Update or Fresh install of 25.07 causes HP ProLiant DL20 Gen9 to Reboot after PFSense Menu

stephenw10

Yeah the benefit of snapshot boot environments in ZFS is significant. I usually recommend using ZFS against the drives directly if it's possible these days.

stephenw10

Can we assume these boxes still boot fine if you boot in legacy mode?

As far as I know this is a UEFI loader problem.

WB3FFV

@stephenw10 You know, I am not sure. I will take the CE load I have, kill it, and load it as BIOS instead of UEFI, just UEFI is the default..

WB3FFV

Well I took and reloaded the DL360 G9 server, and walked through the upgrades. I set it to BIOS mode vs UEFI, and was able to go all the way to 2.8.1 beta and it booted and ran fine. So guessing the assumption this is a UEFI issue is correct.

WB3FFV

@stephenw10 The million dollar question is, should load modern servers in BIOS or UEFI mode? I assumed now days UEFI was an improvement and the preferred method, but maybe not..

Unoptanio

@WB3FFV

I would like to know that too

stephenw10

It should work in UEFI mode and everything vaguely modern should be using that. But that confirms it's the same issue we're looking at and not something new.

WB3FFV

@stephenw10 Sounds like at the moment, if you use an HP server in UEFI mode, don't update to the new release, or it's going to break.

I use a lot of HPE servers, so happy to test any possible fixes if desired. I will not update any more of my HP based PFsense installs til a fix is found..

malindsay

version 25.07.01 does not work on HP systems either. crashes after boot menu

malindsay

https://jumpshare.com/s/wIn5syv1KFQ0VrLvrSdX

malindsay

@WB3FFV I tried to update to 25.07.01, and it once again fails to boot

stephenw10

Yup, that looks like the same issue. Try booting legacy to confirm.

WB3FFV

@stephenw10 I did update a system to the current version having loaded it as BIOS, and it was fine. Are you asking to take a UEFI loaded system, and just changing it from UEFI to BIOS and see what happens?

I didn't think I could just jump from one to the other. For sure this seems to affect all HPE systems that support UEFI..

malindsay

@WB3FFV I didn't try to adjust the BIOS; perhaps I will try this next. I've never had to change the BIOS in the past.

stephenw10

pfSense can usually boot both unless it was installed a while ago (years). It should be pretty obvious if there's nothing bootable in legacy mode.

WB3FFV

@stephenw10 I had to run out of two for a couple days to help someone, so I am happy to try when I return, or maybe one of the other HP owners on here will give it a whirl..

malindsay

@WB3FFV I tried the new version, I had to reload from scratch, even the backup didn't work

netblues

@WB3FFV said in Update or Fresh install of 25.07 causes HP ProLiant DL20 Gen9 to Reboot after PFSense Menu:

@stephenw10 The million dollar question is, should load modern servers in BIOS or UEFI mode? I assumed now days UEFI was an improvement and the preferred method, but maybe not..

There is no million dollar answer.
Recently I run into issues due to a bug in freebsd that would only affect NON uefi installs. Using uefi, all worked fine. It was fixed later on.
Now it seems you are facing the opposite.

Apart from that, uefi is probably the only way to go, longterm.

WB3FFV

@malindsay I decided to try and update my own firewall to the 25.07.1 release, it's on an HPE DL360-G9. Well that was a big fail, as with others when I updated it would no longer boot, I even tried to select the prior kernel, but no go.

I think tried like @stephenw10 suggested and set it to Legacy BIOS mode, but I guess my initial install was old enough it would not boot, had to be UEFI.

Then I took and slicked the machine as I had backed it up, reloaded from the netgate installer, and loaded up 25.07.1 again, and yet again after the load and reboot it would not boot, just resets, like it did in the update before the reload. Now at this point I set the server back to Legacy BIOS mode and rebooted. This time it apparently did have the BIOS tracks from the fresh reload, so it booted PFsense and finished loading and I could restore my backup.

So at this time I had to load it fresh, and it's now running under 25.07.1 in BIOS mode, but I am online. Of course getting it back in UEFI mode seems the correct thing to do when a fix is available..

Unoptanio

@WB3FFV

Hi, I haven't updated yet and I'm terrified.
In my motherboard's BIOS, I can't find any setting to set UEFI or Legacy.
Could it be UEFI only?

My versione is PfSense Plus 24.11 with mainboard Asrock Industrial IMB-X1314MicroATX

Even using previous ZFS snapshots and boot environments, it wouldn't boot anymore?

Are there any issues restoring the license if I reinstall everything from scratch? I still have the lifetime Lab license. If I have to reinstall everything from scratch starting from the installer (so version 2.8.0), is it possible to restore the same Lab license to convert it to Plus?