PfSense crashes after installing squid & squidGuard

jmarquez

Hi there.

I finally figured it out what could be the problem.
The only change I have made to the current configuration was a BIOS update.
After having a look at the mainboard manufacturer webpage, they recommended an update for
a better system stability. Also, pfSense book recommends BIOS updates when available.
After applying the BIOS update the error dissapeared (fingers crossed).

We are still keeping an eye on the system, just in case.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jesus

jmarquez

Hi there.

Even though I said in my previous post that the systems was back to work, I was wrong.
We have had lots o problems since then and I hope somebody can help me.

This is our current hardware/software configuration:

Mainboard: Asus P8P67LE (1 Realtek nic onboard).
Intel i7 processor.
4 Gb. RAM.
3 Intel PRO/1000 Desktop PCI Network cards (we have tested 3 Realtek NIC's too).
Raid 1 with 2 10K RPM SATA HD's (also tested with no RAID, just 1 SATA 500 Mb HD 7200 RPM)
pfSende 2.0.1 (also tested pfSense 2.0.0)

I can attach the config.xml file if it helps. The config.xml file is also used in a pfSense session running on a virtualbox machine.
It's been working so far with no problems at all.
We can swap config.xml file between both, the virtual pfSense and the real one, but the only one that has been stable so far is the one running on a virtualbox machine.

The one running on hardware has only been working for 5 days maximun before watchdog messages appear on the terminal screen and the system hangs.
Please find attached a screenshot of the last messages before it hangs.

Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Jesus

P1020042.JPG_thumb

marcelloc

Did you tried both 32 and 64 bits version?

jmarquez

Hi,

Do you mean 32/64 bits version of pfSense?

As far as I know there is only a 32 bits version of pfSense. Am I right?

Having a look at the "which version to use" of pfSense, it states that it needs a compatible processor. I don't know whether this means that it has to be an AMD processor or any 64bits processor (AMD/Intel).

Thank you very much.
Jesus

marcelloc

@jmarquez:

As far as I know there is only a 32 bits version of pfSense. Am I right?

There is both since pfSense 2.0

@jmarquez:

Having a look at the "which version to use" of pfSense, it states that it needs a compatible processor. I don't know whether this means that it has to be an AMD processor or any 64bits processor (AMD/Intel).

If your hardware is not new, then probably it will accept only 32 bit version.

jmarquez

Thank you very much.

I have just installed the 64 bits version.
Let's see if this version fixes the problem. I'll come back to the forum with news about this issue.
It usually takes 4-5 days to hang.

Regards,
Jesus

jmarquez

Hi everyone.

I had no luck on this. The system crashed again in less than one day using the 64 bit version of pfsense.
So far I don't have a clue about what's going on.
I have changed every single peace of hardware (except the mainboard & processor), have run memory test,
changed HD, change Intel NIC's for Realtek ones and reinstalled pfSense 32/64 bits from scratch.
The fact is that a virtualbox machine is working great using the same config file.

Reading a few posts in the Hardware area of this forum, it is suggested that some hardware might be trying
to set the system on a sleep mode so it might crash pfSense as this is a wrong state for the system.

Is there a way to check this?

Any idea appreciated.
Thank you very much.
Jesus

marcelloc

Disable any sleep time for all option in bios power manager.

jmarquez

I found an entry in the BIOS named "EPU Power Saving Mode". The mainboard manual states that it is disabled by default, but I found it Enabled.
I have disabled it. Let's see what happens.

Thank you very much.

fr3drik

i thinks thats a bug .
something goes wrong on pfsense

jmarquez

Hi there.

I'd like to paste the following entries from dmesg:

ACPI Error (psargs-0464): [RAMB] Namespace lookup failure, AE_NOT_FOUND
ACPI Exception: AE_NOT_FOUND, Could not execute arguments for [RAMW] (Region) (20100331/nsinit-442)

Is this something to look at?

Besides, we are running pfSene 2.0 x32 on a virtualbox machine. This machine shows a line that doesn't show in the
one failing. The line is as follow:

acpi0: Sleep Button (fixed)

Any help appreciated.
Regards,
Jesus.

packeteer

Rather than spending your time on trying to find the cause. You're better off building a dedicated standalone squid box with Dansguardian.

I stay away from all in one solution.