Boot fails at "Trying to mount root"

[chuck5761]

I've been struggling with this for the past week, and getting nowhere.  My only success has been to boot the livecd and install to a sata drive, but I really want to get a CF to work.  I tried to install the same to the CF card, and no joy there either.  I've tried disabling dma, and acpi, as specified in http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Booting_Options, and it doesn't seem to make a difference.  I've also tried disabling every other adapter in the bios except the one I'm booting from, etc.

Note - every build of monowall that I've tried boots every time. I decided to try monowall after an evening of trying to get pfsense to work, and that's become my firewall for the time being.

Suggestions, anyone?

I have:
  Intel Atom motherboard (D945GCLF2D)
  Soyo CF to IDE adapter
  Creative I/O CF to sata adapter
  Ritek 4gb UDMA capable CF card
  Sandisk 256mb CF card
  Hitachi 4gb Microdrive in IDE only mode

I've mixed and matched the above hardware with:
  pfSense-1.2.3-4g-20090721-2324-nanobsd.img
  pfSense-1.2.3-20090422-1636.img
  pfSense-1.2.2-20090108-2309.img

pfsense always stops booting at the "Trying to mount root from ufs:…" point.  If I use the ? to list the available disk boot devices, it comes up empty.

Here's the boot log from the nanobsd on the microdrive:
mountroot>
1  FreeBSD
2  FreeBSD

Boot:  1
/boot.config: -D
Consoles: internal video/keyboard  serial port
BIOS drive C: is disk0
BIOS 572kB/2085076kB available memory

FreeBSD/i386 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1
(sullrich@FreeBSD-7_2-RELENG_1_2-snapshots.pfsense.org, Tue Jul 21 23:05:30 EDT 2009)
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
/boot/kernel/kernel text=0x72ed80 data=0x13cb8c+0x51c80 |

Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.
Booting [/boot/kernel/kernel]…
Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p2 #0: Tue Jul 21 23:21:23 EDT 2009
    sullrich@FreeBSD-7_2-RELENG_1_2-snapshots.pfsense.org:/usr/obj.pfSense/usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/pfSense_wrap.7
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU  330  @ 1.60GHz (1596.01-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x106c2  Stepping = 2
  Features=0xbfe9fbff <fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>Features2=0x40e31d<sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,<b22>>
  AMD Features=0x20000000 <lm>AMD Features2=0x1 <lahf>Cores per package: 2
  Logical CPUs per core: 2
real memory  = 2137391104 (2038 MB)
avail memory = 2082082816 (1985 MB)
MPTable: < >
wlan: mac acl policy registered
cryptosoft0: <software crypto="">on motherboard
pcib0: <host to="" pci="" bridge="">pcibus 0 on motherboard
pci0: <pci bus="">on pcib0
vgapci0: <vga-compatible display="">port 0x20e0-0x20e7 mem 0x90100000-0x9017ffff,0x80000000-0x8fffffff,0x90180000-0x901bffff irq 11 at device 2.0 on pci0
pcib1: <pci-pci bridge="">at device 28.0 on pci0
pci1: <pci bus="">on pcib1
pcib2: <pci-pci bridge="">at device 28.2 on pci0
pci2: <pci bus="">on pcib2
pcib3: <pci-pci bridge="">at device 28.3 on pci0
pci3: <pci bus="">on pcib3
uhci0: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x2080-0x209f irq 9 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x2060-0x207f irq 10 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x2040-0x205f irq 11 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci3: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">port 0x2020-0x203f irq 11 at device 29.3 on pci0
uhci3: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci3: [ITHREAD]
usb3: <uhci (generic)="" usb="" controller="">on uhci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: <intel 1="" 9="" uhci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usb3
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0x901c0000-0x901c03ff irq 9 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb4: EHCI version 1.0
usb4: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2 usb3
usb4: <intel 82801gb="" r="" (ich7)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">on ehci0
usb4: USB revision 2.0
uhub4: <intel 1="" 9="" ehci="" root="" hub,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 2.00="" 1.00,="" addr="">on usb4
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
pcib4: <pci-pci bridge="">at device 30.0 on pci0
pci4: <pci bus="">on pcib4
em0: <intel(r) 1000="" pro="" network="" connection="" 6.9.6="">port 0x1040-0x107f mem 0x90040000-0x9005ffff,0x90000000-0x9003ffff irq 9 at device 0.0 on pci4
em0: [FILTER]
em0: Ethernet address: 00:07:e9:a5:4b:de
em1: <intel(r) 1000="" pro="" network="" connection="" 6.9.6="">port 0x1000-0x103f mem 0x90060000-0x9007ffff irq 10 at device 0.1 on pci4
em1: [FILTER]
em1: Ethernet address: 00:07:e9:a5:4b:df
isab0: <pci-isa bridge="">at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <isa bus="">on isab0
atapci0: <intel ich7="" udma100="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x20b0-0x20bf irq 11 at device 31.1 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
atapci1: <intel ich7="" sata300="" controller="">port 0x20c8-0x20cf,0x20ec-0x20ef,0x20c0-0x20c7,0x20e8-0x20eb,0x20a0-0x20af irq 10 at device 31.2 on pci0
atapci1: [ITHREAD]
ata2: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci1
ata2: [ITHREAD]
ata3: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci1
ata3: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus,="" smbus="">at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
cpu0 on motherboard
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x30 on isa0
sio0: type 16550A, console
sio0: [FILTER]
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1596013572 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/pfsense0

