Can't boot from last Embedded Snapshot

bellera · Apr 23, 2007, 11:07 AM

Hello!

"To disable DMA:
After powering on your system, You will see:
Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt."

This is not possible in my case (system does'nt stop loading) and I have'nt English keyboard at console, so I could'nt type special characters such "=" …

I wrote CF card with 22-april-07 (yesterday) embedded snapshot:

http://snapshots.pfsense.com/FreeBSD6/RELENG_1_2/embedded/

I Mounted this image on a FreeBSD machine and I saw that DMA is now desactivated:

cat mnt/a/boot/loader.conf

hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
loader_color="NO"
console=comconsole
autoboot_delay="5"
hw.ata.wc="0"

I wrote this image to the CF.

But same problem for my box … I ca'nt boot.

Is it the boot capable to start from a CF placed as master at secondary IDE ? My box sees the CF as ad2, not ad0.

Please, help!

Josep Pujadas

sullrich · Apr 23, 2007, 5:44 PM

Not sure what else to try. I booted that image over the weekend on a WRAP and a Soekris.

Maybe try a different compact flash card.

bellera · Apr 23, 2007, 6:51 PM

Scott,

I tried two different CF cards … I don't understand what is happening ...

My first installation using the http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=909 box was writting to the CF pfSense-1.0.1-512-ad2.img.gz from http://shopping.hacom.net/catalog/pub/pfsense

The embedded image from Hacom uses grub. I tried to run the mkflash.sh script from Hacom on one of my FreeBSD machines (with grub tools installed) but it doesn't work.

I will trie the same image with one of my new CF cards ... With this I will ensure if new CF is well working ...

Thanks,

Josep Pujadas

bellera · Apr 24, 2007, 1:12 PM

I wrote my new CF with pfSense-1.0.1-512-ad2.img.gz from http://shopping.hacom.net/catalog/pub/pfsense

The http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=4&products_id=909 box it boots with the new CF.

So, the CFs are good …

I tried to build an image using mkflash.sh script from hacom.net. But this script does'nt work for recent snapshots of pfSense. I made some changes to it. I arrived to create an image that it boots with grub, but it stops when grub says to launch the system from hd0.

I think that pfSense snapshot image is not capable to boot from a secondary master ide (ad2).

Thanks,

Josep Pujadas

bellera · Apr 24, 2007, 4:22 PM

Hello!

I mounted the last snapshot image (before writing the CF) and I changed the /boot/loader.conf from:

hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
loader_color="NO"
console=comconsole
autoboot_delay="5"
hw.ata.wc="0"

to:

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

Now, my VGA monitor is blocked at:

Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt
Booting [/boot/kernel/kernel] …

Is it mandatory to use serial console to start the last snapshot embedded image ?

I don't use serial console with my box. I have a VGA monitor.

I tried also:

hw.ata.atapi_dma="0"
hw.ata.ata_dma="0"
console="vidconsole,comconsole"
boot_multicons="1"
usb_load="yes"
ukbd_load="YES"
umass_load="YES"

but it does'nt work. Same blocking …

Thanks,

Josep Pujadas

sullrich · Apr 24, 2007, 5:01 PM

Embedded images do NOT use VGA. You need a serial port connected.

bellera · Apr 24, 2007, 5:30 PM

???

This is the problem. Embedded images at hacom.net use VGA monitor … My working pfSense is using one of them.

Is there any form to have the last (embedded) snapshot working with VGA monitor? It's more flexible for me ...

hacom.net mkflash.sh script changes the /etc/platform file and puts into embedded:

cat >$CF_MOUNT/a/etc/platform <<-EOF
embedded
EOF

Are they using the complete version and saying to it to work as embedded ?

Is it a good idea?

Thanks,

Josep Pujadas

sullrich · Apr 24, 2007, 5:44 PM

Not sure what to tell you honestly. Maybe hacom has an updated image for you.

bellera · Apr 25, 2007, 4:43 PM

Hello!

New images at hacom.net:

http://shopping.hacom.net/catalog/pub/pfsense/pfSense-releng_1_2-snapshot070424-1gb-ad2.img.gz
http://shopping.hacom.net/catalog/pub/pfsense/pfSense-releng_1_2-snapshot070424-512-ad2.img.gz

They are 1.2-BETA-1-PRERELEASE-SNAPSHOT-04-23-07 based … They are'nt a 1.0.1 snapshot !!!!

I installed the 512-ad2 image and it's working ...

Regards,

Josep Pujadas

hoba · Apr 25, 2007, 6:58 PM

Thanks to the guys at hacom! As you can see they take care to have images that work with the hardware they sell (and even other). A quality recommended vendor! :D