SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure

stephenw10

@haraldinho said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

The only thing I am not sure about is what happens to this setting when you do a regular upgrade to a new version of pfsense. @stephenw10 does it get preserved?

Yes, loader.conf.local is preserved across a firmware upgrade.

@hayescompatible said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

FWIW, even after adding the boot loader hint that @stephenw10 suggested, pfSense/FreeBSD still sees the eMMC (via dmesg):
sdhci_pci0: <Intel Denverton eMMC 5.0 Controller> mem 0xdff9a000-0xdff9afff,0xdff99000-0xdff99fff irq 16 at device 28.0 on pci0
mmc0: <MMC/SD bus> on sdhci_pci0

That's the mmc bus. mmcsd0 is the first mmc device on that bus which is what has been disabled.

If there was an issue with the bus or the controller you could disable those instead. Disabling only the emmc storage device itself is the minimum you need to do to stop is trying to read it.

Steve

cswroe

I just added a drive in a 5100 and it works fine. Actually, seems a bit snappier.
This was what I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07KG2G152/

hayescompatible

@haraldinho said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

@hayescompatible Hmm, that's a bummer. I must say I also have that same line still in my logs after the hack. So there is no difference there between our setups.

NOTE
after you made the modification, you need to power cycle your box once more to get the line loaded and effectuated. After that power cycle, warm reboots from the web configurator work again for me.

Yup, I power-cycled a couple of times: pulled the power cord, waited a minute then reconnected to start up again.

Some things you can check:

If you disable "Quiet mode" in BIOS and do a boot, do you see a difference in your logs with and without the hack?

For me all the references to timeouts like the one below went away in the logs (next to the fact I can now issue a Warm Reboot from the WebConfigurator.

mmcsd0: Error indicated: 1 Timeout
mmcsd0: Error indicated: 1 Timeout
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Controller timeout
sdhci_pci0-slot0: ============== REGISTER DUMP ==============
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Sys addr: 0x06040000 | Version:  0x00001002
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Blk size: 0x00005200 | Blk cnt:  0x00000010
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Argument: 0x00000010 | Trn mode: 0x00000033
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Present:  0x1fff0206 | Host ctl: 0x00000025
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Power:    0x0000000b | Blk gap:  0x00000080
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Wake-up:  0x00000000 | Clock:    0x00000207
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Timeout:  0x0000000d | Int stat: 0x00000001
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Int enab: 0x01ff003b | Sig enab: 0x01ff003a
sdhci_pci0-slot0: AC12 err: 0x00000000 | Host ctl2:0x0000000c
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Caps:     0x546ec8b2 | Caps2:    0x80000007
sdhci_pci0-slot0: Max curr: 0x00000000 | ADMA err: 0x00000000
sdhci_pci0-slot0: ADMA addr:0x00000000 | Slot int: 0x00000000
sdhci_pci0-slot0: ===========================================

I will have to set aside some time to check this at my next opportunity to take the Internet down here…

Do you see the last line from below snippet in your logs (not sure why the characters are all repeated, but that's not the issues here)? It indicates the file is loaded during boot.
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
Loading /boot/device.hints
Loading /boot/loader.conf
HLLooaaddiinngg  //bboooott//llooaaddeerr..ccoonnff..llooccaall

…I will check this next time, too; however, based on what @stephenw10 seems to have confirmed in his previous post, applying the hint did work since I don't see mmcsd0 in my dmesg output.

if you ssh into your box, and enter the below command, does it then show the exact text of the hack?
cat /boot/loader.conf.local
It should show:
hint.mmcsd.0.disabled="1"
check character set issues
Double check the quote symbols. I spent many hours debugging 'wrong quote symbols' issues in the past (" and ' and `). Also carefully check the other spellings. If you copy-pasted the line, try deleting the file and recreating it by typing it manually.

On my box, the file did not exist. I created it using vi with this commands:
cd /boot
sudo vi loader.conf.local
I typed the hack line manually, no copy-paste. Had to google how vi works, but that is not that complicated for this simple modification. Just get vi into insert mode by pressing i, type the line, hit escape to get vi into command mode and then enter :w to save the file and then again escape followed by :q to quit. Then do a reboot. But whom am I telling, perhaps you are a Linux guru :-D

I do sysadmin mostly on Linux boxes so I know my way around vi and such. The file exists there, I checked the quoting method and from what I understand, dmesg confirms the eMMC is no longer being recognized (if it was at all before).

I wonder if the state of the eMMC is a thing? Mine seems completely dead: it used to give me timeout errors but the last time I tried specifically accessing it (during a clean install of pfSense and accidentally selecting the eMMC as the install root), the installer just froze. I gave up after several minutes of waiting. IIRC (possible I don't), I would get some timeout errors and the installer would eventually raise an error.

In any event, this trick isn't working for me. I'll try to schedule some downtime in the next week to try again.

hayescompatible

@stephenw10 said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

@haraldinho You can disable it completely in pfSense and prevent those errors.
Create the file /boot/loader.conf.local and add to it:
hint.mmcsd.0.disabled="1"
But that doesn't help with the slow boot in the BIOS.

