Pfsense 1.2.3 on FX5624 hangs with blank screen

[neik]

I am trying to install pfsense 1.2.3 on a FX5624. The system hangs with a blank screen immediately after the BIOS screen. It never gets to the FreeBSD boot loader.

The system works with 1.2.2. I have md5summed the download and compared the unconpressed image with that written to the card.

This thread

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=21405.0

talks about a boot problem, but he seems to get further and I don't understand his "solution".

[jimp]

You say you wrote the image to a card. If you used a NanoBSD image, these do not support VGA and write their output to the serial port instead.

If you connect a null modem serial cable to the port on the router, you should see the boot messages.

That other thread is referring to a full install from CD.

[neik]

Thanks for the reply. I am using a serial console. I actally started with that and added the VGA afterwards. I am running it at 9600 baud. I see the BIOS serial output OK.

I am using a 512Mb CF card. Thanks for the explanation about the CD install.

@jimp:

You say you wrote the image to a card. If you used a NanoBSD image, these do not support VGA and write their output to the serial port instead.

If you connect a null modem serial cable to the port on the router, you should see the boot messages.

That other thread is referring to a full install from CD.