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    WAN does not connect | how to debug? [solved]

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    15 Posts 4 Posters 8.8k Views
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    • M
      meymona
      last edited by

      I installed pfsense on a WRAP board. After running the config wizard the WAN connection came up, but droped only after a few seconds. No matter how often I press the button "connect", the connections stays down (status: up, connection: down). If I restore the default settings and run the wizard again, it works again for a few seconds again.

      Are there any log file which could give me a hint, why the connections fails?

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      • W
        wallabybob
        last edited by

        @meymona:

        Are there any log file which could give me a hint, why the connections fails?

        From the web GUI: Status -> System Logs, click on the tab corresponding to the log file of interest.

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        • M
          meymona
          last edited by

          @wallabybob:

          From the web GUI: Status -> System Logs, click on the tab corresponding to the log file of interest.

          Not too much information there. "Getting Link up … link down... pausing... Getting Link up ..."

          Is there a way to increase the log level?

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          • Cry HavokC
            Cry Havok
            last edited by

            What version (number) of pfSense? Does the network cable (and connection) work in another computer? What happens if you try swapping over the ports you're using for WAN and LAN?

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            • M
              meymona
              last edited by

              I used "pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-4g-nanobsd_WRAP.img.gz" from https://home.zhaw.ch/~maym/.

              I tried three different Cables, all working with my old router - which I have to use right now, because pfsense does not connect ;)

              It does not seem to me, that there is someting wrong with the hardware, because the "green lights" are burning and, as I said, after a factory reset the Connection comes up - for one time. I think the connection is rejected (by the ISP?) for any reason. Therefore I am searching for the logfiles… ;)

              But of course I will rule that possibility out, and try with switched ports...

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              • Cry HavokC
                Cry Havok
                last edited by

                Did you power off the ISP provided device before connecting pfSense?

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                • M
                  meymona
                  last edited by

                  I just powered off the DSL Modem, disconnected all cables, restartet pfsense, connected the cables, powered on the DSL modem. Nothing happend:

                  tail /var/log/system.log
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device: DOWN event in state OPENING
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device is now in state DOWN
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] link: DOWN event
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] LCP: Down event
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device: OPEN event in state DOWN
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] pausing 6 seconds before open
                  Jan  4 18:02:06 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device is now in state DOWN
                  Jan  4 18:02:12 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device: OPEN event in state DOWN
                  Jan  4 18:02:12 pfSense mpd: [pppoe] device is now in state OPENING

                  Diagnostics, Interfaces, WAN:

                  Status: up
                  PPPoE: down 
                  MAC address: 00:0d:b9:02:13:1e
                  Media: 100baseTX <full-duplex>In/out packets 0/162 (0 bytes/6 KB)
                  In/out errors 0/0
                  Collisions 0

                  I switched sis0 and sis1, sis0 and sis2, sis1 and sis2, no change at all….</full-duplex>

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                  • C
                    cmb
                    last edited by

                    Looks like you're losing Ethernet link on WAN, check your cables, and see if link is actually cycling.

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                    • M
                      meymona
                      last edited by

                      I used the same cables with my old router and everything works finde, I switch back to pfsense and the connections stay down…

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                      • W
                        wallabybob
                        last edited by

                        Your WAN link should be PPP and not DHCP? The packet count you displayed in an earlier reply suggests whatever is on the other end of the WAN link is either not seeing the packets from pfSense or ignoring them.

                        Another possibility that occurred to me: the WRAP is now a quite old board. Perhaps the NICs need a cross over cable to connect to another NIC.

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                        • M
                          meymona
                          last edited by

                          Took one step forward, thanks a lot so far. Using a crossover cabel did make some difference, the WAN interface now comes up and stays up.

                          but I am not able to access any internet address. Neither any clients nor pfsense itself gets a connection to any address outside the local network. I restored the default settings oncee again:

                          firewall rule:

                          • LAN net * * * *   Default LAN -> any

                          traceroute to pfsense.org from the firewall (pfsense) seems to work:
                          1  * 188.98.224.1 (188.98.224.1)  15.357 ms  15.421 ms
                          2  88.79.12.201 (88.79.12.201)  38.922 ms *  15.955 ms
                          3  92.79.212.105 (92.79.212.105)  18.843 ms  17.985 ms *
                          4  * 145.254.16.78 (145.254.16.78)  28.870 ms  28.885 ms
                          (…)

                          but neither a client nor the firewall itself gets access to any internet address

                          I tried "system" | "packages" and get the error message: no connection

                          I checked "status" | "interface" once again, WAN is still up:

                          Status up
                          PPPoE up 
                          MAC address 00:0d:b9:02:13:1d
                          IP address XX.69.69.96 
                          Subnet mask 255.255.255.255
                          Gateway XX.69.64.1
                          ISP DNS servers 195.50.140.178
                          195.50.140.114

                          the clients can resolve any internet address
                          nslookup pfsense.org
                          Server:  firewall.local
                          Address:  10.18.0.1

                          Name:    pfsense.org
                          Address:  69.64.6.21

                          but they are not able to access the site.

                          Did I miss something about the default firewall rules?

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                          • Cry HavokC
                            Cry Havok
                            last edited by

                            If you can traceroute to pfsense.org then you know that DNS is working (otherwise you wouldn't be able to resolve pfsense.org to an IP) and that you have an IP address, and that you have connectivity. I'd look now at your firewall rules, ensuring that you actually allow traffic.

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                            • M
                              meymona
                              last edited by

                              I am not sure wether I am missunderstanding someting. I did not add any firewall rule by myself. I thought the default rule

                              • LAN net    *    *    *    *         Default LAN -> any

                              allows any client from the local net to access any interface and that masquerading is enabled by default…..?

                              I activated logging for the default rule and the system logs show, that the client should have access to the internet
                              |> Jan 8 09:20:39 LAN 192.168.1.199:52203 66.220.145.37:80 TCP:S

                              But in fact, no internet seite whatsoever can be opened by any client....

                              the systemlogs shows entries like:
                              Jan  8 10:01:13 firewall mpd: [pppoe] IPCP: rec'd Code Reject #130 link 0 (Opened)
                              Jan  8 10:01:13 firewall mpd: [pppoe] IPCP: code 69 was rejected
                              Jan  8 10:00:47 firewall check_reload_status: reloading filter
                              Jan  8 10:03:36 firewall mpd: [pppoe] IPCP: rec'd Code Reject #131 link 0 (Opened)
                              Jan  8 10:03:36 firewall mpd: [pppoe] IPCP: code 69 was rejected
                              Jan  8 10:04:55 firewall mpd: [pppoe] LCP: rec'd Protocol Reject #228 link 0 (Opened)
                              Jan  8 10:04:55 firewall mpd: [pppoe] LCP: protocol 0xf021 was rejected

                              Does this have something to do with it?

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                              • Cry HavokC
                                Cry Havok
                                last edited by

                                Possibly, though I don't use PPPoE so I don't know what those messages mean.

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                                • M
                                  meymona
                                  last edited by

                                  After several days I "solved" the problem:

                                  Either pfsense or the WRAP board is very sensible about long cables (My old router - linksys WRT54GL - worked with the same configuration perfectly).

                                  | telephone socket – 1m cable -- Modem -- 20m cable -- WRAP board

                                  does not work properly. In my case the connection came up, but pfsense was not routing any traffic (do not ask me why).

                                  | telephone socket -- 20m cable -- Modem -- 1m cable -- WRAP board works smoothly.

                                  Just in case someone has the same problem...

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