Installation problem on Alix 2d3 with CF 4GB
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I'm trying to install pfSense 1.2.3 on a Compact Flash sized 4GB that I got bundled with Alix 2d3 boards directly from pcengines. Over 3 boards, with 3 different CFs, I can't get to boot any of them; zcat and physdiskwrite, I tried them both, with same results. I've done this previously, but it's the first time with these 4GB cards.
It can't just be that the 3 boards OR the 3 CFs are at the same time defective… any compatibility issue between some 4GB cards and the alix board? -
I use 4GB CF cards and they work fine in my ALIX.
When you say they don't boot, what shows up on the serial console when you try? How far does it get?
You may have to adjust some BIOS settings, depending on what the defaults are on new boards these days.
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Thanks for your reply - I tried all the bios combinations (after pressing "s" upon boot) with LBA, CHS and so on, with no success. On the 3 cards, in 2 cases I simpy get "01F0 Master 044A CF 4GB Phys C/H/S 7769/16/63", and in one case the previous message and "no boot devices available". That might mean that one card is defective, but what about the other two?
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What BIOS version is on those boxes?
What brand CF cards?
You might want to purchase a Sandisk 4GB card to test with. They can be had at many retailers for relatively little money. I got two of them at Wal-Mart for about $20-25 each or so.
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I tried the following and worked on ALIX2d3
1. Download and use physdiskwrite
http://m0n0.ch/wall/downloads/physdiskwrite-0.5.2.zip
2. Create a folder to c:\
3. Extract the files in the folder
4. Download the image
http://pfsense.mirror.range-id.it/downloads/pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-4g-nanobsd.img.gz
5. Place the image in the same folder
6. Open command prompt and type (if you are using Vista or Win 7, you must run as an administrator)
c:[yourfolder]\physdiskwrite -u pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-4g-nanobsd.img.gz
7. Choose the correct partition.
Info:
1. (-u) switch is required to write CF's larger than 4GB.
2. BIOS version must be 0.99h -
Some people have had trouble with physdiskwrite also, you might try Image Writer for Windows (also free):
https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer
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What BIOS version is on those boxes?
What brand CF cards?
You might want to purchase a Sandisk 4GB card to test with. They can be had at many retailers for relatively little money. I got two of them at Wal-Mart for about $20-25 each or so.
The bios is the latest (0.99h), the CF are the grey ones with no brand name labeled that are sold on pcengines shop http://www.pcengines.ch/cf4slc.htm (my model is cf4dp1)
I already tried the latest version of physdiskwrite on windows, as zcat under linux. Image Writer for Windows produced the same results.
Yesterday I found a SanDisk UltraII 2.0GB, I flashed with phydiskwrite and got the same result; I tried changing the CF adapter and now it works on every board.
Thank you guys!!
For completing the trials, I'll test out the other 4GB CFs flashing them with the other adapter and see if they work, maybe this will help someone else :)
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Appendix: it was definitely the usb CF adaptor, switching to the new one made all of the other 4GB CFs work.
