Upgrade to 2.1.2: Stuck on 2.1

kaput

Thanks, jimp. Missed that perm issue in the log.

Unfortunately, running "gpart bootcode -b /boot/mbr ad0" also results in the exact same error, noting that ad0 is corrupt.

prohidium

I have the exact same issue with same error in my upgrade log on a 2g install on an Alix box.

I also had the issue on a 4g install but I opted to flash a new image and swap cards. The 2g box though is 4 hours round trip away so I would love to fix the issue and update remotely.

I also had another 4g box that updated just fine. So, 2 out of 3 are broken and would not update with autoupdate or manual update.

jimp

Other things to try:

Set the boot slice on Diagnostics > NanoBSD, see if it actually changes.

or

gpart recover ad0

or

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
boot0cfg -v -s 1 ad0
fdisk -a /dev/ad0
sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=0

(For fdisk make sure to specify the values it asks and press 'y' to confirm!)

We have yet to be able to reproduce this effectively, but several people have hit it. It would be helpful to know some more about the original setup that failed. Was it your own CF or did it come with the device? Had it ever been upgraded before, and if so how many times? What was its original version of pfSense on that CF card before upgrading?

sashka

Slice does not change; nor I can copy ad0s2 -> ad0s1.

kaput

 gpart bootcode -b /boot/mbr ad0
gpart: table 'ad0' is corrupt: Operation not permitted

gpart recover ad0
gpart: recovering 'ad0' failed: Function not implemented

sashka


fdisk -a /dev/ad0

I get an Intput/Output error.

This is compact flash card. It was installed as 2.0 and then upgraded to 2.0.3 and later 2.1.

robi

In my case I had pfSense nanobsd v1.2.3 upgraded to v2.0, that one upgraded to v2.1 - all of them upgraded OK. Now when I wanted to upgrade to v2.1.2, It seems corrupted. I'm preparing a fresly flashed CF card with config already put in.

me too

I am having the same issue. Hopefully my situation will help shed some light.

I have upgraded at least two other NanoBSD 4G (ALIX) system without issue.
Today I am upgrading three identical boxes - ALIX boards running 4G CF card
One existing install was already 2.1 and I successfully upgraded to 2.1.2
The other two were at 2.0.3 and I successfully upgraded to 2.1, but they are both now stuck on 2.1 after auto-upgrade and manual upgrade attempts.

robi

Also a side note, I'm not on Alix, but on a Jetway JNF99 with 5 intel nics, Atom CPU and 4GB of RAM, i386 build. The new CF card will carry a 64-bit version this time.

jimp

If you're getting an "i/o error" or "device not configured", reboot and try again. At least for the "i/o error" it seems to lean more toward maybe a bad CF but it's still tough to say for sure.

Also worth a try:

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
fdisk -B -b /boot/boot0 ad0

mjohnson

I'm in the same boat with 40 plus devices scattered across 4 provinces. I actually haven't managed to get a single one to upgrade except the 3 in our local offices that I performed a clean install on, 2G and 4G, current versions 2.03 and 2.1 on all remotes attempting auto upgrade and manual firmware uploads. Not sure what to do, since I don't want to risk chopping them up and losing remote connectivity. I don't own a helicopter to get around that quickly ;D

All Alix boards. Errors in the upgrade log

fdisk: invalid fdisk partition table found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
tar: Failed to set default locale
tar: Failed to set default locale
shutdown: [pid 24752]

gazoo

I have same issue apparently. No answer. Here's my log:

NanoBSD Firmware upgrade in progress...

Installing /root/latest.tgz.
SLICE         1
OLDSLICE      2
TOFLASH       ad0s1
COMPLETE_PATH ad0s1a
GLABEL_SLICE  pfSense0
Sun Apr 13 02:37:42 EDT 2014

