SG-5100 cold boot issue
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Hi all,
Hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction to isolate this problem. I have a Netgate SG-5100, and when I plug in the power, the red light on the power switch illuminates. In normal operation, I'd press it and it would go green, and start booting. But instead it doesn't boot, and just stays red.
When trying to connect via USB console cable, the COM port shows as live, but nothing happens in the terminal window.
The only (unreliable) fix is to disconnect power, hold down the reset button for 30 seconds, applying power as if doing a factory reset. This doesn't prompt a factory reset, but instead generally (sometimes) makes the system work normally again - the button light goes green when pressed, I can connect to the USB console (and I get output), the system boots normally. If I try to reboot from the web interface, or gracefully shutdown using the power button, the system generally comes back without issue, so the problem seems to be around when the firewall first gets power.
I've been in touch with TAC to get a fresh PFSense download and tried doing a clean install, but this doesn't seem to have fixed it. TAC have suggested it is a hardware issue, but haven't got a reliable way to help me work out what is going on (and I'm out of warranty / not paying for a support package).
Scratching my head a bit - any suggestions?
Thanks!
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Mmm, that does sound like a hardware issue. First try swapping the power supply if you have not already. Failing to switch power state like that is usually a failing power component on the board though.
Before this started happening I assume it would boot normally (immediately into running power state) if you reconnected the power?
Steve
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@stephenw10 thanks for the response, and it's a fair question - the truth is that I have had to reboot it so rarely, that I can't remember if it used to boot as soon as power was applied, or if it needed the button to be pressed first. I'll look around and see if I have a suitable alternate power supply to try.
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By default it should immediately power up an boot from cold. However there are BIOS options to control that behaviour. You might try defaulting the BIOS setup options to be sure. I could just about imagine something got set somehow. It seems unlikely though.
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@stephenw10 it looks like it is a failing eMMC (the mmc test utility returns that the life time estimation is '0x0b' for both type a and type b. Am I right in understanding that the only solution is to find someone who is able to remove the eMMC from the board?
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Yes, as far as I know that's the only solution if the eMMC has failed entirely.
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I did not know that removing it would work. I will keep that in my back pocket in case my 5100 eMMC fails, although I installed an SSD early on and it boots from it, so I don't know if there is much danger of it going belly up.
Phizix
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@Phizix If you are using the SSD for storage then you cannot be using the eMMC and you needn't be concerned.
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@stephenw10 I've found someone who has been able to use a reworking station to remove the eMMC, and I've installed a SATA SSD, put the power back in and tried switching the power switch (both with and without the PFSense install USB inserted) and am getting no console output, and the power switch LED is staying red. The status LEDs are not illuminating. Any idea what I am doing wrong, or what I should try? Thanks again.
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Does it eventually power on? Or power on as expected from cold as it did before?
I have no solution here. It sounds as though it may not have been the eMMC. Or that other damage was caused during the removal.
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@stephenw10 It's infuriatingly intermittent and confusing. It does not ever get to the booting stage on its own (or at least not as long as I've left it). Just after posting this, I tried holding the reset button down for 30 seconds without power, then holding it and the power button down for 30 seconds once the power cable was in, and then after that it booted and I was able to install to the SSD! Then it went to reboot back into the system, the power switch stayed green, but I got no more console output, and the power switch wouldn't allow a graceful shutdown. I pulled the power cable, and I'm back to square one.
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@Garbo (the trick just seems to be holding the power button for 30 seconds, and then pressing it again. I'll see how long this works! Any idea what that would be about?)
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The behaviour sounds like a bad capacitor in the power circuitry but that's just a guess. I would check for any obviously bad caps though.
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@stephenw10 co-sign