Upgraded from 2.7.2 to 2.8.1 and now won't boot

[asmith3006]

I've upgraded from 2.7.2 to 2.8.1 and now it won't boot. Strangely there doesn't appear to be any useful error message to google either.

I'm running on HyperV 2022, the previous VM was running fine with no issues.

I think I'm right in saying that this is showing it can see the hard drive, but now it's simply sitting there and has done for 30 minutes with no progress.

Is my only option to wipe it and start again?

Thanks.

[stephenw10]

Looks like it's using the other console as primary. The mountroot is often the last thing you see on both consoles until boot completes so if it fails to boot for some reason it may appear to be stalled there but actually showing more on the other console. You should see it showing the primary console at boot and 'Dual console' somewhere is the boot logs.
Though you would normally see slightly more like:

[stephenw10]

It looks like it is finding the disk there. If it fails to find anything mount root from it will drop to the mountroot> prompt and you're not seeing that. At that console at least.

[asmith3006]

I'm sorry but I don't understand dual console / primary console?

I'm looking at the virtual machine connection in HyperV manager

SSH and Web UI aren't loading so I'm not sure how to get to another console? No key presses are responding either

Thanks for your help on this

[stephenw10]

At the start of the boot is the loader menu. It shows what console type is set like:

You can choose to set set video as primary if its currently using serial. Or you can setup the serial console in Hyper-V so you can view it. I don't use hyper-v though so I can't be more specific on that.

[asmith3006]

I understand now. I've tried all options dual, and single.

Each of them all stop at the same place (more or less)

This screenshot is from using Cons: Video.

But when I reset it it defaults vack to Cons Serial. Is this normal?

[stephenw10]

Yes it will reset to the configured value at each boot.

Try this instead:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/troubleshooting/boot-issues.html#booting-with-an-alternate-console

[asmith3006]

@stephenw10 Again thank you for your help on this! Making progress.

I now see:

Which is further, but still not quite there.

Anything else I can try before I start again?

[stephenw10]

Hmm, that's just after setting console=vidconsole at the loader prompt?

Any way we can see more of the boot output? Can you record a video?

[asmith3006]

@stephenw10 I appreciate the help but I've gone down the road of reinstalling and restoring from config which has worked.

Thank you again

[stephenw10]

No worries. Often the easiest solution!