Cannot install pfsense on 16G msata on ALIX APU
-
Hi all,
Hoping I can get some help. I am trying to install pfsense on 16G mSata on an ALIX APU box. Initially when I booted from a USB stick with 64bit ver of Pfsense it would not recognize the mSata so I ended up using tiny core linux to boot and wrote the pfsense image to the mSata drive which it recognized. I can now boot the APU box with the pfsense but it seems like it runs as CD image. When I tried to install (using the 99) option it recognized the msata drive (ad4: 14318MB <sb msata="" ssd="" s9fm01.8="">at ata2-master UDMA100 SATA 6Gb/ ) but when I try to format the disk I get the below error
BSD Installer started
DFUI connection on tcp:9999 successfully established
,- opened pty to '/sbin/sysctl -n hw.physmem'
< 4239695872
- closed pty to '/sbin/sysctl -n hw.physmem'/sbin/sysctl -n hw.physmemreturned: 4239695872 ,- opened pty to '/sbin/sysctl -n kern.disks' < da0 ad4- closed pty to '/sbin/sysctl -n kern.disks'
/sbin/sysctl -n kern.disksreturned: da0 ad4
Testing da0
Invoking survey for da0
Surveying Disk: da0 …
,- opened pty to '/sbin/atacontrol list'
< ATA channel 2:
< Master: ad4 <sb msata="" ssd="" s9fm01.8="">SATA revision 2.x
< Slave: no device present
< ATA channel 3:
< Master: no device present
< Slave: no device present
< ATA channel 4:
En < Master: no device presentCan I please get some guidance?
Cheers!</sb></sb>
-
What image did you write to the mSATA?
It sounds like you're trying to install to the disk you booted from which can't be done.
The first thing you tried is the correct way to do it. Do you have any logs showing it not detecting the disks? Any errors?
Steve
-
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your quick response. I am using the 64 bit version of Live CD with installer on (USB Stick) 2.1.5 RELEASE . When I originally booted the box with the pfsense USB and tried to install it on the msata the msata would not show up as one of the available device. the only disk I saw was the USB stick I was booting off of.
here is some additional error message when I currently try to install it on the msata
registered UINav atom 'main/install/reboot'
'main.lua' skipped, it is the currently executing script
Flow executing -> main/install/select_disk (Select Disk)
[Wed Dec 10 20:04:33 2014]
Flow executing -> main/install/format_disk (Format Disk)
[Wed Dec 10 20:05:12 2014]
Flow executing -> main/install/select_disk (Select Disk)
[Wed Dec 10 20:05:14 2014]
Flow executing -> main/install/format_disk (Format Disk)
[Wed Dec 10 20:05:24 2014]
,-<<< Executing/usr/sbin/cleargpt.sh ad4' | gpart: No such geom: ad4. | gpart: geom 'ad4': Invalid argument->>> Exit status: 0
[Wed Dec 10 20:05:43 2014]
,-<<< Executing/sbin/fdisk -I ad4' | ******* Working on device /dev/ad4 ******* | fdisk: invalid fdisk partition table found | fdisk: /boot/mbr: Device not configured->>> Exit status: 1Thanks!
-
Hmm, well you can't install to the boot drive because it's trying to format the drive it's working from. ;)
There are a number of posts about this here and the recommendation in all cases: is boot from USB and install to the mSATA from there. If you try that again and post the errors given we might be able to offer more help.
Only one of the slots on the APU is an mSATA slot, are you sure you were using the correct one? Obviously you are now.If you really can't get that to work, for whatever reason, you could write one of the NanoBSD images to the mSATA drive and run that instead.
Steve
-
Hi Steve,
That is what I did, booted from the USB and installed the image on the mSata, but when I look at the disk size it is showing 102% used, not sure how is that possible since I have a 16G drive. Shouldn't pfsense have created a proper partition and installed the image leaving enough room (not sure how big the install is). should I use the dd command and write from /dev/null to the drive to clear it than re install the image again?
Cheers!
-
I guess I used the dd command to copy the image from the usb to the drive so it didn't actually install it , it just copied the image to the sata drive.
-
Yep, you have to actually run the install.
Also if you're cleaning the drive use /dev/zero to write from.
Steve
-
OK will try this out tonight and will post if I receive any errors. I bet I will ;)
-
Finally was able to install it on the msata, didn't do anything different this time. I had to install it a few time before I figured I had to install it with packet mode during boot option unchecked , otherwise it would just hang at boot time. Thank you for all your help Stephen.
Cheers!
