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    Pfsense startup problem

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved 2.1 Snapshot Feedback and Problems - RETIRED
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    • C
      cpthk
      last edited by

      Hi
      I tried out the 2.1. When my first startup after install to my harddrive, it didn't really bootup correctly. My computer is not getting the DHCP ip address. I tried to assign a ip address myself, but still cannot connect to the control UI. I tried reboot pfsense 2 times to get it work. (The third time boot worked) I noticed this problem in 2.0.1 already, and apparently it is not fixed in 2.1. Any clue? Thanks.

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        A lot more info needed!

        What hardware are you running pfSense on? What do you mean by 'didn't boot correctly'?

        Steve

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        • C
          cpthk
          last edited by

          @stephenw10:

          A lot more info needed!

          What hardware are you running pfSense on? What do you mean by 'didn't boot correctly'?

          Steve

          I have a Dell vostro 200 computer with a built in Intel Pro 1000 network chip and a PCI Intel 100/s network card.
          Yes, I think it didn't start up correctly. But as far as on the pfsense machine's monitor, you can't really tell what went wrong. I did see it started just as normal. I did still see that 1 interface has WAN ip, 1 interface has 192.168.1.1. The prompt menu got printed out too. My computers in the LAN just couldn't get ip, and couldn't go to the control UI. This happens about 20-30% of the times. The solution for me is to reboot again.

          At first I thought it might be DHCPd issue, so I manually assigned IP on my computer and tried connect to the web UI, but that didn't work. So I think the problem is something else.

          My version is:
          Current version: 2.1-BETA0
                Built On: Fri Dec  7 18:54:33 EST 2012

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            First thought:
            @cpthk:

            I did still see that 1 interface has WAN ip, 1 interface has 192.168.1.1.

            192.168.1.1/24 is the default IP used by LAN. If you have not changed it and WAN is also receiving this address then routing will not work and the sort of behaviour you mentioned would be expected. You cannot have WAN and LAN in the same subnet. Change the LAN address to something else, 192.168.100.1/24, for example.

            Steve

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            • C
              cpthk
              last edited by

              @stephenw10:

              First thought:
              @cpthk:

              I did still see that 1 interface has WAN ip, 1 interface has 192.168.1.1.

              192.168.1.1/24 is the default IP used by LAN. If you have not changed it and WAN is also receiving this address then routing will not work and the sort of behaviour you mentioned would be expected. You cannot have WAN and LAN in the same subnet. Change the LAN address to something else, 192.168.100.1/24, for example.

              Steve

              Sorry, there was a misunderstanding. My WAN interface has WAN ip, that is 76.28.205.xxx (not 192.168.1.1), this is given my my comcast cable. My LAN has 192.168.1.1, which is the normal pfsense default gateway. They are not in the same subnet.

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              • C
                cpthk
                last edited by

                This problem is getting more serious now. Almost 3 out of 5 times, the startup would failed. Anyone experience similar problem?

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                • W
                  wallabybob
                  last edited by

                  @cpthk:

                  This problem is getting more serious now. Almost 3 out of 5 times, the startup would failed. Anyone experience similar problem?

                  If you gave more details of what you mean by "failed" it would help others determine if they were experiencing a similar problem.

                  For example, complete the sentence: When I do … I see ... but I expect to see ...

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                  • C
                    cpthk
                    last edited by

                    @wallabybob:

                    @cpthk:

                    This problem is getting more serious now. Almost 3 out of 5 times, the startup would failed. Anyone experience similar problem?

                    If you gave more details of what you mean by "failed" it would help others determine if they were experiencing a similar problem.

                    For example, complete the sentence: When I do … I see ... but I expect to see ...

                    The pfsense machine itself looked no difference than the normal case. It played the midi music, and menu showed up, both of my interfaces have correct IP address. The only problem is that the computers underneath pfsense all cannot get IP addresses and not internet at all. The only solution I have found is to reboot until one time that they have internet.

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Ok. You need to check the system logs to see if anything is showing an error when if fails to boot correctly.
                      You can do that from the console, if you don't have access to the webgui, like so:

                      clog /var/log/system.log | less

                      Also give us the output of 'ifconfig' the failed instance.

                      Steve

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                      • A
                        AnWi
                        last edited by

                        I have made quite a few attempts to get pfsense starting from a usb-flash. My latest try is 2.1 BETA
                        A: Running pfSense-LiveCD-2.1-BETA1-i386-20121226-2125 and Installing to flash memory
                        B: pfSense-memstick-2.1-BETA1-i386-20121226-2125 and using unetbootin to transfer the image to the USB-flash
                        In both cases the diskless computer boots from the USB-flash and in both cases it runs until "mountroot>". Available devices are acd0 and fd0 but I cannot get the system to accept any of them.
                        I can get the system to work from the Live CD

                        Please help

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                        • W
                          wallabybob
                          last edited by

                          Have you read and acted on http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting

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                          • M
                            mromero
                            last edited by

                            Have you reproduced your issue on a separate box to ensure it is not something in your hardware?

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                            • A
                              AnWi
                              last edited by

                              @wallabybob:

                              Have you read and acted on http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting

                              I have but it didn't help

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                              • A
                                AnWi
                                last edited by

                                @mromero:

                                Have you reproduced your issue on a separate box to ensure it is not something in your hardware?

                                No! The box itself is working when running from Live CD. The startup-problem only appears when i boot from USB-flash

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                                • A
                                  AnWi
                                  last edited by

                                  @AnWi:

                                  @mromero:

                                  Have you reproduced your issue on a separate box to ensure it is not something in your hardware?

                                  No! The box itself is working when running from Live CD. The startup-problem only appears when i boot from USB-flash

                                  My mistake :-(
                                  I missed overlooked the option of pressing 3 in the menu. When I do, pfSense boots perfectly from the USB.

                                  /AnWi

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                                  • C
                                    cpthk
                                    last edited by

                                    Hi
                                    I am not sure why the topic changed, any suggestion on my issue?

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                                    • W
                                      wallabybob
                                      last edited by

                                      @cpthk:

                                      any suggestion on my issue?

                                      How about providing the additional information requested before AnWi hijacked the thread.

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                                      • C
                                        cpthk
                                        last edited by

                                        @wallabybob:

                                        @cpthk:

                                        any suggestion on my issue?

                                        How about providing the additional information requested before AnWi hijacked the thread.

                                        Hi:

                                        As I mentioned earlier, the issue happens about 1-2 times every 5 startups. Everything looks normal on the pfsense box, got WAN IP correctly. Computers under the pfsense LAN does not get IP addresses.

                                        Is there any logs I should be collecting? I would do that the next time I encounter. As this happens kind of random, it may take a bit of time.

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          Well it could be a number of things causing this you have to gather as much info as possible when it doesn't come up correctly to narrow it down. For example it could be:
                                          1. The NIC is not attaching to the driver correctly. Seems unlikely since you said earlier you could see it had a 192.168.1.1 address. If you provide the output of ifconfig that will confirm that.

                                          2. The firewall is blocking traffic. That should never happen if you are running a DHCP server but sometimes things get weird. You would see that in the firewall log however.

                                          3. The DHCP has stopped. If the DHCP server crashed out you should see something in the system log.

                                          4. Something else on your LAN is running a DHCP server that is grabbing requests. This happens quite often.

                                          Steve

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