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    New here with some questions

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
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    • I
      IFLATLINEI
      last edited by

      Hello all, Im looking for some help and direction for my firewall. I have a few different boxes I can install Pfsense on but im hoping to use a Dell inspiron 8000 Laptop. Its a P3 1GHz and 512 ram. I have a Linksys 10/100 integrated cardbus pc card and one on board ethernet port that im hoping can also be used for this project. Can this work and which install should I use?

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      • N
        Nachtfalke
        last edited by

        In general this should work. It works on powerless machines than you intend to.

        But it depends on what you want to realiase. How many Clients behind pfsense, do you want to use additional packages like squid (which needs more RAM).

        I don't think that your LAN cards are VLAN capable but if you do not need some, it will be ok.
        Just give us some more information and we will try to help.

        PS: if you are unsure if your hardware will work/be compatible, just download the full ISO, burn it to a CD and start pfsense as a live CD and then you could test compatibility.

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        • I
          IFLATLINEI
          last edited by

          I have 3 laptops, 3 desktops, 2 PS3's, 3 Android smartphones, and a Android Tablet. I have a Smoothwall now using a P3 800 Mhz with 512 ram and ive never seen the CPU higher than 25%. This laptop i would like to run PFsense on should be more powerfull so I think in that respect it should be fine for what I need. However as we know Smoothwall does not work on laptops and i hear good things about PFsense.

          I dont think I need VLAN capability.

          I did download the full ISO just to see what would happen and it hangs up shortly after selecting default install. I have disabled ACPI in bios and still no luck.

          Thanks for your reply! What further info might you need?

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          • N
            Nachtfalke
            last edited by

            As you said, it worked with smoothwall an dit will work with pfsense. You coul still use your "old" P3.
            There are many people who are using the Alix boards which less power and more clients behind.

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            • I
              IFLATLINEI
              last edited by

              Thanks for the confirmation but I'm still having issues getting PFsense loaded on the laptop. The HDD has windows XP on it currently. Does that need to be formatted before install? Do the Ethernet ports need to be wired up  in order to install. I was hoping to get it setup before disrupting my current network setup. I burned six discs yesterday and it keeps hanging up after recognizing some of the PC hardware. I'm going to try burning one more disc at the slowest speed possible and see what happens.

              The thing that's throwing me off besides being new to PFsense and its installation is that this is a laptop and I'm going to try and use one on board Ethernet port and one 10/100 PC card bus.

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              • N
                Nachtfalke
                last edited by

                Could you try the LiveCD on another machine ? Perhaps there is a problem with your hardware which is not supported by pfsense.

                you can check your hardware here:
                http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.2R/hardware.html

                PS: I installed pfsense on a Fujitsu Siemens Server and it took some minuties till there was any progress. I still had to wait.

                Did you come to the point where you can chose between "(I)installation" oder (L)ive CD" ?

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                • I
                  IFLATLINEI
                  last edited by

                  It never got to that point. But im not sure how long I should have waited either. I let it sit for about 5 minutes with zero HDD activity and zero movement on the screen. I have a feeling it was a bad burn but with my luck maybe it is a hardware compatibility issue.

                  Im also wondering if I am using the right file. The download list a quite a few options. Yesterday i ended my frustration trying to use this one –-> pfSense-1.2.3-RELEASE-LiveCD-Installer.iso.gz. I really wanted to use pfSense 2.0 but that didnt want to load either. Ill check that hardware list again and maybe try and load pfSense on another machine after I do one more burn.

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                  • N
                    Nachtfalke
                    last edited by

                    5minutes is long enough…hm...

                    This is the image you should use:
                    http://snapshots.pfsense.org/FreeBSD_RELENG_8_1/i386/pfSense_HEAD/livecd_installer/pfSense-2.0-RC3-i386-20110703-0523.iso.gz

                    Did it work with pfsense 1.2.3 ?

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                    • I
                      IFLATLINEI
                      last edited by

                      Nope. Okay thanks for the confirmation I do have the right 2.0 image now im going to get it burned and see what happens.

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                      • I
                        IFLATLINEI
                        last edited by

                        Disc is good but will not load on the laptop. I then tried to load it up on my old P3 desktop (Smoothwall Box) and it loaded fine as far as I can tell. Right now Im at the Vlan setup stage. Im encouraged with this progress but its all for not if I cant get it to run on the laptop. Running it on the desktop is all good except I already had smoothwall running on that. Im trying to conserve space, energy, and lower the heat generated in this room which is why i chose PFsense because it has the possibility to run on a laptop.

                        I dont see my linksys ethernet card listed on that list so maybe thats why. Oh well. Im gonna keep on playing around in between laps of Gran Turismo. Anyone have any ideas? How can I tell whats actually the issue with loading PFsense on the laptop?

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                        • N
                          Nachtfalke
                          last edited by

                          You could try to take a photo of the point where pfsense stops starting on the laptop.
                          Perhaps someone could help you with that.

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