I cannot Access my pfsense

OpenWifi

So today morning, i tried to change the Lan Ip address of my SG-2440 and it locked me out of pfsense entirely. The device keeps on rebooting by itself, the status indicator lights green for about 40 seconds, then it turns red. How can you help ?

marvosa

You could try hooking up to the console to review the logs, but the first thing I would try is a factory reset.

OpenWifi

@marvosa I have already tried factory reset via the reset button, but it is not responding. I currently do not have a console cable

akuma1x

I’m pretty sure that reset button you’re pushing is NOT a factory reset button like you’re thinking.

Hate to say it too, but that LED light pattern might be hardware failure.

Jeff

OpenWifi

@akuma1x then what should i do ? because the button is written reset

Gertjan

The reset button resets the processor. Like the reset button on our PC, in the past.
The reset button does not wipe out the config.

@OpenWifi said in I cannot Access my pfsense:

then what should i do ?

As said above. Use the most important interface, which is not the GUI. It's the console access.
With the console you can gain access to a command line that enables you to assign LAN/WAN interfaces, and do some inspection.
If - and only if - you have console access - and you can't work it out, using the pfSense manual, the, because you have a Netgate's device, contact Netgate support.

Btw : this is a SG-2440, so why didn't you post here Official Netgate Hardware ?

stephenw10

On the SG-2440 the reset button does reset the config:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWQJJ5o6I_E&feature=youtu.be

But the script that does that is not triggered until after root is mounted. From what you describe it sounds like it's stuck in a boot loop, probably due to file system damage, so it never reached that point.

You need to connect to the console, boot into single user mode and run a manual FSCK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKr1Dvan5I

Steve

akuma1x

You should get yourself a USB console cable, they're very handy to have.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-USB-2-0-Cable-Male/dp/B00NH13S44/

Do you have any external USB2 hard drives? It's technically the same cable type as a console cable, USB-A to Mini-B.

Jeff

stephenw10

Yeah, sorry I missed that.

You need a console cable. No way to resolve that without one.

Steve

Gertjan

@akuma1x said in I cannot Access my pfsense:

You should get yourself a USB console cable, they're very handy to have.

I would quality that as "must have" or mandadtory. There is no VGA/HDMI connector, and no video support build in, so there is no "VGA + USB keyboard and go" access.
The cable is (I hope it is) sold with the device, as you need it to initially set up the NIC's as 'WAN' LAN etc.

stephenw10

@Gertjan said in I cannot Access my pfsense:

The cable is (I hope it is) sold with the device

It is. Or it was when the SG-2440 was sold.

Raffi_

Curious if this recovery process specific to netgate devices? On my hardware, my first instinct would be a reinstall and restore config. Would a reinstall write a new file system if for example it were damaged due to improper shutdown?

stephenw10

Yes, reinstalling re-writes a clean filesystem.

The config reset via the button is specific to Netgate hardware. That would not help here as it's a filesystem issue not a config problem.

Steve

OpenWifi

@stephenw10 how can i re-install a clean file system. I also i am getting this error from the console ( I bought a console cable yesterday ).

stephenw10

Hard to see exactly what's happening there but it's starting to boot normally and then kernel panicking so the most likely explanation is a filesystem error.
Try correct that by running fsck from single user mode:

Running a file system consistency check:

1. Reboot your pfSense firewall and boot into Single User Mode by pressing '2' at the loader menu. It will boot to a question asking for a path to the shell, just press return to reach the # prompt.

2. At the # prompt run the following command:
/sbin/fsck -y /

Run the fsck command at least 3 times; Repeat the command until no errors are reported, even if fsck claims the filesystem has been marked "clean".

3. Reboot by running: /sbin/reboot

It should boot normally and with no residual long term issues

Photos of the screen are not really very helpful here. The actual console output copy/pasted fro putty is MUCH better. Putty can also log all the output if you enable it, that would let us see exactly what is happening.

Steve

OpenWifi

@stephenw10 Thank You Alot...I just reinstalled pfsense on the device and it worked