Soekris 6501-50 Nano upgrade 2.1.3 to 2.2
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Hi everyone,
I've seen several posts from folks who have experienced some issues with the upgrade from 2.1.x to 2.2. I have had a similar issue to some but I have a problem with the PFSense boot hanging after running the auto upgrade.So currently I'm trying this out on a 2.1.3 install of PFSense. I run the auto updater, it installs, reboots, but then fails as soon as the board attempts to boot the PFSense boot slice that was upgraded. I am able to select the other boot slice from console and boot back into the 2.1.3 image. But booting 2.2 doesn't seem to get much further than attempting to boot the slice. Once it attempts to boot, it hangs. I reflashed it with 2.1.3, restored my config, and the same thing occurs. I do not have any packages installed and it's a very basically WAN-LAN firewall configuration.
What I am planning to do next is to upgrade to 2.1.5 first and then go to 2.2 to see if I get the same result on this particular unit. I had 2 other firewalls of identical model in my lab. Both upgrade to 2.2 just fine when 2.2 was first released. One was actually on the 2.2 Beta (from 2.1.5), and the other was on 2.1.5.
I know I can reflash the USB drive and move on, but I have several remote sites and I really need auto update to work. I have had those 2 other upgrades go successfully too so I am not sure if I am running into a unique problem with this particular USB drive or Soekris unit. I have more testing to do in all areas but I wanted to post this and find out if anyone else has experienced this particular issue.
Thanks!
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Where does it hang in the boot?
Steve
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It was hanging right after the boot slice selection. It would output garbage after the post and initial boot slice screen on the console until it just stopped. Console speed has been set the same on the Soekris as in PFSense.
I stepped through it yesterday by reflashing my USB with a fresh copy of 2.1.3. I restored my config, ran the auto updater and the problem occurred. I was able to recover the drive by rebooting, selecting the 2nd boot slice, and coming back up on 2.1.3. Then I duplicated the boot slice back to 2.1.3, ran a manual update of 2.1.3 to 2.1.5, then ran the auto updater from 2.1.5 to 2.2 successfully. I even flashed backwards from 2.2 to 2.1.3 and of course now that I've dug into it in the lab, I just went from 2.1.3 to 2.2 without an issue. Go figure, right? Basically at this point it seems to me that a 2.1.3 upgrade to 2.2 only has failed on a "fresh" image install of 2.1.3.
I am going to reflash the drive from scratch and run through it again. I can only guess that maybe I've run into a "one-off" scenario with the upgrade. Maybe it doesn't like upgrading from "fresh" image builds?
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Well another fresh build of 2.1.3 on the same USB drive just upgraded to 2.2 without issue. I am not sure what went on initially but it certainly seems that whatever the circumstances it isn't a direct issue with the upgrade itself.
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Seems like you hit some 'random weirdness' which is never a good thing.
Garbled serial output is very often a serial cable or adapter problem which may not be obvious.Steve
