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pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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  • T
    thearamadon
    last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 5:41 PM

    I'm running 2.6.0 (upgraded over time from roughly 2.3.X) on some old consumer desktop hardware (AMD). If I need to reboot pfSense for whatever reason, it always fails. My typical boot time is on the order of 2-3min, and I can leave it for >15min and it never comes up. The keyboard that's plugged in is also totally non-responsive (numlock/capslock don't toggle).

    If I plug in a monitor, I can interrupt the boot process, change the console from serial to VGA (by pressing 5) and the boot completes normally. In fact, I don't really need the monitor if I can time the keystrokes right by memory (space to interrupt, 5 to switch console, and enter to boot). I have a feeling that it's because this motherboard doesn't have a serial port. Unfortunately, with no serial port and no VGA console output, I can't actually debug the problem.

    There is no log output whatsoever for these failed boots.

    I already set primary console to VGA in System->Advanced, but it seems that doesn't take on boot. I know I did originally install with the VGA console version.

    Does anyone know how I might be able to solve this? I'm hoping there's an easy way to edit the boot parameters

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 5:57 PM

      Is the serial console enabled in Sys > Adv > Admin Access? Disable it if it is.

      Look in /boot/loader.conf to see what is actually set. However you can't just edit that file, it will be overwritten next time you make a change.

      Steve

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • T
        thearamadon
        last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 6:11 PM

        @stephenw10

        Serial console is disabled.

        Here's my loader.conf:

        kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
        kern.ipc.nmbclusters="1000000"
        kern.ipc.nmbjumbop="524288"
        kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9="524288"
        autoboot_delay="3"
        hw.hn.vf_transparent="0"
        hw.hn.use_if_start="1"
        net.link.ifqmaxlen="128"
        

        I'm not super familiar with the options but it doesn't seem to have any of the console ones...

        S 1 Reply Last reply Mar 11, 2022, 6:23 PM Reply Quote 0
        • S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @thearamadon
          last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 6:23 PM

          @thearamadon said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

          it doesn't seem to have any of the console ones...

          I agree.

          Ok, so if you do nothing where does it stop booting?

          And you are simply pressing 5 at the loader menu?
          Rather than setting console=vidconsole?
          https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/boot-issues.html#booting-with-an-alternate-console

          Could be a uefi console issue. Or a video hardware issue. What hardware is it?

          Steve

          T 1 Reply Last reply Mar 11, 2022, 6:31 PM Reply Quote 0
          • T
            thearamadon @stephenw10
            last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 6:31 PM

            @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

            Ok, so if you do nothing where does it stop booting?

            Unfortunately I can't tell exactly because there's no output to observe. The main booting screen (where you can hit spacebar to interrupt) displays briefly. Probably for the 3 second autoboot delay. Shortly after that, the keyboard goes unresponsive. My guess is that it's trying to open a serial port that doesn't exist.

            It's running on a Gigabyte F2A88XM-D3H with an AMD A10-7890K CPU. The GPU is integrated.

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            • S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 7:30 PM

              Ok, well what's the last thing you see?

              Just the BIOS output?

              You must be able to see the boot loader since you can interrupt it.

              Steve

              T 1 Reply Last reply Mar 11, 2022, 7:32 PM Reply Quote 0
              • T
                thearamadon @stephenw10
                last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 7:32 PM

                Yes, the last thing I see is the boot loader (slightly different version of this)

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                • S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by Mar 11, 2022, 7:40 PM

                  So how different? I assume that's not your device?

                  Try interrupting the bootloader and hitting esc to reach the prompt and then run:

                  set console=vidconsole
                  boot
                  

                  If that works you can just add that line to /boot/loader.conf.local.

                  Steve

                  T 1 Reply Last reply Mar 12, 2022, 5:59 AM Reply Quote 0
                  • T
                    thearamadon @stephenw10
                    last edited by Mar 12, 2022, 5:59 AM

                    @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

                    So how different? I assume that's not your device?

                    Try interrupting the bootloader and hitting esc to reach the prompt and then run:

                    set console=vidconsole
                    boot
                    

                    If that works you can just add that line to /boot/loader.conf.local.

                    Steve

                    I've included a picture of my actual menu below. Turns out the problem isn't console (which is set to efi), but actually that boot_serial=YES. If I do set boot_serial=NO, then it boots just fine. Unfortunately, adding that to /boot/loader.conf.local doesn't work, nor does adding unset boot_serial. So either its not taking that file, or the problem is happening before the file is loaded.