total 8
dr-xr-xr-x   7 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 .
drwxr-xr-x  26 root  wheel         1.0k Apr 12 15:03 ..
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  56 Apr 12 15:03 ad0
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  57 Apr 12 15:03 ad0s1
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  60 Apr 12 15:03 ad0s1a
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  58 Apr 12 15:03 ad0s2
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  61 Apr 12 15:03 ad0s2a
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  59 Apr 12 15:03 ad0s3
crw-------   1 root  operator    0,  28 Apr 12 15:03 ata
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  11 Apr 13 01:29 bpf
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           3B Apr 12 15:03 bpf0 -> bpf
crw-------   1 root  tty         0,   4 Apr 13 02:37 console
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,  44 Apr 12 15:03 crypto
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,  10 Apr 12 15:03 ctty
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  35 Apr 12 15:03 cuau0
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  36 Apr 12 15:03 cuau0.init
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  37 Apr 12 15:03 cuau0.lock
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  41 Apr 12 15:03 cuau1
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  42 Apr 12 15:03 cuau1.init
crw-rw----   1 uucp  dialer      0,  43 Apr 12 15:03 cuau1.lock
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,   5 Apr 12 15:03 devctl
cr--------   1 root  wheel       0,  54 Apr 12 15:03 devstat
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 fd
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  13 Apr 12 15:03 fido
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,   3 Apr 12 15:03 geom.ctl
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  23 Apr 12 15:03 io
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,   8 Apr 12 15:03 klog
crw-r-----   1 root  kmem        0,  15 Apr 12 15:03 kmem
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 led
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  62 Apr 12 15:03 md0
crw-r-----   1 root  operator    0,  66 Apr 12 15:03 md1
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  47 Apr 12 15:03 mdctl
crw-r-----   1 root  kmem        0,  14 Apr 12 15:03 mem
crw-------   1 root  kmem        0,  16 Apr 12 15:03 nfslock
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,  25 Apr 13 02:37 null
crw-r--r--   1 root  wheel       0,  27 Apr 12 15:03 pci
crw-rw----   1 root  proxy       0,  45 Apr 12 15:03 pf
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,   9 Apr 12 15:03 ptmx
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,   6 Apr 12 15:03 random
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  24 Apr 12 15:03 speaker
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           4B Apr 12 15:03 stderr -> fd/2
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           4B Apr 12 15:03 stdin -> fd/0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           4B Apr 12 15:03 stdout -> fd/1
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  32 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu0
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  33 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu0.init
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  34 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu0.lock
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  38 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu1
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  39 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu1.init
crw-------   1 root  wheel       0,  40 Apr 12 15:03 ttyu1.lock
crw-------   1 uucp  dialer      0,  73 Apr 12 15:04 tun1
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 ufs
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 ufsid
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           9B Apr 12 15:03 ugen0.1 -> usb/0.1.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           9B Apr 12 15:03 ugen1.1 -> usb/1.1.0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel           6B Apr 12 15:03 urandom -> random
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel         512B Apr 12 15:03 usb
crw-r--r--   1 root  operator    0,  46 Apr 12 15:03 usbctl
crw-------   1 root  operator    0,  55 Apr 12 15:03 xpt0
crw-rw-rw-   1 root  wheel       0,  26 Apr 12 15:03 zero

-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel    76M Apr 13 02:34 /root/latest.tgz

MD5 (/root/latest.tgz) = b914649dd6be90a461a99615c07882c3

/dev/ufs/pfSense1 on / (ufs, local, noatime, synchronous)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local)
/dev/ufs/cf on /cf (ufs, local, noatime, synchronous)
/dev/md0 on /tmp (ufs, local)
/dev/md1 on /var (ufs, local)
devfs on /var/dhcpd/dev (devfs, local)

last pid: 52248;  load averages:  3.09,  1.78,  1.20  up 0+11:34:50    02:38:14
67 processes:  7 running, 60 sleeping

Mem: 92M Active, 50M Inact, 74M Wired, 6780K Cache, 33M Buf, 7052K Free
Swap: 

  PID USERNAME  THR PRI NICE   SIZE    RES STATE    TIME   WCPU COMMAND
92215 root        1  76    0 40308K 20156K accept   4:21  0.00% php
86955 root        1  76    0 26484K 15784K accept   2:37  0.00% php
41671 root        1  44    0  8004K  4984K kqread   1:04  0.00% lighttpd
93099 root        1  76   20  3644K  1332K piperd   0:20  0.00% sh
  292 root        1  76   20  3352K  1112K kqread   0:15  0.00% check_reload_status
45599 nobody      1  44    0  5512K  2316K select   0:12  0.00% dnsmasq
31777 root        1  44    0  3264K  1208K select   0:12  0.00% apinger
97171 root        1  44    0  3416K  1400K select   0:10  0.00% syslogd
66552 root        1  44    0  7284K  5872K select   0:07  0.00% bsnmpd
30425 root       21  44    0 21400K  3996K ucond    0:05  0.00% filterdns
78170 root        1  64   20  6280K  6300K select   0:05  0.00% ntpd
52603 dhcpd       1  44    0 11456K  7584K select   0:05  0.00% dhcpd
25251 root        1  44    0  3264K   848K piperd   0:03  0.00% logger
90659 proxy       1  64   20 10356K  5928K kqread   0:03  0.00% squid
25151 root        1  44    0  5868K  1916K bpf      0:02  0.00% tcpdump
61760 root        1  44    0  5952K  2324K kqread   0:01  0.00% lighttpd
72531 root        1  64   20  5432K  3224K select   0:01  0.00% openvpn
19617 root        1  44    0  5144K  1544K select   0:01  0.00% hostapd