Manual root filesystem specification:
  <fstype>:<device>Mount <device>using filesystem <fstype>eg. ufs:da0s1a
  ?                  List valid disk boot devices
  <empty line="">Abort manual input

mountroot></empty></fstype></device></device></fstype></serial></ata></ata></intel></ata></intel></isa></pci-isa></intel(r)></intel(r)></pci></pci-pci></intel></intel></intel></intel></uhci></uhci></intel></uhci></uhci></intel></uhci></uhci></intel></uhci></uhci></pci></pci-pci></pci></pci-pci></pci></pci-pci></vga-compatible></pci></host></software></lahf></lm></sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,tm2,ssse3,cx16,xtpr,pdcm,<b22></fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>

[wallabybob]

The boot doesn't seem to have detected your drive.

My startup report includes the following:

Timecounter "TSC" frequency 797736937 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
ad0: DMA limited to UDMA33, device found non-ATA66 cable
ad0: FAILURE - SET_MULTI status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>ad0: 955MB <transcend 20071207="">at ata0-master UDMA33
ad2: DMA limited to UDMA33, device found non-ATA66 cable
ad2: FAILURE - SET_MULTI status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>ad2: 955MB <transcend 20071207="">at ata1-master UDMA33
WARNING: Expected rawoffset 0, found 63
WARNING: Expected rawoffset 0, found 63
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a

In what mode does the BIOS initialise the disk controllers?</transcend></aborted></ready,dsc,error></transcend></aborted></ready,dsc,error>

[chuck5761]

@wallabybob:

The boot doesn't seem to have detected your drive.
…
In what mode does the BIOS initialise the disk controllers?

I'm not following your question.  If you're asking if I can set the bios to "legacy" mode, I've tried it without success. However, it does look like the bios has an auto-configuration mode for ide devices, so I'm going to try turning that off this evening and see what happens.

This is what I see from monowall:
Jul 30 20:00:05 kernel: Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/md0
Jul 30 20:00:05 kernel: ad0: 3823MB <ridata 20080820="" cf="">at ata0-master PIO4
Jul 30 20:00:05 kernel: ad0: FAILURE - SET_MULTI status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=4 <aborted>Jul 30 20:00:05 kernel: md0: Preloaded image 15728640 bytes at 0xc0a9c428</aborted></ready,dsc,error></ridata>

[Supermule]

Most of the CF adapters only handle PIO mode 4. That could be the case.

[wallabybob]

@chuck5761:

@wallabybob:

The boot doesn't seem to have detected your drive.
…
In what mode does the BIOS initialise the disk controllers?

I'm not following your question.

I've seen reports of boot problems when BIOS configures newer disk controllers in modes such as "Native" or "AHCI" or "RAID". I've no experience of these myself since the disk controllers in my pfSense box are too old to have such options. I also don't know if such problems have been largely fixed in recent versions of FreeBSD.

Its strange that FreeBSD in monowall can detect your drive(s) but FreeBSD in pfSense can't.  (I think lately FreeBSD in monowall has been a few versions behine FreeBSD in pfSense.) Is the motherboard BIOS up to date?

[chuck5761]

@Supermule:

Most of the CF adapters only handle PIO mode 4. That could be the case.

Well, the documentation for both the IDE and SATA CF adapters claims that they support dma and ultra dma modes (if supported by the CF card), and both the Ritek and Hitachi documentation say they support UDMA.  I'll note that the old 256mb sandisk (which I'm pretty sure does NOT support dma) fails the boot process at the same point.

Also, does pfsense not pay any attention to the "set hw.ata.ata_dma=0" boot option anymore?

And I still don't understand why monowall sees the drive.

[chuck5761]

In the bios, I disabled the auto-configuration, switched the ide interface from "native" to "legacy" in the bios, and disabled sata.  No change with the ide adapter, and I tried again to disable dma during the boot, all to no effect.

[cheesyboofs]

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,11016.msg61193.html#msg61193

[chuck5761]

@cheesyboofs:

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,11016.msg61193.html#msg61193

Thanks for the reference, but that's what's confusing me - I tried the "set hw.ata.ata_dma=0" at the boot prompt, and pfsense still can't find the partition to mount.  In my case it doesn't run slowly, it just doesn't see the ufs partition to mount it.

I'm wondering if the current release is ignoring the set command, or if there's something about the embedded builds that's incompatible with the Intel Atom motherboard's bios.

[cheesyboofs]

I had one other problem getting my microdrive/Atom combo working that may be relevant here.
I noticed after much hair pulling that although my CF reader was configured for master (no jumper installed) it would jump to slave after a soft re-boot.
I would power the router on USB DVD Rom installed microdrive seen as master,
Install pfsense then on the soft re-boot at the end of the install the CF/microdrive would suddenly change to slave. As the install was performed to master it would boot all the way to the mount bit and fail, just like in your case. I think I could still force it to boot by telling it the new location by issuing something like;

mountroot> ufs:da0s1b

To fix the problem all I did was install the jumper on the CF reader so that the drive was always slave and would not jump about. I also mailed the supplier of my £200.00 board and they said no it must be your CF reader although if you look at these things there is really nothing to them.

Just a thought!