[SOLVED] Problems Installing pfSense to harddrive

robinr

Hi, im having trouble when trying to install pfSense to my harddrive.

I use a mini-itx board and a 120GB hitachi harddrive.

This is the board im using INTEL D510MO ATOM D510 MINI-ITX.

I use this pfSense-2.0-RC1-i386-20110526-0849.iso file for trying to install pfSense to the harddrive but i'm not able to start pfSense. When im able to chose between the startup things i have tried all options.

while option = 1:
GEOM: da0: media size does not match label.

while option = 2:
ROOT MOUNT ERROR:
if you have invalid mount options, reboot, and first try the following from the loader promt:
set vfs.root.mountform.options=rw
and then remove invalid mount options from /etc/fstab.

and it stops at "mountroot>"

while option = 3:
Same as above..

I have read this one Boot Troubleshooting and i have test this so far with out any success:

set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
boot

I dont now what more things i should try to do… can anyone help me?

robinr

Since there isnt very much success with that version i tried to use this one:
pfSense-memstick-2.0-RC1-i386-20110226-1530.img

This one works to startup with, and i can configure my wan, lan and opt interfaces. But now i want to install this at my harddrive. What im doing then is to enter 99 in the menu, and choose custom install, follow all steps, formatting my hdd and when im going to select the partition for installing pfSense i get this huge error:

_An internal Lua error occurred wile trying to run the script
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/install/main.lua:

/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/storage.lua:1674: badargument #1 to 'find' (string expected, got nil)
stack traceback
/usr/local/share/lua/5.0/app.lua:264: in function
[C]: in function 'find'
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/storage.lua:1674: in function 'get_activated_swap'
…/local/share/dfuibe_lua/install//300_select_part.lua:39: in function <.../local/share/dfuibe_lua/install//300_select_part.lua:11>
(tail call): ?
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/flow.lua:273: in function 'run'
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/install/main.lua:11: in main chunk [C]: in function 'xpcall'
/usr/local/share/lua/5.0/app.lua:263: in function 'run'
/usr/local/share/lua/5.0/app.lua:303: in function
(tail call): ?
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua//200_install.lua:25: in function
(tail call): ?
/usr/local/share/lua/5.0/dfui.lua:60: in function 'present'
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/menu.lua:134: in function 'present'
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/menu.lua:154: in function 'loop'
/usr/local/share/dfuibe_lua/lib/menu.lua:177: in main chunk
[C]: ?_

Anyone knows why?

jimp

Are you sure it actually detected your hard drive controller?

It might also be worth trying to go to a shell instead of the installer and writing zeroes to the whole HDD if you can

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=1M

Where ad0 is your hdd, it might be ad0, ad2, ad4, etc… Should show up in dmesg.

robinr

@jimp:

Are you sure it actually detected your hard drive controller?

It might also be worth trying to go to a shell instead of the installer and writing zeroes to the whole HDD if you can
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=1M
Where ad0 is your hdd, it might be ad0, ad2, ad4, etc… Should show up in dmesg.

So i basicly start up pfsense and then enter shell mode and write the whole hdd with zeros, should i try to install pfsense to the disk after that?

jimp

Yeah, let the boot process go until it gets to the menu, instead of hitting 99, hit 8, then dd zeroes to the drive.

I'd reboot after doing that to be safe.

robinr

After rebooting and when i hit 99, should i use easy install or custom?

jimp

easy should be fine

robinr

Thanks Jimp, it works like a charm now! :)