Get stuck at the spinner. Have tried several troubleshooting steps, what next?

swvincent

Here's my notes. I know it's long, but I've tried quite a few things. I'm getting tired and I don't know what else to do from here. I can't believe how much trouble I'm having with this!

Can't boot pfSense 2.0.1 on new PC - gets stuck at the "spinner"

It boots fine from liveCD though, just won't boot after install.

PC is generic PC on an Intel D915PBL motherboard
HDD is on IDE channel
It's a WD 160GB drive (Note, this is changed later to SATA drive, see notes below)
Pentium 4 3.0Ghz 800mhz 1MB CPU

I tried using GAG bootloader, did not help.

Referring to http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting for help after reading http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=25413.0;prev_next=prev.

jimp says "Sometimes that can happen when there is some peculiar interaction between the kernel, BIOS, and/or disk controller."

First, I tried unselecting "packet mode" for bootblack but that didn't help.

Next, is BIOs up-to-date? I'm on CY91510A.86A.0026. Latest is .0040. Updated. Entered BIOS to verify, it's updated. Reboot. No change.

Enter setup, check HDD mode
It's set to Auto. My only other option is User. Then I get these options (with defaults):

LBA/Large Mode: Auto
Block Mode: Auto
PIO Mode: Auto
DMA Mode: Auto
S.M.A.R.T.: Auto

Troubleshooting doc says to choose mode "LBA" but I can't. Not sure what to try with these settings. I'm going to try setting LBA/Large Mode to "Disabled". Did that and saved BIOS settings. Reboot.

Reinstall pfSense in easy mode. Reboot. No change.

I don't see an option to set my HDD mode to CHS, so I can't try that.

I'll try the multiple partitions next. First, just to be safe I'm booting gParted and completely wiping the drive. Now onto pfSense install again.

Custom install
Format disk
Partition 1 8388608 sectors (4GB)
Partion 2 * remaining space

Partition 1 doesn't end on cylinder boundary (not a multiple of 1088)
Chose yes to shrink to 8388513 sectors

Uncheck Packet mode

Now I'm getting lost, this isn't going well. I don't know much about *nix partitioning, to be honest.

For the heck of it, let's see if I have a SATA drive to try. I do.

Changed BIOS settings. Reset. Disabled IDE controller.

I have a WD WD800 80GB SATA HDD. Ran a quick test and it passed.

Performing easy install. Reboot. No change.

That's disappointing. Reboot, go to BIOS. I don't know.

Drive options basically the same, Auto or User with same settings. I see to try setting AHCI mode. Okay, "SATA AHCI mode" was disabled, set to enabled. Reboot.

Reinstall in easy mode again. Reboot. A change!

Yes! It got past the spinner. Got the "Welcome to pfSense" menu. But now I'm stuck at another spinner. Well, that was short-lived. Still, it's progress.

Okay, custom reinstall and uncheck the packet mode option for boot block. Reboot. Same result.

Reboot, this time choose option 2, boot with ACPI disabled. No change. Not surprised, I can boot LiveCD w/o disabling ACPI.

Okay, what haven't I tried yet?

CHS - not an option that I can see in my BIOS
LBA options - maybe I need to try something different, but what?
Multiple partitions - I'll have to learn how
Try running code from shell dd… etc. Okay, let's try that.

Reboot from live CD and load pfSense. Set interfaces, now at menu.

8 for shell
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=8k count=16

Operation not supported

Okay... looked in /dev/, I don't see an ad0. I see ad4. ??? Not really god with *nix, only know a little bit.

What else can I try?

stephenw10

I would guess no one has replied here yet because you have already tried everything people might suggest! :)

How many IDE devices do you have? The fact that it comes up as ad4 is slightly odd but that's when you've booted from the CD?

You managed to install the gag bootloader and that ran and still couldn't boot pfSense? That's normally the last resort that can boot anything!

I would try going into the bios and disabling everything you don't need. USB, sound, parallel port, SATA etc.
Then I would try using a sub 4GB partition, that seems to work for quite a few people.

Steve

swvincent

Thanks for the reply Steve! Yes, it feels like I have tried just about everything! But maybe not quite. I just have the one IDE device, the hard drive. My CD-ROM is SATA. GAG seemed to help, it gets to the "Welcome to pfsense menu" when I use gag but still freezes at the spinner afterwards. I think you're right about trying the 4GB partition, I haven't done that yet. I hope it's the key!

swvincent

Going to try the ~4GB partition.

Switched back to IDE drive
cleared BIOS settings
cleared drive
Installed GAG

Start custom install of pfSense

Must be multiples of 1008 to match cylinders.

Basing my setup on this: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,39921.msg207106.html#msg207106

8388576 /
104857200 /usr

/var

had to shrink first to 8388513 (which isn't a multiple of 1008 - weird)

Did not install boot blocks

Choose first partition for pfSense install, it's reporting 3.99GB

It wants to put swap on there too, which seems weird. I'm going to go with it for now, I just want to see if it boots.

I see there is "expert mode", maybe I need to use that to get it setup right, but for now I just want to test it. I'm sure 4GB is enough, that's all I have on my ALIX.

I guess everything installed on the 4GB partition, rebooting now.

I'm at a BTX loader with a stuck spinner… GAG is gone. I don't know. Reinstalled GAG, that doesn't do anything, still get to BTX loader with stuck spinner. I'm really starting to hate pfSense.

Restart pfSense install. BTX loader again... fails with stuck spinner. WHat the hell? I'm booting from CD. Try again, same thing. Why?????

Boot from UBCD and clear HDD again with GParted. Reboot. BTX loader isn't hanging anymore, good. Reinstall again. 4GB partition. I formatted the rest of the drive as a FAT partition just to use it up. Using bootblacks this time with packet mode unchecked. Reboot.

I get F1 for pfSense, F2 for ?. Good, it goes through to Welcome to pfSense menu. Boots... OMG it's loading! Waiting... it's going through the boot... Bootup complete! The music plays, and I'm at the main menu.

FINALLY!

So it appears the ~4GB partition is the key. I'll try it again with a better partitioning scheme. Thanks Steve, and everyone who contributes to the documentation. It's been a battle, but I think I'm almost there now!

Edit:

Attempting further troubleshooting.

Did reinstall, same as before but left packet mode checked. Reboot. Success. Confident at this point then that the only issue is the need for ~4GB or less boot partition. Going to reinstall and try to get partitions setup better.

I figured out how to setup partitions correctly. Before I was setting up several "slices", I believe, but now I understand the partitioning better. Got this:

4Gb /
50Gb /usr

/var
4G swap

It works great!

stephenw10

Sorry it turned into an epic struggle.
Glad you got it sorted though! ;)

Steve

swvincent

It was a great learning experience, I have a solid understanding of troubleshooting pfSense installs and I know a bit more about partitioning for BSD! I got it working last night routing one wireless connection into another, which was one of the tasks I wanted to try with this machine so I'm happy :)