Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Pfsense 2.3-RELEASE hangs when installing

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    8 Posts 3 Posters 4.0k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • B Offline
      Balanga
      last edited by

      Several months ago after running pfSense on a custom built box for about three months it suddenly stopped with a fatal trap

      https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=108717.msg608089#msg608089

      In an effort to try and diagnose what the problem was with the box, I tried testing the memory, but couldn't achieve any satisfactory results…

      Eventually I tried installing FreeBSD 10.3-RELEASE amd64 and that came up without a problem, so I thought I'd try pfSense 2.3-RELEASE amd64 which is base on FreeBSD 10.3. Unfortunatly pfSense hung when booting up from the installation media. That was the same media which was used for installing FreeBSD.

      Can I conclude that I have hit a bug in pfSense?

      The system in question has 8GB of RAM and uses a Supermicro X10SBA motherboard with twin NICs

      It halts after displaying

      UART3

      on bootup.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • J Offline
        JorgeOliveira
        last edited by

        It would be helpful if you post a screenshot/log when booting with verbose mode enabled.
        To obtain that info, press ESC while on "Welcome to pfSense" boot screen. Type boot -v and hit ENTER.

        Also, I'd recommend trying 2.3.1-RELEASE and 2.3.2-DEVELOPMENT snapshots, the issue might be fixed in any of those.

        My views have absolutely no warranty express or implied. Always do your own research.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • C Offline
          cmb
          last edited by

          No OS-level changes of any significance for that type of thing between 2.3 and 2.3.2.

          Yeah need to know where it stops. Verbose boot might be helpful.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B Offline
            Balanga
            last edited by

            @JorgeOliveira:

            It would be helpful if you post a screenshot/log when booting with verbose mode enabled.
            To obtain that info, press ESC while on "Welcome to pfSense" boot screen. Type boot -v and hit ENTER.

            Also, I'd recommend trying 2.3.1-RELEASE and 2.3.2-DEVELOPMENT snapshots, the issue might be fixed in any of those.

            Funnily enough in verbose mode it does not hang!

            However when installing it stops at 5% when copying files to the target - I have a USB stick as target for my testing.

            I will try a DEVELOPMENT snapshot and see how it goes.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B Offline
              Balanga
              last edited by

              The 20160621-0520 amd64 img stops at exactly the same point in the installation, ie after 5% when executing

              /usr/bin/tar -C /mnt/ -xzpf /install/pfSense.txz

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • J Offline
                JorgeOliveira
                last edited by

                That is normal. I've tested on multiple virtual installations on different hardware and it takes from 1 to 5 minutes depending on the CPU. May take even longer on lower grade CPUs.

                My views have absolutely no warranty express or implied. Always do your own research.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • B Offline
                  Balanga
                  last edited by

                  @JorgeOliveira:

                  That is normal. I've tested on multiple virtual installations on different hardware and it takes from 1 to 5 minutes depending on the CPU. May take even longer on lower grade CPUs.

                  Actually, it did work eventually - took over half an hour, so it looked like a hang to me.

                  Sorry for any confusion.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • C Offline
                    cmb
                    last edited by

                    It copies the bulk of the data at that point without moving the progress bar much. With a slow disk, and/or slow source medium, it'll take some time.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • First post
                      Last post
                    Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.