Compact Flash doesn't boot

schnauber · May 31, 2011, 9:00 AM

Hola,

I've written the pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-2g-nanobsd.img.gz image with Roadkil's Disk Image and used a 4GB Scandisk compact flash. No errors occurred during the image process. Then I used this CF adapter with my old PC (Pentium 4, 1GB Ram…) http://www.delock.de/pictures/products/2/487330a95b94f.jpg for the 4GB Scandisk. The CF will be detected in BIOS as IDE Master 4GB! But the pfSense doesn't boot. After several seconds the error message occured: Non system disk or disk error! The adapter works correctly and the 4GB Scandisk is also ok!

Whats the issue?

Thanks and regards

stephenw10 · May 31, 2011, 11:45 AM

Looks like you're doing everything right.
I've never tried Roadkills image writer. Try using physdiskwrite or Win32diskimager instead.

Steve

GruensFroeschli · May 31, 2011, 11:49 AM

If you're not writing with a different image-writer, it's possible that this one cannot decompress the image on the fly.

Try decompressing the .gz file first and then write the big .img file to the disk.

schnauber · May 31, 2011, 11:54 AM

First of all I already have decompressed the .gz file. I will delete the current partition and try the win32diskimage. However I believe there is some issue with my Bios setting i.e. DMA active/inactive or something like that!?

stephenw10 · May 31, 2011, 12:26 PM

I always use physdiskwriter (even though it's in German!) as it does on the fly decompression and I know it works.
You could try disabling UDMA on your CF card in the bios. It is disabled in pfSense anyway as it sometimes causes issues.

Steve

schnauber · May 31, 2011, 7:33 PM

Hi Guys,

I've deleted the image with Gparted and download the pfHacom 1G image because VGA support. The image was written with physdiskwrite without any errors. After select LBA for the 4GB Scandisk everything works fine. The nanoBSD booted correctly also the Web Interface seems to work without any problem but on the "shell" on the monitor screen I see some reading errors something with ad0: reading error 51. This issue appears everytime when I do some changes on the web interface and save them. Any ideas?

stephenw10 · May 31, 2011, 7:52 PM

That's not good. However I guess I might be caused by inconsistent dma settings. Are you seeing?:

ad0: FAILURE - READ_DMA status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=40<uncorrectable></uncorrectable></ready,dsc,error>

Did you actually disable udma in the bios? If you look in /boot/loader.conf do you have these lines?


hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
hw.ata.wc="0"

Steve

schnauber · Jun 1, 2011, 5:53 AM

@stephenw10:

That's not good. However I guess I might be caused by inconsistent dma settings. Are you seeing?:
ad0: FAILURE - READ_DMA status=51 <ready,dsc,error>error=40<uncorrectable></uncorrectable></ready,dsc,error>
Did you actually disable udma in the bios? If you look in /boot/loader.conf do you have these lines?
hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
hw.ata.wc="0"
Steve

In the BIOS I didn't find any flag with udma setting but I'll google for that tonight. Are that reading errors such a big problem? Everything on the web interface seems to work correct and also saved correct when I do any changes.

stephenw10 · Jun 1, 2011, 9:54 AM

If this was a normal HD it would probably imply a UD failure. But it isn't.

@Hacom:

We remount the root filesystem as read-only, sync, noatime. The default pfSense nanobsd mounts the filesystems as write-able, sync, noatime.
This changes the "normal" behavior pf pfSense. Any write (update) operations require the root filesystem to be remounted as write-able by the shell command: "mount -u -ow /". After the changes, just reboot the system or execute the command: "sh /usr/local/etc/rc.d/hacom.sh" to mount the root filesystem back as read-only.
This is a precaution since during early testing of pfSense 2.0: both BETA5 and RC1, we have experienced major flash corruptions.

Do the changes you have made survive a reboot?

Steve

schnauber · Jun 1, 2011, 12:42 PM

@stephenw10:

If this was a normal HD it would probably imply a UD failure. But it isn't.

@Hacom:

We remount the root filesystem as read-only, sync, noatime. The default pfSense nanobsd mounts the filesystems as write-able, sync, noatime.
This changes the "normal" behavior pf pfSense. Any write (update) operations require the root filesystem to be remounted as write-able by the shell command: "mount -u -ow /". After the changes, just reboot the system or execute the command: "sh /usr/local/etc/rc.d/hacom.sh" to mount the root filesystem back as read-only.
This is a precaution since during early testing of pfSense 2.0: both BETA5 and RC1, we have experienced major flash corruptions.

Do the changes you have made survive a reboot?

Steve

Yes, the changes survive a reboot.

schnauber · Jun 2, 2011, 2:20 PM

I've deactivated the UDMA settings on my BIOS but the error message is still there if I do any changes on the webinterface:
ad0: failure - read status=51 error=10(nid_not_found)

stephenw10 · Jun 2, 2011, 3:24 PM

What do you have in your /boot/loader.conf ?

Can you try a standard pfSense image?

schnauber · Jun 3, 2011, 8:07 PM

can you tell me, how I get access to the loader.conf please? Is this file in the root directory of pfhacom? Sorry, I am a unix dummy. I have choosen the pfhacom Image because I want VGA support.

stephenw10 · Jun 3, 2011, 10:19 PM

Everyone starts some where. :)
From the command line:


[2.0-RC2][root@pfsense.fire.box]/root(1): cat /boot/loader.conf
hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
loader_color="NO"
autoboot_delay="5"
hw.ata.wc="0"
kern.ipc.nmbclusters="0"
beastie_disable="YES"
vm.kmem_size="435544320"
vm.kmem_size_max="535544320"

Alternatively you can open it from the file editor in the GUI: Diagnostics -> Edit File
Just don't go making random changes!

Steve

schnauber · Jun 4, 2011, 10:15 AM

I have exactly the same settings below!

stephenw10 · Jun 4, 2011, 10:30 AM

Hmmm,
I'm out of ideas at this point. :(
You could try reflashing the card. You could try a different CF card. You could try a different image.

Steve