NanoBSD upgrade starting

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0s1 bs=1m count=1
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
1048576 bytes transferred in 0.344171 secs (3046671 bytes/sec)

/usr/bin/gzip -dc /root/latest.tgz | /bin/dd of=/dev/ad0s1 obs=64k
3844449+0 records in
30034+1 records out
1968357888 bytes transferred in 394.695594 secs (4987028 bytes/sec)
After upgrade fdisk/bsdlabel

/sbin/fsck_ufs -y /dev/ad0s1a
** /dev/ad0s1a
** Last Mounted on /tmp/netgatemnt
** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes
** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames
** Phase 3 - Check Connectivity
** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts
** Phase 5 - Check Cyl groups
5506 files, 317470 used, 3462558 free (542 frags, 432752 blocks, 0.0% fragmentation)

***** FILE SYSTEM IS CLEAN *****

/sbin/tunefs -L pfSense0 /dev/ad0s1a
Checking for post_upgrade_command...
Found post_upgrade_command, executing (pfSense0)...
tar: Failed to set default locale
Checking for /tmp/pfSense0/tmp/post_upgrade_command.php... 
Running /tmp/pfSense0/tmp/post_upgrade_command.php pfSense0
Adding serial port settings (/tmp/pfSense0)...
Reading /tmp/pfSense0/boot/loader.conf...

/dev/ufs/pfSense0 / ufs ro,sync,noatime 1 1
/dev/ufs/cf /cf ufs ro,sync,noatime 1 1

gpart set -a active -i 1 ad0
gpart: table 'ad0' is corrupt: Operation not permitted

/usr/sbin/boot0cfg -s 1 -v /dev/ad0
#   flag     start chs   type       end chs       offset         size
1   0x00      0:  1: 1   0xa5    751: 15:63           63      3854529
2   0x80    752:  1: 1   0xa5    479: 15:63      3854655      3854529
3   0x00    480:  0: 1   0xa5    581: 15:63      7709184       102816

version=2.0  drive=0x80  mask=0x3  ticks=182  bell=# (0x23)
options=packet,update,nosetdrv
volume serial ID 9090-9090
default_selection=F1 (Slice 1)
Sun Apr 13 02:48:27 EDT 2014

NanoBSD Firmware upgrade is complete.  Rebooting in 10 seconds.

File list:
/tmp/pfSense0
/tmp/pfSense0/.snap
/tmp/pfSense0/COPYRIGHT
/tmp/pfSense0/bin
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/cat
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/chflags
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/chmod
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/cp
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/csh
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/tcsh
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/date
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/dd
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/df
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/domainname
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/echo
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/expr
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/hostname
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/kenv
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/kill
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/ln
/tmp/pfSense0/bin/link
.....a bunch more tmp files..
Misc log:

fdisk: invalid fdisk partition table found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
tar: Failed to set default locale
tar: Failed to set default locale
shutdown: [pid 82135]

fdisk/bsdlabel log:

Before upgrade fdisk/bsdlabel
******* Working on device /dev/ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 751/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 3854655, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 80 (active)
	beg: cyl 752/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 479/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 7709184, size 102816 (50 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 480/ head 0/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 581/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:
 <unused># /dev/ad0s1:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
# /dev/ad0s2:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
---------------------------------------------------------------

******* Working on device /dev/ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 751/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 3854655, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 80 (active)
	beg: cyl 752/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 479/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 7709184, size 102816 (50 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 480/ head 0/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 581/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:
 <unused># /dev/ad0s1:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
# /dev/ad0s2:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
---------------------------------------------------------------

Final upgrade fdisk/bsdlabel
******* Working on device /dev/ad0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=7745 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)

Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 63, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 751/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 2 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 3854655, size 3854529 (1882 Meg), flag 80 (active)
	beg: cyl 752/ head 1/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 479/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 3 is:
sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
    start 7709184, size 102816 (50 Meg), flag 0
	beg: cyl 480/ head 0/ sector 1;
	end: cyl 581/ head 15/ sector 63
The data for partition 4 is:
 <unused># /dev/ad0s1:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
# /dev/ad0s2:
type: unknown
disk: amnesiac
label: 
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 16
sectors/cylinder: 1008
cylinders: 3813
sectors/unit: 3844449
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0		# milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0	# milliseconds
drivedata: 0 

8 partitions:
#          size     offset    fstype   [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
  a:    3844433         16    unused        0     0   
  c:    3844449          0    unused        0     0     # "raw" part, don't edit
---------------------------------------------------------------</unused></unused></unused>

