Not able to boot after upgrade from 2.7.2 to 2.8
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Last week, I saw an update available, so I rebooted the firewall and ran the update (don't have any packages) from the GUI from ver 2.7.2 to 2.8.0. After updating, it's not able to boot; it gets stuck at
atkbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [JIANT-LOCK],And today it gets stuck at
Stopped at kdb_enter+0x33: movq $0
db>Here is my HP t740 Thinclient system info:
BIOS:Vendor: AMI
Version: M42 v01.11
Release Date: Wed Sep 22 2021
Version 2.7.2-RELEASE (amd64)
built on Wed Dec 6 14:10:00 CST 2023
FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT
Version information updated at Fri Jul 18 16:02:11 CDT 2025
CPU Type: AMD Ryzen Embedded V1756B with Radeon Vega Gfx
Current: 2300 MHz, Max: 3250 MHz
8 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 4 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (inactive)
QAT Crypto: No
Hardware crypto Inactive
Kernel PTI: Disabled
Memory usage : 8% of 7022 MiB
SWAP usage: 0% of 1024 MiB
Disks:
Mount Used Size Usage
/ 817M 49G
2% of 49G (zfs)I'm trying to install fresh 2.8 CE. I have already downloaded a copy of 2.8 a few times and burned it into different USB drives, but every time it gets stuck as above. I already have my config backup. Do not know how to use the command line and fix it. Please help. Thank You.
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Do you have the panic backtrace? That db> prompt is right at the end of the crash report.
Does that have a wifi device, even if you're not using it?
You could be hitting this: https://redmine.pfsense.org/issues/16237
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Yup, that's the bug I linked.
Remove the wifi card or add the disabled hint shown in the bug report.
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@sujyo1, This unit has wifi. JIANT LOCK screen, I cannot type anything, so I have to use the power off button.
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@sujyo1 just removed the WiFi from the box and tried to install pf 2.8, but the same screen GIANT-LOCKED again.
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@sujyo1 If you are hitting this issue note the affected device if it's not listed above.
To work around it you can:
Remove or disable the device in the BIOS.- already Removed Wifi Card
Disable it in pfSense using a loader hint. - ? no idea how to
Create the file /boot/loader.conf.local. Add the appropriate line, for example: hint.iwm.0.disabled="1" - ? no idea how to
Interrupt the boot process to reach the loader prompt and set the hint there:
set hint.iwm.0.disabled="1"
boot - ? no idea how to
where should I do all this while I can't type anyting after GIANT-LOCKED screen.
thanks for helping me again stephenw10.
- already Removed Wifi Card
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The first screenshot shows the firmware panic caused by that bug.
What was different when the second screenshot happened?
No actual error is shown there. Is it completely unresponsive? Does the keyboard caps lock LED still work?
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@sujyo1 this is after wifi card removed.
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Hmm, that's booting after upgrading from 2.7.2?
Like I say there's no actual error there. atkbd is a giant locked device, that message is expected. Do any of the keyboard LEDs respond at that point?
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@stephenw10 Today, I tried again to install 2.8 fresh from a USB drive with a new keyboard. After several attempts without wifi card, but no luck, stuck at GIANT-LOCKED, where the keyboard was not responsive at all. I was almost ready to give up then. As a last attempt, I removed the 2.8 installation USB and powered ON. Somehow, the machine started booting 2.7.2 and started performing the upgrade process to 2.8!! After completion, I rebooted for the test and all went well. So, I reinstalled the wifi card, and booted, but it refused to take the wifi card and stuck again at db>! Then I removed the Wi-Fi card again, and the machine booted fine. I can leave without wifi card, but it's updated and working now. Thank you for your help, Stephenw10.
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Yeah unless you actually need that wifi card it's better to remove it. It doesn't work in 2.8 yet anyway and just uses resources.
