since I have two identical systems exhibiting the exact same symptoms I am not sure if there is any real option at this point other than to fail back to 2.7.2 for now. I am not sure if anyone has found a working fix for the HP DL360/380 systems yet for 2.8.x

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                • B Offline
                  benand20 @benand20
                  last edited by

                  Ok, now I feel dumb... In one of the other areas of the forum it mentioned there could be EFI issues with the HP DL360/380 systems. I then attempted to switch the system BIOS into "Legacy Mode" which seems to have resolved the problem. So it seems per the other thread, they could very well be correct as there is something in EFI that is causing this problem.

                  I will have to see if I can do the changeover for my primary production router as well. So my next upgrade procedure will be re-install 2.7.x on the legacy BIOS, Import my backup while in legacy bios and then attempt to upgrade to 2.8.1.

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                  • tinfoilmattT Offline
                    tinfoilmatt @skybot
                    last edited by

                    @skybot said in pfSense CE 2.8.0 upgrade stalls after reboot and gets stuck in Stage 2:

                    Unfortunately, switching from UEFI to BIOS is not an option in my environment. At this point I am stuck and don’t know how to proceed further.

                    Has anyone found a workaround or solution for this issue on HPE ProLiant systems? Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

                    How many different USB sticks, and which disk imager programs have you tried to create your bootable media with?

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                    • stephenw10S Offline
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      It looks like we are close to finding a solution to the HP DL issue (and likely other hardware). 🤞

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                      • A Offline
                        andres-asm
                        last edited by

                        This is what happens on mine:

                        835d0529-b878-49c0-a84b-a8c9c0b85cbc-image.png

                        I have to end up doing a serial only console which is not ideal either

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