Q: how to reflash pfSense image to a bricked SG-4860 (no usb console output)
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I have a 3-year old Netgate SG-4860 appliance w 30GB mSATA that appears to be bricked. How can I reflash this unit? Do I need a 4-pin serial adapter to connect directly to the motherboard? I could possibly install pfSense onto the mSata drive using another machine and an mSata-USB adapter.
I had made configuration changes to add a IPv6 tunnel broker and decided to reboot the appliance to make sure all of my changes would survive a reboot. The Netgate appliance didn't survive the reboot. I was running pfSense 2.4.3 community-edition but I am not certain what bios and coreboot image. I had re-flashed the unit a few months ago with community edition after the Netgate image started failing to update.
Now I get red status led which turns off after 3 minutes or so. I can see no output from USB serial while booting with an imaged USB drive inserted. I triple-checked my console settingsand verified the checksum on the pfSense memstick ADI image. I removed the mSata drive to make sure that was causing some hardware issue. I created two separate USB sticks. Nothing seems to work.
I would gladly replace the mSata drive but I don't think that is my problem. I do not have support on this appliance as I use it in my home. I had paid a decent prive for a proper appliance in 2015 and expected to get more than 3 years out of it.
Any ideas? I can't find any information about some sort of hardware bug that seems to affect the SG-4860 appliance. That may lead to some hint as to what is wrong. I did have to RMA my first unit in 2015 as it was DOA but this unit has operated fairly well for the duration until now.
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You can re-install pfSense by following this guide https://www.netgate.com/docs/pfsense/solutions/sg-4860/reinstall-pfsense.html
However, seems like you have a problem with you SG-4860 so can you please contact our support? Simply create an account here and submit a ticket, also reference this thread. Thanks! https://go.netgate.com/support/login
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Netgate is an awesome company. They stand behind their products. full stop. I get a lot of value out of my little netgate 4860 appliance and will continue to do so for years to come. Thank-you.
