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    Can't load 'kernel'

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • D
      dims
      last edited by

      After power outage, I got pfSense box not booting. On screen I see a message

      Can't load 'kernel'
      

      Then is suggests to type question mark for list of commands and prints OK

      I have simple commands like ls, lsdev, but I don't have cd or cat.

      ls shows a 2 column list of apparent directories (d) and files, but I can't ls with path

      OK ls boot
      open 'boot' failed, no such file or directory
      

      This can hint that filesystem was damaged, but I can see any file in first level, like

      OK more COPYRIGHT
      ...<shows file>...
      

      Can we suggest that filesystem is OK, but something like BIOS settings are bad? Or may be some automatic update changed kernel, which appeared not bootable.

      Neither commands like

      boot kernel.old
      load /boot/kernel.old
      

      worked.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • GertjanG
        Gertjan
        last edited by Gertjan

        Time to run a fsck.

        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
        Edit : and where are the logs ??

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

          Is it possible to run it from boot loader? How to run it?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • GertjanG
            Gertjan
            last edited by Gertjan

            See here https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/troubleshooting-disk-check-errors-fsck.html

            and or here https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/hardware/boot-troubleshooting.html

            No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum, the community will thank you.
            Edit : and where are the logs ??

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

              At the OK prompt do:

              OK load /boot/kernel.old/kernel                                                 \
              /boot/kernel.old/kernel text=0x17c69f8 data=0xb94940+0x517b18 syms=[0x8+0x198228
              +0x8+0x198f6d]                                                                  -
              OK boot -s
              

              Steve

              D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • D
                dims @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10 it says

                can't find '/boot/kernel.old/kernel'
                can't find '/boot/kernel.old/kernel'
                

                (twice)

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D
                  dims @Gertjan
                  last edited by

                  @Gertjan it didn't help

                  I ran fsck it found some errors, fixed them, finally said filesystem is ok, but if booting then situation is the same. While in command line, I was able to mount that filesystem and browse it. boot directory was browseable.

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                  • D
                    dims
                    last edited by

                    After I made

                    gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr -p /boot/gptboot -i1 ada0s1
                    

                    I got worse situation on boot

                    Invalid partition table
                    
                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • jimpJ
                      jimp Rebel Alliance Developer Netgate
                      last edited by

                      If it got to the point where it can't load the kernel, I wouldn't settle for anything less than a wipe+reload. I'd also be suspicious of the disk itself.

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                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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