Trouble Installing from USB onto APU2

[Stewart]

We deal with a lot of APU2 units and so far generally create a base image and clone from it. We are currently trying to switch over so that we do a clean install and import our base config into it. We have, so far, been able to create 3 installs from the USB drive but it's after much swapping and moving things around. Generally, when we try to install we get:

Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeBSD_Install [ro,noatime]...
mountroot: waiting for device /dev/ufs/FreeBSD_Install...
Mounting from ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeBSD_Install failed with error 19.

Loader variables:
  vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeBSD_Install
  vfs.root.mountfrom.options=ro,noatime

Manual root filesystem specification:
  <fstype>:<device> [options]
      Mount <device> using filesystem <fstype>
      and with the specified (optional) option list.

    eg. ufs:/dev/da0s1a
        zfs:tank
        cd9660:/dev/cd0 ro
          (which is equivalent to: mount -t cd9660 -o ro /dev/cd0 /)

  ?               List valid disk boot devices
  .               Yield 1 second (for background tasks)
  <empty line>    Abort manual input

mountroot>

I've found link text but not sure if what they are suggesting would help and, if so, how to go about finding the drive to mount it. Apparently it works if I reboot enough since I was abe to get it to install at some point. I've verified this across 2 different APU2's and 2 different Flash drives.

Thanks for any help!

[bigsy]

@Stewart A clean install of a current version of pfSense shouldn't need any special tweaking for an APU2 running a recent bios.

However in my experience APU2s (even the latest APU2E4) still ship with an old bios, so the first thing I do is update coreboot to a recent version as there have been changes to its USB handling over time. I have a bootable linux USB stick with flashrom for this purpose along with an spi1a just in case the flashing goes wrong. I've never had to use it in anger.

Even with this, certain USB sticks simply don't work for us and it's just been a process of trial and error to find one that works consistently without borking during the pfS install process. According to the APU2 coreboot developers there are still problems with certain USB 3 sticks.

[dotdash]

I haven't tried my older 3 port APU2 boards, but the newer 4 port APU4 boards (still APU2 family) have been problematic loading 2.4.5 via the front usb ports:
https://forum.netgate.com/topic/152400/apu-4d4-installation-problems-2-4-5

[stephenw10]

Yeah increasing the value for kern.cam.boot_delay usually helps there. Having that set as a loader prompt at all usually gets past things that need more time before USB can be mounted.

Steve

[Stewart]

@bigsy I update the BIOS of the new boxes, but not to the latest. At the moment I have all of them running on the same BIOS:
Vendor: coreboot
Version: v4.9.0.4
Release Date: Wed Apr 3 2019

[Stewart]

@dotdash

I definately get those same CAM error messages as you indicated. All I do is boot to an existing image, connect the console cable and putty in, drop to shell, and plug in the USB drives. Happens pretty much any time I use a USB 3.0 drive. I've plugged in 3 of them with the same issues. A USB 2 drive that I have doesn't do it.