Installing pfSense 2.0 on Hacom Mars II 1U?

victorhooi

Hi,

I'm trying to install pfSense 2.0 on my Mars II 1U Server (http://www.hacom.net/catalog/mars-ii-pfsense-1u-server).

It's configured with 4Gb of RAM, and a 8GB DOM for storage.

I downloaded the image pfSense-memstick-2.0.1-RELEASE-amd64.img, and I wrote it to a USB stick with dd.

Then I booted it up, and I get the following error message:

Trying to mount root fro ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense
ROOT MOUNT ERROR:
If you have invalid mount options, reboot, and first try the following from the loader prompt:

set vfs.root.mountfrom.options=rw

and then remove invalid mount options from /etc/fstab.

Loader variables:
vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/ufs/pfSense
vfs.root.mountfromt.options=ro

Manual root filesystem specification:
    <fstype>:<device>    Mount <device> using filesystem <fstype>
                                            e.g. ufs:/dev/da0s1a
                                            eg. cd9660:/dev/acd0
                                            This is equivalent to: mount -t cd9660 /dev/acd0 /

 ?                                           List valid disk boot devices
<empty line="">                       Abort manual input

mountroot></empty></fstype></device></device></fstype>

I found the troubleshooting guide here:

http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting

so I tried going to the loader and typing in the commands:

set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
 boot

however, that didn't seem to make any noticeable change, and it still gave me the same error.

Anh advice on installing pfSense 2.0 on this hardware?

Cheers,
Victor

wallabybob

What do you get if you type a question mark (to list valid boot devices) at the

mountroot>

prompt?

victorhooi

heya,

Turns out it was actually a bad DOM SATA module =(.

I emailed Hacom, and they said they had a bad batch of 8GB DOM chips…sigh. I wish they'd said that earlier.

Anyhow, they're sending out a 64GB SDD to replace it =) - I'm using a spare Intel SSD I had lying around until then.

It was just a bit confusing getting those error messages, and it being linked to a missing HDD - it didn't seem the most intuitive leap...lol. But then, hey, I've probably just been spoilt by Ubuntu and Arch installers...haha.

Thanks all for your help =).

Cheers,
Victor