Pfsense2.0 Absolute beginner help plz

tester10

Hi lads

firstly let me say what a nice forum u have here.

So first things first, a friend of mine recently gave me a old PC for testing, and eventually i came across some problems using my home router dlink, limited ports on tcp, port triggering and virtual servers,

do i decided to give it a shot with pfsense.

but i am still a litle confuse, even reading all the tutorials and how to´s available here.

lets get the spec from the machine

Hardware:

1- Motherboard Asus
2- AMD Duron TM processor 1.21Ghz
3- 512MB DDR400 memory
4- 20GB hdd IDE Seagate ST320014A
5- 3 Network cards Realtek 100mb
6- Adsl+2 Dlink Modem/Router

Doubts:

1- Is my setup good enough to run pfSense2.0 ?
2- which ISO Live CD should i burn in order to run pfsense fromlive cd. i386pfsense2.0.iso.gz or amd64pfsense2.0.iso.gz ?

Project:

Basically i want to be able, to hook up my Modem Adsl+2 in Bridge mode (instead of ppoe+router as i am using now, which makes the router/modem very slow with all the functions available on it, not to mention i am limited to open only 32ports max) connected into NIC 1 in the PC.
Then hookup the 2nd NIC as output DHCP router directly feed into my 8 port Hub switch, this 8 port Hub switch will then feed internet access to my other 4 pc machines being used as Vhosts for Websites.
Also at the same time whilst working as DHCP router, also firewall, and all other features available on pfSense.

Problems encountered:

1- downloaded pfsense2.0 i386.iso.gz, extracted and burned it with deepburner on XP, then booted direct on my project machine, and it hangs on the following information

Boot From ATAPI CD-ROM
NO EMULATION
CD LOADER 1.2

Building the bootloader arguments
Looking up /BOOT/LOADER…. found

And nothing else happens no install screen from pfSense.. simply crashes.

Please bare in mind i am a total newbie to pfsense, so all critics accepted any way, of course some help will be much appreciated also.

Please also forgive me if i have posted my problem in the wrong topic.

Kind regards
tester10

marcelloc

Test this cd on another machine to see if burn process went ok.
Test the media drive of this lab machine.

tester_02

That's old hardware. That setup always had issues with cd bootups (dvd's were new then).
To narrow it down.
1. Put a windows bootable cd in your system and see if it tries to boot. Will prove your hardware.
2. Put your burnt livecd on another system to prove the burnt cd/dvd.

If both above work, then it's a hardware compatibility of pfsense with your hardware (guessing via chipset).

tester10

@tester_02:

That's old hardware. That setup always had issues with cd bootups (dvd's were new then).
To narrow it down.
1. Put a windows bootable cd in your system and see if it tries to boot. Will prove your hardware.
2. Put your burnt livecd on another system to prove the burnt cd/dvd.

If both above work, then it's a hardware compatibility of pfsense with your hardware (guessing via chipset).

Hi tester

thxs for your kind input.

I did that before entering the forum, my setup as a CD Writer not DVD , so i burned it in a CDrom compatible.

Setup works fine with winxp i formatted yesterday and installed XP, running ok, the XP SP3 booted and installed sucessfully with no problems.

Specs from motherboard

Asus Motherboard A7V266-C

separate graphic card running

but it has a chip VIA VT8233a

i will test running the boot cd in another machine now..