cannnot get internet access through pfsense after 3 years of no trouble
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Hi Stephen
I have tried to update the pfsense software and its got stuck in a loop.
Tried updating from 2.7.2 to 2.8.1
Everything went fine but then it got stuck in a never ending loop.
Ive plugged a monitor into the firewall and it says it has
no/boot/kernel/kernel
so im guessing something hasn't been downloaded properly.
Do i wipe the firewall software and start again or is there an easier fix.
Thanks in advance
kicking myself as it was working fine
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Hmm, you might be able to load the old kernel to recover. At the loader menu hit option 6 to select kernel.old.
But if it's somehow lost the boot directory entirely then you will need to reinstall and restore the config. You can recover the config during the install if you don't have a backup (which you should
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@shdjshdjshd said in cannnot get internet access through pfsense after 3 years of no trouble:
kicking myself as it was working fine
Don't.
Keep in mind that "upgrading with a click in the GUI" isn't always the best way to upgrade (upgrading from the console is imho always better btw).
There are moments you actually can't / shouldn't upgrade from the GUI.
Reasons, easy to understand, are : hidden, reserved partition sizes changed (software always needs more space ^^), or the preferred file system changed (a couple of yours ago, it was ext3, now its ZFS that became the new thing, and to change the file system you need to nuke the partitions first).
You need some new knowledge : how to create a bootable USB stick. That's it.Here you go : the reading "how to do it" Prepare a USB Memstick will take you more time as actually doing the install.
Before you start, get a copy of your pfSense config file.
Then : re install pfSense from 'scratch' with the stick.
Do minimal WAN/LAN setup, so ou can access the GUI.
Upload your config file.
Reboot and done.And for free you get a nice hand's on experience : the day things break (hardwxare can break) you will know how to start from scratch and get your Internet access back "within 10 minutes" (after replacing that dead drive ^^).
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Could you direct me to the download page for the previous 2.7.2 version please as i just want to get this working .
Thank you for the help so far.
I have tried to use the free iso file but it says it is corrupted for some reason when im trying to load it into balena etcher for 2.8.1 off the netgate website. It is the one where you have to buy it for free.
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@shdjshdjshd said in cannnot get internet access through pfsense after 3 years of no trouble:
Could you direct me to the download page for the previous 2.7.2 version
Here you go: https://atxfiles.netgate.com/mirror/downloads/
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Thanks Balena Etcher dosent seem to be working at all for me.
Should i use Rufus to clean off the flash drive first that i have . I think i used this flash drive before for 2.7.2 although now it dosent work with the lastest iso file
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You should use the memstick img if you're writing to a USB memstick not the ISO.
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Hi Stephen
Apologies yes I meant the mem stick version
Yes I tried that it gave some error once it was downloaded the memstick one. It had gz on the end of the filename, is this correct? I thought it should have IMG at the end but I cannot find a file that works for me.
It's there any programme that completely wipes a memory stick so I can download this programme?
I remember all this being a lot easier first time I did it. Maybe I need a new memory stick.
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Etcher can extract the img from the gzip on the fly when it write it so that's not an issue.
What was the error?
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Okay managed to flash the drive
Pfsense loaded
Am I launching a shell for rescue or reinstalling do you think?
It's giving me three options
I don't have the previous config file ( think it's on an old hard drive) but I can quickly download and access one that I was using and edit it to my requirements
It says something about zfs for system, should I stay with ufs?
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In the first menu you should have an option to recover the config. Do not agree to wipe the drive until you have recovered it.
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/install/install-walkthrough.html#configuration-restore
Unless you are installing to eMMC or a very small SSD you should use ZFS.
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I don't think it can see the config file should I just choose install pfsense?
Edit: Right hopefully I'm getting somewhere, I have wiped the vault and will now try to connect to it
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If the filesystem was sufficiently damaged it may not have been possible to recover the config.
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I've made a new password and it doesn't recognise it.
So I'm going to reinstall it again
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Thanks again Stephen
All solved now I have the config file, if it's not broke don't fix it is a good saying for me to follow.
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Thanks for the old download links, really helpful those solving this.
