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

    Firewall going back into factory default after reboot

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.0-RC Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
    30 Posts 9 Posters 12.1k Views
    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.
    • L Offline
      louis-m
      last edited by

      i've had this with all my attempts (4x) on an alix 2d3 embedded nanobsd.
      it simply forgets my vlans (5 vlans) and goes straight to wan detection etc.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • F Offline
        firewold
        last edited by

        The only way I found to be safe will be removing the additional interface from the configuration file before rebooting.  Lately, magically, my system creates a clone of the WAN interface.  This interface is not configured and can't be removed any other way than the above, causing the system at reboot to appear to be set back to factory default.  By the way, if you try to reconfigure it from the console, it does not work either.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • T Offline
          tbaror
          last edited by

          @firewold:

          The only way I found to be safe will be removing the additional interface from the configuration file before rebooting.  Lately, magically, my system creates a clone of the WAN interface.  This interface is not configured and can't be removed any other way than the above, causing the system at reboot to appear to be set back to factory default.  By the way, if you try to reconfigure it from the console, it does not work either.

          Hi
          exactly the only way is to reinstall the system from scratch and reload back-up , btw i do have 3rd interface in the system that not configured at all  ,i intend to use it as dmz later.
          so would it be wise to check before each reboot if additional interface added into config file and remove it?
          thx

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • F Offline
            firewold
            last edited by

            @tbaror:

            @firewold:

            The only way I found to be safe will be removing the additional interface from the configuration file before rebooting.  Lately, magically, my system creates a clone of the WAN interface.  This interface is not configured and can't be removed any other way than the above, causing the system at reboot to appear to be set back to factory default.  By the way, if you try to reconfigure it from the console, it does not work either.

            Hi
            exactly the only way is to reinstall the system from scratch and reload back-up , btw i do have 3rd interface in the system that not configured at all  ,i intend to use it as dmz later.
            so would it be wise to check before each reboot if additional interface added into config file and remove it?
            thx

            That is the way I do it.  It is a pain to start from scratch all the time.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • jimpJ Offline
              jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
              last edited by

              If someone comes up with a good way to reproduce any of these issues it would help. I've never seen it happen, so it's hard to speculate as to what might be happening.

              As to getting going again, just get back into the interface one way or another and try to restore a backup from Diagnostics > Backup/Restore, on the Config History tab.

              Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

              Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

              Do not Chat/PM for help!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • T Offline
                tbaror
                last edited by

                @jimp:

                If someone comes up with a good way to reproduce any of these issues it would help. I've never seen it happen, so it's hard to speculate as to what might be happening.

                As to getting going again, just get back into the interface one way or another and try to restore a backup from Diagnostics > Backup/Restore, on the Config History tab.

                Hi
                I would like to post diagnostic but once its getting in such situation there is no way (for me) to make interface up again i find myself reinstalling system all over again, so the only way i see is to post complete pc image, or if you can indicate another way to retrieve the current config for posting.

                Thanks

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • jimpJ Offline
                  jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                  last edited by

                  Press ctrl-c, or type "exit" at the interface prompts
                  break to a shell and:

                   cp /conf/config.xml /conf/config.broken
                  

                  And then try a factory reset from the menu

                  If you can mount a usb stick and copy it there, that would help too

                  mount -t msdos /dev/da0 /mnt
                  cp /conf/config.xml /mnt/config.broken
                  umount /mnt
                  

                  Or at least look in the config, specifically at the interfaces portion, and see if you can tell us what it looks like (maybe pictures of the screen?)

                  Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                  Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                  Do not Chat/PM for help!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • T Offline
                    tbaror
                    last edited by

                    @jimp:

                    Press ctrl-c, or type "exit" at the interface prompts
                    break to a shell and:

                     cp /conf/config.xml /conf/config.broken
                    

                    And then try a factory reset from the menu

                    If you can mount a usb stick and copy it there, that would help too

                    mount -t msdos /dev/da0 /mnt
                    cp /conf/config.xml /mnt/config.broken
                    umount /mnt
                    

                    Or at least look in the config, specifically at the interfaces portion, and see if you can tell us what it looks like (maybe pictures of the screen?)

                    Ok Jimp i will do it (mount usb) and post it by next Monday.
                    Thanks

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • L Offline
                      louis-m
                      last edited by

                      i've watched mine boot up after the upgrade on the console and it runs through without errors etc, just doesn't see any configured interfaces and starts the wan detection.
                      i then boot into the working slice and i have to reinstall snort etc to get it back to normal.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • W Offline
                        wallabybob
                        last edited by

                        @jimp:

                        If someone comes up with a good way to reproduce any of these issues it would help.

