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    Serial ports disappeared on Supermicro board

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • D
      droeders
      last edited by

      And if they still work in pfSense 2.2/2.3, I would run the following command and compare the results against 2.4.x:

      
      kldstat
      
      
      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • D
        droeders
        last edited by

        I have the same motherboard, and these ports seem to be recognized fine in 2.4.2-RELEASE-p1.  Admittedly, I'm not using them for anything.

        
        dmesg|grep -i uart
        uart0: <16550 or compatible> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
        uart1: <16550 or compatible> port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on acpi0
        
        
        
        sysctl -a | grep -i uart
        device	uart_ns8250
        device	uart
        kern.console: ttyv0,/uart,ucom,ttyv0,
        debug.uart_force_poll: 0
        debug.uart_poll_freq: 50
        dev.uart.1.pps_mode: 2
        dev.uart.1.%parent: acpi0
        dev.uart.1.%pnpinfo: _HID=PNP0501 _UID=1
        dev.uart.1.%location: handle=\_SB_.PCI0.SBRG.UAR2
        dev.uart.1.%driver: uart
        dev.uart.1.%desc: 16550 or compatible
        dev.uart.0.pps_mode: 2
        dev.uart.0.%parent: acpi0
        dev.uart.0.%pnpinfo: _HID=PNP0501 _UID=0
        dev.uart.0.%location: handle=\_SB_.PCI0.SBRG.UAR1
        dev.uart.0.%driver: uart
        dev.uart.0.%desc: 16550 or compatible
        dev.uart.%parent: 
        
        

        Looks like the driver is built into the kernel, and I don't have any related modules loaded:

        
        kldstat
        Id Refs Address            Size     Name
         1   23 0xffffffff80200000 2c3ea98  kernel
         2    1 0xffffffff82e40000 316988   zfs.ko
         3    2 0xffffffff83157000 ca18     opensolaris.ko
         4    1 0xffffffff83164000 11618    ipmi.ko
         5    2 0xffffffff83176000 31d8     smbus.ko
         6    1 0xffffffff83221000 7f92     aesni.ko
         7    1 0xffffffff83229000 2c1b     coretemp.ko
        
        
        
        vmstat -ai | grep -i uart
        irq3: uart1                            0          0
        irq4: uart0                            0          0
        
        

        I'd look at my BIOS settings, but I can't reset this machine right now.  Based on dmidecode, I'm running BIOS version 2.0 from 07/24/2017.

        You don't have any add-in cards that could somehow be interfering do you?

        Some kind of ACPI problem?

        Now I'd really be interested in the other member's suggestions to try booting FreeBSD or Linux.

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        • R
          robi
          last edited by

          @johnkeates:

          To figure out if this is a 2.4-only thing, try booting 2.3 or 2.2 media or maybe even some random BSD or Linux disk, see if they can detect the ports. They probably will, but some positive confirmation is always good.

          In 2.2 and 2.3 I had them working perfectly.

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          • R
            robi
            last edited by

            @droeders:

            I'd look at my BIOS settings, but I can't reset this machine right now.  Based on dmidecode, I'm running BIOS version 2.0 from 07/24/2017.

            You don't have any add-in cards that could somehow be interfering do you?

            Some kind of ACPI problem?

            Now I'd really be interested in the other member's suggestions to try booting FreeBSD or Linux.

            I'd be thankful if you'd check for any special BIOS settings. I also run bios version 2.0 same as you.
            I have an extra PCIx Intel LAN card, but that's not new, it's been in there since ages.

            I'll try to run a LiveCD Linux to see if the ports can be detected there…. :-\

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • D
              droeders
              last edited by

              I might be able to take down the firewall sometime this weekend to take a look.

              I'll check back for your results with pfSense 2.3 and/or Linux to make sure they are still working there.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • R
                robi
                last edited by

                :o
                Linux doesn't see the ports either. In BIOS they are enabled, though. What the heck…?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  Have you actually completely removed power from the device? Some registers remain set even after a shutdown. Could be disabling those ports.

                  Steve

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                  • R
                    robi
                    last edited by

                    Yes I already thought about that, thus I completely pulled the plug too for about a minute… still not seeing them.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • R
                      robi
                      last edited by

                      No it doesn't. And apart from the missing serial ports, it works well.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        Hmm, not much that can make them disappear from the OS side. I could believe they could get fried at the hardware level externally but I still expect them to be visible to the OS.

                        If they are disabled that would happen but I can see no reason why they would be. ACPI tables damaged maybe? Perhaps force reflash the BIOS with the same image.

                        Are they on the SuperIO chip on that board? Check they are enabled after boot.

                        Steve

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