Boot Problem

stefano_noffke

Greetings,

I have a problem with my PFSense installation as it fails to boot leaving me with the prompt "mountroot>"

I've read these threads:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=18154.0
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting

This is the dmesg.boot


# less dmesg.boot 
Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p5 #0: Sun Dec  6 22:57:48 EST 2009
    sullrich@FreeBSD_7.2_pfSense_1.2.3_snaps.pfsense.org:/usr/obj.pfSense/usr/pfSensesrc/src/sys/pfSense.7
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (3000.01-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0xf43  Stepping = 3
  Features=0xbfebfbff <fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe>Features2=0x649d <sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,est,cnxt-id,cx16,xtpr>AMD Features=0x20000000 <lm>Logical CPUs per core: 2
real memory  = 1064960000 (1015 MB)
avail memory = 1028259840 (980 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <a m="" i ="" oemapic="">
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
 cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
 cpu1 (AP/HT): APIC ID:  1
ioapic0 <version 2.0="">irqs 0-23 on motherboard
wlan: mac acl policy registered
kbd1 at kbdmux0
cryptosoft0: <software crypto="">on motherboard
padlock0: No ACE support.
acpi0:</software></version> </a><a m="" i="" oemxsdt="">on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, 3f700000 (3) failed
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x808-0x80b on acpi0
pcib0: <acpi host-pci="" bridge="">port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib0
vgapci0: <vga-compatible display="">port 0x2800-0x2807 mem 0xcfd00000-0xcfd7ffff,0xd0000000-0xdfffffff,0xcfd80000-0xcfdbffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
agp0: <intel 82945g="" (945g="" gmch)="" svga="" controller="">on vgapci0
agp0: detected 7932k stolen memory
agp0: aperture size is 256M
pci0: <multimedia, hda="">at device 27.0 (no driver attached)
pcib1: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 16 at device 28.0 on pci0
pci7: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib1
pcib2: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 17 at device 28.1 on pci0
pci6: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib2
pcib3: <acpi pci-pci="" bridge="">irq 18 at device 28.2 on pci0
pci5: <acpi pci="" bus="">on pcib3
mskc0: <marvell yukon="" 88e8053="" gigabit="" ethernet="">port 0xc800-0xc8ff mem 0xcfffc000-0xcfffffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci5
msk0: <marvell technology="" group="" ltd.="" yukon="" ec="" id="" 0xb6="" rev="" 0x02="">on mskc0
msk0: Ethernet address: 00:15:f2:4b:ed:61
miibus0: <mii bus="">on msk0
...skipping...
ata5: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci2
ata5: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus,="" smbus="">at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
acpi_button0: <power button="">on acpi0
speaker0: <pc speaker="">port 0x61 on acpi0
fdc0: <floppy drive="" controller="" (fde)="">port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0
fdc0: [FILTER]
atkbdc0: <keyboard controller="" (i8042)="">port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <at keyboard="">irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A
sio0: [FILTER]
cpu0: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
est0: <enhanced speedstep="" frequency="" control="">on cpu0
est: CPU supports Enhanced Speedstep, but is not recognized.
est: cpu_vendor GenuineIntel, msr f2d00000f2d
device_attach: est0 attach returned 6
p4tcc0: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu0
cpu1: <acpi cpu="">on acpi0
est1: <enhanced speedstep="" frequency="" control="">on cpu1
est: CPU supports Enhanced Speedstep, but is not recognized.
est: cpu_vendor GenuineIntel, msr f2d00000f2d
device_attach: est1 attach returned 6
p4tcc1: <cpu frequency="" thermal="" control="">on cpu1
pmtimer0 on isa0
sc0: <system console="">at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <generic isa="" vga="">at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
ugen0: <american 0="" 2="" 650="" power="" conversion="" back-ups="" cs="" fw:817.v3.i="" usb="" fw:v3,="" class="" 0,="" rev="" 1.10="" 0.06,="" addr="">on uhub1
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
acd0: DVDROM <hl-dt-stdvd-rom gdr8164b="" 0l06="">at ata2-slave UDMA33
ad8: 476940MB <wdc wd5000aaks-08v0a0="" 05.01d05="">at ata4-master SATA150
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!

Manual root filesystem specification:
  <fstype>:<device>Mount <device>using filesystem <fstype>eg. ufs:da0s1a
  ?                  List valid disk boot devices
  <empty line="">Abort manual input

mountroot> ufs:ad8s1a
Trying to mount root from ufs:ad8s1a</empty></fstype></device></device></fstype></wdc></hl-dt-stdvd-rom></american></generic></system></cpu></enhanced></acpi></cpu></enhanced></acpi></at></keyboard></floppy></pc></power></serial></ata></mii></marvell></marvell></acpi></acpi></acpi></acpi></acpi></acpi></multimedia,></intel></vga-compatible></acpi></acpi></a></lm></sse3,dtes64,mon,ds_cpl,est,cnxt-id,cx16,xtpr></fpu,vme,de,pse,tsc,msr,pae,mce,cx8,apic,sep,mtrr,pge,mca,cmov,pat,pse36,clflush,dts,acpi,mmx,fxsr,sse,sse2,ss,htt,tm,pbe> 
``` <a m="" i="" oemxsdt="">This is my /etc/fstab

cat /etc/fstab

Device Mountpoint FStype Options Dump Pass#

/dev/ad8s1a / ufs rw 1 1
/dev/ad8s1b none swap sw 0 0


This is my /boot/loader.conf.local

cat /boot/loader.conf.local

kern.cam.boot_delay="10000"


I tried everything I could find, but with no success. Every time I reboot the system it fails to find the root partition.

It is installed on a SATA hard disk drive, and I tried to install it on a PATA disk drive, but the boot fails even before reaching this point stating that it cannot find the boot drive.

Any suggestion will be appreciated…

Thank you

Stefano Noffke</a>

wallabybob

Was the system installed onto the hard drive plugged into the same socket on the same motherboard as you are using now?

I have no idea if these suggestions will make things any better:

Boot again and at the mountroot prompt type ? and post the response here. If ad8 is in the output then type ufs:ad8s1a and see if you get a different response
Connect the hard drive to another motherboard socket so you get a much lower unit number (e.g. ad0 or ad1 or ad2), then reboot.
In the BIOS, check if any disk controllers are in AHCI, RAID or some kind of 'enhanced' mode. Change them to 'standard' or 'legacy' mode. BIOS disk controller numbers might not be the same as operating system disk controller numbers.
Try a snapshot build of pfSense 2.0 - its newer device drivers might give better results.

stefano_noffke

Thank you for your reply.

PFSense has been installed directly on that server.

If I type "ad8s1a" the system boots normally.

The BIOS setting for the SATA drives is "Enhanced".

I will try to set it to "legacy" and reinstall the system.

jimp

You might also trying doing a custom install and make an ~8GB / slice, the same size swap you have now, and make the rest /usr

There are a couple BIOS implementations out there that flake out with a root slice that large. 500GB is a bit large to put in a firewall. :-)

phpzilla

maybe this can help you:

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,32199.0.html

greets,
phpzilla

stefano_noffke

Thank you for the replies.

I was finally able to install it. It now boots normally.

I set the controller to "Compatible Mode" and created a 4 Gb partition for root. I also used a PATA HDD instead of a SATA HDD.

Thank you

Stefano