Sg-4860 powers itself off: worth investigating, fixing?
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Purchased an sg-4860 that worked well for about 11 months. Now, periodically, it turns itself off. Re-plugging the cord into the box does get it going again, but it seems to be happening more frequently with time.
Unfortunately, I didn't take the issue seriously, and by the time I contacted pfsense support, it was two weeks out of warranty. At that point, they only offer that I mail it in and pay to have it fixed, which they didn't really recommend as the cost could equal+ that of a new unit.
From what I gather, it could be a corrupted EMMC (software or hardware?), motherboard, or over-heating.
If it's corrupted flash memory, some forum posts suggest reinstalling OS, or installing SSD and booting os off of that. I would switch to the community / open-source edition as the custom image from pfSense isn't available without a $400 support subscription. Also, I gather installing SSD isn't necessarily straight forward (https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=34381.0)… And, if it's a motherboard issue, will be wasted effort in any case. I've been monitoring temp, and, it seems unlikely the cause (we're in the NE USA, it's not hot :-)
I guess my questions are:
Have others faced a similar problem?
Is one source of failure more likely than the other?
Should I bother trying to fix it, or buy another?
Would the community edition of pfSense run differently on this unit?Thanks for any help/ advise.
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It's likely a flaky power source or power supply. Almost certainly not eMMC, and not likely it's the board either.
If you don't have it on a UPS, get one. Mine at home started doing that when my UPS's battery was dead and it got weird and started sending power surges (shutting off almost everything attached to it).
If you're on a good UPS already, then it's worth swapping the power supply to see if that makes a difference.
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Thanks CMB. It is on a UPS, and other things on the UPS have been ok. But, the other things are mostly switches, and the UPS is a few years old, so will try replacing and see if it helps.
I'm feeling frustrated with pfSense company: With pfSense support suggesting I buy a new unit as the best option, and the pfSense Store for not posting what I thought was a fair description / review of my trouble with the unit (which I would of course take down / update if it ends up being UPS, but, based upon pfSense support recommendation, my current review seemed fair).
If your guess is correct, the hardware is probably as reliable as I'd hoped / thought. If it's corrupted or has hardware issue as support suggested is likely, makes me weary to buy again. Having a hard time getting a sense of pfSense.
Thanks again for your help!
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Update: New UPS did not fix the issue …So, I guess it is a hardware issue, and I guess it is time to purchase new hardware.
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You might try replacing the power brick before you replace the expensive part. I assume the brick you have now has a 12V output. What is the amperage on the output side?
If it is 5A or less, you could try this one. I've had good luck with Seasonic in the past for PC power supplies, and this is what I ordered for my own build.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=376-000S-00001&cm_re=seasonic_12v--376-000S-00001--ProductI have seen several build threads here that use power supplies from this site as well:
http://www.mini-box.com/AC-DC-power-suppliesOr maybe pfSense can sell you just a power brick instead of a whole new box.
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I'm facing a similar issue: 4860 shutting down. The setup seems identical as in there are other unaffected devices on the same UPS. Has anyone else had this type of issue? How was it fixed?
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Please submit a ticket so our support can investigate. https://customercare.netgate.com/
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If a device 'magically' comes back to life after resetting power, it might be power-related…
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I've opened a case and I hope Netgate support can provide some advice.
I agree it looks like it's power-related, but I wonder if it's just a failing power brick (which I can replace), or a more serious issue with the 4860 board as has been implied earlier in the thread.