Steve

@haraldinho I think the part I've emphasized here is relevant. My 5100 hangs either before or during POST on a warm boot. The boot process hasn't even begun yet. So this makes me even more skeptical that the loader hint would be applicable in my situation since the OS isn't being loaded yet.

stephenw10

Yeah, if it's hanging at POST before it even tries to boot from SSD then adding a loader variable won't make any difference.

hayescompatible

@stephenw10 said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

Yeah, if it's hanging at POST before it even tries to boot from SSD then adding a loader variable won't make any difference.

Thanks for confirming that. I also just confirmed that myself by rebooting the 5100 before I left the house this morning. Here are the last messages I see from pfSense as it is rebooting:

pflog0: promiscuous mode disabled
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `vnlru' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop...
Syncing disks, vnodes remaining... 0 0 0 0 0 0 done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufdaemon' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-0' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-2' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-6' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-1' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-5' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-3' to stop... done
Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system thread `bufspacedaemon-4' to stop... done
All buffers synced.
Uptime: 7h50m45s

After an hour and a half, it never came back up so it is definitely hanging on warm boot, it's not just a delayed startup.

The POST codes that come up in the console on a cold boot are A2 99 B2. On a warm boot, there are no POST codes. I'm hopeful a BIOS update can address this soon.

FYI @haraldinho just to follow up on my last message, I can confirm the loader.conf.local file is loaded:

FreeBSD/x86 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
Loading /boot/device.hints
Loading /boot/loader.conf
Loading /boot/loader.conf.local

gabacho4

quick question for the group - when you installed the m.2 sata, did you have to do anything special in the BIOS to get it recognized as the primary boot device or is that automatic? I have someone who is going to help get an m.2 and pfsense reinstalled on my remote router and I just want to understand the process as best as I can in advance. Unfortunately, I won't get my m.2 here until later this month due to the time it takes to get USPS overseas. The Netgate documentation on this process suggests it should be basically automatic but I'd rather make sure rather than run around in circles. Thanks!

stephenw10

You do have to change the boot device order. Or at least I have had to when I have done it myself.

hayescompatible

@gabacho4 said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

quick question for the group - when you installed the m.2 sata, did you have to do anything special in the BIOS to get it recognized as the primary boot device or is that automatic? I have someone who is going to help get an m.2 and pfsense reinstalled on my remote router and I just want to understand the process as best as I can in advance. Unfortunately, I won't get my m.2 here until later this month due to the time it takes to get USPS overseas. The Netgate documentation on this process suggests it should be basically automatic but I'd rather make sure rather than run around in circles. Thanks!

You will need to go into the BIOS to change the boot order but it's a pretty easy thing to do. What wasn't clear when I went through this is that the SSD has to be formatted UEFI or you won't be able to select it as a boot device.

gabacho4

@hayescompatible is that something you do when installing pfsense or when/how? There seem to be a lot of little details missing from the guide.

hayescompatible

@gabacho4 said in SG-5100 takes over 20 minutes to boot after eMMC failure:

@hayescompatible is that something you do when installing pfsense or when/how? There seem to be a lot of little details missing from the guide.

See https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-walkthrough.html - you would choose "Auto (ZFS)" then set the partition scheme to one of the UEFI options.

gabacho4

@hayescompatible ah ok. That part is easy. I was afraid you were going to tell me it was something more obscure. Phew!

stephenw10

You can boot from eMMC or SSD as a legacy boot device as long as CSM is enabled.

haraldinho

@stephenw10 Are you making any progress with getting this issue as a feature in the upcoming BIOS update?

stephenw10

We are working on it, yes. This is unlikely to be a fast turn around though.

haraldinho

@stephenw10 I understand that BIOS changes are lengthy processes I have two questions for you:

can you confirm that the change that fixes the issue described in this thread is now confirmed part of this upcoming BIOS update?
can you give us any indication when we could expect it? Just so we can avoid bugging you before that moment

Thanks for all your help Steve!

stephenw10

Right now I can't give you any updates on either of those things unfortunately.

I'll add info here as I know more.

Steve

gabacho4

@stephenw10 just wanted to check in to see if there is any status update on the BIOS update addressing the eMMC issue. Know you said it could be a while but figured a check in after a few months was reasonable.

stephenw10

Unfortunately it's unlikely to happen, at least not as a BIOS update like that. There doesn't appear to be a hidden setting of some sort for this so it would require re-coding in the BIOS with all that entails.
If I find anything further I'll update here.

Steve

pdnx

Any developments on this?

I recently had the same issue happen on 2 units, and just finally put together what was going on. I have at least a dozen of these in service, and as I started checking them all for their MMC status, they are all indicating above 100%. Which means I have to get all of them swapped with SSDs pronto, before any more fail.

But what I am looking at on my desk right now are effectively bricks if they are going to take 20 minutes to reboot.