                        I think there are a few issues here. One is that on some reboots pfSense wants to reconfigure the interfaces. I have seen this a number of times when the set of detected interfaces is different from the set of confgured interfaces. I believe this can be reliably and most conveniently reproduced by removing a configured USB interface before startup. I have a USB ethernet interface which occasionally doesn't get detected on startup after a panic. To the best of my recollection I have been able to recover every time by leaving the console at the prompt for the WAN (?) interface and removing and inserting the USB interface until its green (power?) LED comes on then typing ctrl-ATL-DEL on the keyboard to get a reboot. I have also seen a reconfigure on startup when a configured PCI interface is not detected at all but this is probably a little more awkward to reproduce than removing a USB interface.

                        A second issue is the appearance of "phantom" or clone interfaces. I posted a reproducer for "clone" interfaces in http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,27643.0.html

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • E Offline
                          Efonnes
                          last edited by

                          What type of connection is WAN?  If it is PPTP or PPPoE, was it configured from the setup wizard?  You could check your config.xml for an interface entry with some other name besides wan, lan, or opt# that may be there.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • C Offline
                            ccnet
                            last edited by

                            Using pfSense-2.0-BETA4-20100923-1042
                            Hardware Compaq DL360 G1 PIII/866 512 MO.

                            Wan : dhcp 192.168.1.100/24
                            Lan static (set from console) 192.168.7.254/24

                            After a reboot ip address on Lan is lost. Openvpn configured with 192.168.11.0/24. No new hardware on the machine. No usb device.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • E Offline
                              Efonnes
                              last edited by

                              ccnet:
                              If that isn't about the interface assignment prompt coming up at boot, you should make a separate topic for that.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • F Offline
                                firewold
                                last edited by

                                In my case it happens when installing the OpenVPN export package.  An additional not configured IF that is actually used by the WAN in my system.
                                If this interface is not removed from the configuration the system will reboot in what appears to be factory default.  At this point you can only re-install pfsense.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • T Offline
                                  tbaror
                                  last edited by

                                  Hello all,

                                  Here is my current Firewall config file, currently FW is stacked with network detection.
                                  Please advice

                                  Thanks

                                  config.txt

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • jimpJ Offline
                                    jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                                    last edited by

                                    @tbaror:

                                    Hello all,

                                    Here is my current Firewall config file, currently FW is stacked with network detection.
                                    Please advice

                                    Thanks

                                    If you remove this line:

                                    From just above "", does it work?

                                    Not sure how/why that got inside that tag.

                                    Remember: Upvote with the 👍 button for any user/post you find to be helpful, informative, or deserving of recognition!

                                    Need help fast? Netgate Global Support!

                                    Do not Chat/PM for help!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • T Offline
                                      tbaror
                                      last edited by

                                      If you remove this line:

                                      From just above "", does it work?

                                      Not sure how/why that got inside that tag.

                                      I think you right, since i did file comparable with last backup i did and  "ppppoe1" is highlighted straight away.
                                      I will remove this line and check it , also don't have any clue how it been added to config file.
                                      Thanks

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • V Offline
                                        vito
                                        last edited by

                                        @jimp:

                                        @tbaror:

                                        Hello all,

                                        Here is my current Firewall config file, currently FW is stacked with network detection.
                                        Please advice

                                        Thanks

                                        If you remove this line:

                                        From just above "", does it work?

                                        Not sure how/why that got inside that tag.

                                        Jimp,
                                        Same problem here.
                                        After i saw your post, i went to check my config also.

                                        i had <em0>just above

                                        removed the line, reinstalled, and uploaded the config.
                                        pfsense came back up. (NOTE: my packages did not reinstall)

                                        PF info:
                                        2.0-BETA4  (i386)
                                        built on Wed Sep 22 21:47:59 EDT 2010
                                        FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE-p1</em0>

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • V Offline
                                          vito
                                          last edited by

                                          Ok,
                                          After i started adding my packages again the rouge interface reappeared.

                                          packages installed:
                                          openvpn export (note: this failed to install but was still in the installed pages list)
                                          HAVP
                                          Snort
                                          Squid
                                          Squid Guard.

                                          Note sure it is related, but it seemed odd

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • T Offline
                                            tbaror
                                            last edited by

                                            Ok,
                                            After i started adding my packages again the rouge interface reappeared.

                                            packages installed:
                                            openvpn export (note: this failed to install but was still in the installed pages list)
                                            HAVP
                                            Snort
                                            Squid
                                            Squid Guard.

                                            Note sure it is related, but it seemed odd

                                            Hi Vito

                                            I think we have something in common in booth of our FW  except Squid Guard we have the same package structure
                                            for me its happen twice  in  1st time SQUID was not install but the last addition where OpenVpn.
                                            could it be that OpenVpn is adding something to Interface ?when its happen in the 2nd time i just got into OpenVpn>client section (but not the very last action in the fw)since i didn't configure it yet started to do client configuration but then cancel it,  then exit configuration.

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