                    What's the right way to change this?

                    20220311_213824.jpg

                    S 1 Reply Last reply Mar 12, 2022, 2:25 PM Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @thearamadon
                      last edited by Mar 12, 2022, 2:25 PM

                      What exactly did you put in the file? You don't include 'set' there.

                      T 1 Reply Last reply Mar 12, 2022, 5:27 PM Reply Quote 0
                      • T
                        thearamadon @stephenw10
                        last edited by Mar 12, 2022, 5:27 PM

                        @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

                        What exactly did you put in the file? You don't include 'set' there.

                        I tried both set boot_serial=NO and unset boot_serial. Both of these work if I enter them directly into the boot console, but not if I add them to the file

                        S 1 Reply Last reply Mar 12, 2022, 7:46 PM Reply Quote 0
                        • S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @thearamadon
                          last edited by Mar 12, 2022, 7:46 PM

                          Neither would work in the file, it should be just:

                          boot_serial=NO
                          

                          Steve

                          T S 2 Replies Last reply Mar 12, 2022, 9:57 PM Reply Quote 2
                          • T
                            thearamadon @stephenw10
                            last edited by Mar 12, 2022, 9:57 PM

                            @stephenw10 said in pfSense won't boot unless I manually interrupt the boot process and change the console to VGA:

                            Neither would work in the file, it should be just:

                            boot_serial=NO
                            

                            Steve

                            That did the trick! Thanks so much for the help.

                            N 1 Reply Last reply Jun 3, 2022, 8:14 PM Reply Quote 1
                            • N
                              nielsjlarsen @thearamadon
                              last edited by nielsjlarsen Jun 3, 2022, 8:15 PM Jun 3, 2022, 8:14 PM

                              @thearamadon and @stephenw10

                              I have the exact same issue. Also running 2.6 on x86 hardware.
                              It's normally working perfectly, however for some reason we've had a few power outages lately and every time pfSense powers up again I need to manually power off, break the boot sequence (press space) and change the console to VGA (press 5) and continue with the boot process (press Enter).
                              If I do nothing it just freezes, black screen and no action on any keyboard input.

                              After getting fed up with this I researched and thought I might've installed the memstick serial image by mistake, so I downloaded the memstick VGA image and did a fresh install.
                              I see the same behaviour with a completely fresh VGA install, with nothing more than assigning the adapters i.e. no restore from backup.

                              I've tried adding boot_serial=NO in /boot/loader.conf.local with no luck.
                              I've also tried reaching the prompt in the bootloader and run:

                              set console=vidconsole
                              

                              but it fails and tells me there's no vidconsole, but efi and a few other options, none of which sound right.

                              I've also tried assigning the VGA console as the primary console in the GUI and although this setting is persistent after a reboot, it changes nothing.

                              Any help appreciated as I'm traveling more and more for work and I know I'll have a priority 1 incident if "the WiFi" fails while I'm away from home and my teens cannot watch TikTok etc.. 😂

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • S
                                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                last edited by Jun 3, 2022, 8:53 PM

                                It probably is an efi console. What does the menu entry say?

                                N 1 Reply Last reply Jun 3, 2022, 9:55 PM Reply Quote 0
                                • N
                                  nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                  last edited by Jun 3, 2022, 9:55 PM

                                  @stephenw10

                                  What menu entry do you mean?
                                  In the boot options or in the web GUI?

                                  I've tried using efi console, but it doesn't work.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • S
                                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                    last edited by Jun 4, 2022, 12:57 AM

                                    I mean what does menu option 5 in the loader show when you select it?

                                    N 1 Reply Last reply Jun 4, 2022, 8:31 AM Reply Quote 0
                                    • S
                                      SeaMonkey @stephenw10
                                      last edited by Jun 4, 2022, 2:54 AM

                                      @stephenw10 Thanks! I was suffering from the same issue.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • N
                                        nielsjlarsen @stephenw10
                                        last edited by Jun 4, 2022, 8:31 AM

                                        @stephenw10

                                        When it boots it's set to serial regardless of the settings I've played with in loader.conf.local or in the console settings in the GUI.
                                        I have to change that to video to be able to boot successfully.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by Jun 4, 2022, 1:01 PM

                                          So the menu shows option 5 as 'serial' and you press it to change to 'video' and then it boots correctly?

                                          What do you have in loader.conf and loader.conf.local?

                                          Steve

                                          N S 2 Replies Last reply Jun 4, 2022, 6:30 PM Reply Quote 0
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