Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Help with ALIX - reboot needed ~10min!!

    Hardware
    7
    15
    7.3k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • P
      pcmofo
      last edited by

      Hi. I have been working on my home networking setup and recently installed all new cat6 in my house and created a "server closet" in my basement to house all of my network and computer equipment. I was using a linksys router for a while and the performance sucked. Naturally I grabbed an old computer and started testing out some firewall software. I tried IP cop which worked great. Then I decided that an embeded system with freeBSD would be the way to go.

      I ordered a 2c3 ALIX board and loaded up m0n0wall. Everything worked great… for about 10 minutes. After that I could not access the internet. I needed to reboot to get another 10 minutes out of it. Then I tried PFsense. Much easier install and I like the features... but ~10 minutes later... no internet. I can ping the firewall but I cannot ping outside to google etc. I can access the firewall via serial interface, I can ping google.com from there but from any desktop I cant even access the firewalls web page to set it up. I can still issue serial commands and everything look like it is working but it just isnt doing its job.

      I have tried two different flash cards, reflashing the software... etc etc... I am wondering what I can try next because it doesnt seem that I am doing anything wrong here yet it is not working.... I have tried to post this question on the m0n0wall forums when I was trying to get m0n0wall to run but I have got no reply in two days... I am hoping someone can help.

      I have road runner cable internet btw if that makes a difference....

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • GruensFroeschliG
        GruensFroeschli
        last edited by

        Do you see anything in the logs when that happens?
        It "could" be the ALIX itself (a friend once recieved a buggy WRAP and had to send it in again).

        Have you tried other software on the alix?

        We do what we must, because we can.

        Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • D
          databeestje
          last edited by

          Run the following command from the console to see if you can detect any messages regarding the problem.

          clog /var/log/system.log|more
          and
          dmesg|more

          Could also be that you have a switch issue of sorts. Something you can try is replacing the power supply by something beefier. A 12V 1A or 1.2A would be great. Don't use power supplies higher then 18 Volts!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • P
            pcmofo
            last edited by

            I have left it on and left the house since my last post. When I came home it didnt work at all. Then like 15 minutes later it started working for no reason what so ever. I did not restart it and all of a sudden it is working again. I dont understand. I have a 15v 1.2A powersupply that is working fine… The lights never show any indication of a problem and the console always works... it is just the web interface and internet that doesnt work. I have tried m0nowall and pfsense.... any more ideas besides a bad board?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • chpalmerC
              chpalmer
              last edited by

              Patch cable??

              Triggering snowflakes one by one..
              Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • P
                pcmofo
                last edited by

                @chpalmer:

                Patch cable??

                Same setup works fine with ipcop. I have an old pc setup with ipcop. I just swapped it out for the ALIX board. Its working right now but hasnt for the past 30 min… it seems to work in spurts.... idk.... I would really like this to work so that I can get a few clients of mine to use them to vpn between offices.... :-/

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • chpalmerC
                  chpalmer
                  last edited by

                  Which version of the firmware are you using?

                  Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                  Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • P
                    pcmofo
                    last edited by

                    @chpalmer:

                    Which version of the firmware are you using?

                    1.2 embedded

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • dotdashD
                      dotdash
                      last edited by

                      Just checking, but you are running the 0.99 bios on that, right?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • P
                        pcmofo
                        last edited by

                        @dotdash:

                        Just checking, but you are running the 0.99 bios on that, right?

                        Yes. And I just tried 1.2.1 which seems to work slightly better but still lose all connectivity except the serial port every 10 min

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          pcmofo
                          last edited by

                          some new developements. When I reset my switches or sometimes disable and renable wifi or LAN conn I can connect to the Internet fine. The LAN still works fine the whole time and it does the same thing with static and dynamic ip on all the pcs. I still haven't figured this out. I might have to go back to ipcop.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • P
                            pcmofo
                            last edited by

                            I have gone back to using my linksys router while I sort out this ALIX problems. I am currently building a server closet which should be done in a day or two so we will see how things shape up when everything is installed in its final place.

                            I am hoping someone can provide a suggestion as to anything I can try or something I might be doing wrong….

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • E
                              elliotcater
                              last edited by

                              Hi,

                              I suppose i shouldn't complain as my alix decides to reboot itself ever few hours instead of me having to go and physically reboot it!

                              But I am sick of it now.  With no warning I get a fatal trap 12 page fault panic and it reboots, I've tried re-installing on different CF cards, resizing the image so the diskusage isn't hovering at 94%, updated bios to 0.99, put the box on a ups with surge protection etc… I'm lost!

                              Is it time to send it back and get a new one sent out and just deal with the downtime?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • E
                                eri--
                                last edited by

                                Are this page faults in 1.2 or 1.2.1?
                                Can you be more verbose on your setups?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • E
                                  elliotcater
                                  last edited by

                                  yes sorry

                                  Latest (stable 1.2) embedded release running on a 1Gb CF card (not re-sized so really 128) with the 0.99 tiny bios.

                                  I have 2 wan connections load balanced using the guide from the forum with a handfull of nat rules pointing to a couple of servers on the lan.

                                  here is an example of something I captured thru the serial:

                                  enter an option: kernel trap 12 with interrupts disabled

                                  Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
                                  fault virtual address  = 0x4f0c92cc
                                  fault code              = supervisor read, page not present
                                  instruction pointer    = 0x20:0xc0631273
                                  stack pointer          = 0x28:0xcbff1cec
                                  frame pointer          = 0x28:0xcbff1d0c
                                  code segment            = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
                                                          = DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1
                                  processor eflags        = resume, IOPL = 0
                                  current process        = 35 (schedcpu)
                                  trap number            = 12
                                  panic: page fault
                                  Uptime: 30m14s
                                  Cannot dump. No dump device defined.
                                  Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - press a key on the console to abort

                                  This happens every so often but at least once a day.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • First post
                                    Last post
                                  Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.