Darkk

@mjohnson:

I'm in the same boat with 40 plus devices scattered across 4 provinces. I actually haven't managed to get a single one to upgrade except the 3 in our local offices that I performed a clean install on, 2G and 4G, current versions 2.03 and 2.1 on all remotes attempting auto upgrade and manual firmware uploads. Not sure what to do, since I don't want to risk chopping them up and losing remote connectivity. I don't own a helicopter to get around that quickly ;D

All Alix boards. Errors in the upgrade log

fdisk: invalid fdisk partition table found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
bsdlabel: /dev/ad0s3: no valid label found
tar: Failed to set default locale
tar: Failed to set default locale
shutdown: [pid 24752]

I hear ya about all those remote devices and no time to travel there if there is a problem. For me if there is a risk of breaking it at a remote site I would send them another firewall box and tell them to swap it when time permits. This way the new firewall is working at the corporate office with the remote site's configuration file and should work fine when it reaches at the remote site. Then have them send the old one back to redo for another site.

I know it's a PITA. Might be good for critical sites that can't go down for any period of time. Hopefully soon we can get these upgrade issues sorted out.

jimp

I have a faulty image in my hands now, hopefully I can track down a solution soon.

Current theory is that it was actually corrupt before the latest update and it just started to show it now, but once I have more time to experiment with the broken CF image I'll know for sure.

I'm certain we can come up with a fix, but it might be something scary like doing a DD of a good partition table to the start of the disk. Not something I'd generally recommend however in theory all NanoBSD images of the same size should have the same partition layout so it may be safe.

In the meantime I'd like to find out if everyone involved here had 4GB NanoBSD images, or both 2GB and 4GB, or even more.

me too

Both 4GB CF for me.

mjohnson

2 and 4GB for me.

RCS-Michael

Jim,

I have both 2G and 4G nanobsd images displaying this problem.

Michael

jimp

For those of you that have an issue, show me the output of:

fdisk -p /dev/ad0

And note if it's 2gb or 4gb.

If you have a working system of the same size to compare against, show the output from it also.

mkomar

Not working: 2GB

/dev/ad0

g c3875 h16 s63
p 1 0xa5 63 1902033
a 1
p 2 0xa5 1902159 1902033
p 3 0xa5 3804192 102816

Working: 4GB

/dev/ad0

g c7751 h16 s63
p 1 0xa5 63 3844449
p 2 0xa5 3844575 3844449
a 2
p 3 0xa5 7689024 102816

Not Working: 2GB

/dev/ad0

g c3875 h16 s63
p 1 0xa5 63 1902033
p 2 0xa5 1902159 1902033
a 2
p 3 0xa5 3804192 102816

Working: 2GB

/dev/ad0

g c3897 h16 s63
p 1 0xa5 63 1902033
a 1
p 2 0xa5 1902159 1902033
p 3 0xa5 3804192 102816

jimp

Those last two are interesting in that they're nearly identical and one works and the other doesn't. I expect some variation as we have, over time, slightly shrunk the NanoBSD slice sizes, but that is a bit curious.

The .img file I read from the CF with the "corrupt" table appears to be OK, despite the CF showing a damaged table. So I'm left to wonder if there may be some other CF-related factor at play.

The following commands could be dangerous so if you choose to attempt them, proceed with extreme caution. I tested these on my own ALIX with a good MBR and it survived, but there are no guarantees. You need only try one of these methods unless it doesn't help, then proceed to the next one.

Method #1: Rewrite the MBR+Partition table with dd

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
dd if=/dev/ad0 of=/tmp/mbr_part_bkup.img bs=512 count=1
dd of=/dev/ad0 if=/tmp/mbr_part_bkup.img bs=512 count=1

Method #2: Have fdisk reset the partition table:

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
fdisk -p /dev/ad0 > /tmp/fdisk_bkup.txt
fdisk -if /tmp/fdisk_bkup.txt /dev/ad0

Method #3: Take a "working" fdisk output and rewrite using it. I can't stress enough that you must make sure the partition boundaries line up, don't grab the fdisk output from a differently sized card:


# Get the "fdisk -p" output from a similar but working CF, save it in /tmp/fdisk_bkup.txt
sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
fdisk -if /tmp/fdisk_bkup.txt /dev/ad0

After any of those, chances are that no commands will work to reboot the unit, so either pull the power or run the following to force a panic+reboot:

sysctl debug.debugger_on_panic=0
sysctl debug.kdb.panic=1

After that has completed, try the upgrade once again.

Obviously that isn't something you'd want to try on a remote unit.