No Console Menu After Cold Boot - APU Board with 2.3.1/2

sirozha

Strangely, the /etc/ttys file is empty.

I tried to run the command


cat /etc/ttys

both from Diagnostics > Command Prompt and directly from the shell by connecting to the pfSense box via SSH and using Option 8 (Shell).

Derelict

That's why you're not getting a console menu. No gettys spawned.

You can try this:

Boot single user (console boot menu option 2)
mount -a -t ufs
mv /etc/ttys /root/ttys.old
tar xv -C / -f /usr/local/share/pfSense/base.txz ./etc/ttys
/sbin/reboot

As always, be ready to reinstall and restore when you do this sort of thing.

Not sure why /etc/ttys falls victim to this but it also appears to be related to unclean shutdowns. I have not seen any other files that do this but I am not sure if I would trust it and might just reinstall/restore since it only takes a couple of minutes and you're rebooting anyway.

sirozha

Thank you for your suggestion.

I was testing graceful shutdowns. I did unplug the pfSense box from power but only after shutting it down gracefully.

In my opinion, the serial console is for troubleshooting purposes once pfSense has been installed. Now I'm troubleshooting the serial console (or VGA console) itself instead of having it as a troubleshooting tool. I guess as long as pfSense is working correctly, I really don't want to reinstall it again, hoping that this will be fixed in a future release.

So, provided that it has happened twice to me now within a month, and it apparently happens to others, do you think this should be addressed as a bug?

Also, when the next version of pfSense comes out and I update to it from within GUI, would the update automatically fix this issue as the existing blank ttys file will be overwritten with a fresh copy from the update?

Thank you.

acherman

Looks like this was quietly fixed in 2.3.2_1.

Edit. I was wrong. I just factory defaulted this unit after I had tested this and the console menu didn't come up. >:(

Derelict

It doesn't really have anything to do with factory defaulting.

Unless you have a readily-repeatable procedure, which would be great news.

acherman

I was actually setting up a new APU1D board for a site, and after it was ready I decided to use a NetGate unit instead. I made sure the APU board was up to date with 2.3.2_1, then pulled power to test. It booted up with the console menu. It's possible I didn't pull power long enough (it was just a few seconds). After the NetGate unit was set up and ready, I defaulted with APU board with console option 4, and it booted up with no console menu. So that was weird. I can certainly do more testing.

darmok

After upgrading to 2.3.2_1, I'm able to land in the console menu on restart. Something about 2.3.2_1 has to have improved matters, as nothing I tried under 2.3.2 got me past the "Bootup Complete" message. I abruptly pulled power for about 5 seconds and it booted normally.

Again, this doesn't really help @acherman, other than to further confirm that hardware compatibility is probably an issue. I'm running pfSense on an old System76 Wilp5, which while more mainstream than an APU1D, has always had minor driver issues.

fabiorl

I'm also having the same problem. After a hard reset on pfSense 2.3.2_1 does not show up the menu. Everything is working fine except that the console.
The detail is that I'm using a VM in ESXi and trying to access directly from the console.
Any idea?

w0w

Same for me. Console lost somewhere between 2.3.2 and 2.3.2_1 boots.
cat /etc/ttys — empty
board is J1900D2Y with NOTHING except lan cables and power cord connected, using IPMI.
@Derelict:

That's why you're not getting a console menu. No gettys spawned.

You can try this:

Boot single user (console boot menu option 2)
mount -a -t ufs
mv /etc/ttys /root/ttys.old
tar xv -C / -f /usr/local/share/pfSense/base.txz ./etc/ttys
/sbin/reboot

As always, be ready to reinstall and restore when you do this sort of thing.

Not sure why /etc/ttys falls victim to this but it also appears to be related to unclean shutdowns. I have not seen any other files that do this but I am not sure if I would trust it and might just reinstall/restore since it only takes a couple of minutes and you're rebooting anyway.

Did the job!

silverhair

Thank you for this post. The solution brought my menu back to the console:

Boot single user (console boot menu option 2)
mount -a -t ufs
mv /etc/ttys /root/ttys.old
tar xv -C / -f /usr/local/share/pfSense/base.txz ./etc/ttys
/sbin/reboot

The reproduction steps are similar to what has already been posted.

I pulled power on my system several times while working through a BIOS issue. At some point during my testing, I noticed that the IPMI console showed "Bootup complete", but no menu after one of the system restarts.

Thanks again for the solution.

Biliv

@Derelict said in No Console Menu After Cold Boot - APU Board with 2.3.1/2:

That's why you're not getting a console menu. No gettys spawned.

You can try this:

Boot single user (console boot menu option 2)
mount -a -t ufs
mv /etc/ttys /root/ttys.old
tar xv -C / -f /usr/local/share/pfSense/base.txz ./etc/ttys
/sbin/reboot

.

Digging out this old thread as I’m having the same issue with my APU device v2.3.5.
I locked myself out of the network ports after messing up my bridge config.

I can access the console fine, but after the device boots there is just “Bootup completed”, no menu

I wanted to try the above trick but I don’t see any option to boot into single user mode.
The only prompt I get is “Press F12 for boot menu”
This only gives me the option to select the boot device or change boot options.
I couldn’t manage to get to any command prompt or menu...

Any ideas?

jimp

Upgrade to an actual supported release.
Start a new thread if that doesn't work.