Processor Issues?

Demerzel

Hello,

I have been trying to get pfSense to run on a VIA Nehemia CPU, no success so far. Details are as following:

Running in a VMWare Server session
CDROM has LiveCD Image as bootup, 4GB Harddrive added
3 NIC's
128 MB RAM (tried more too)

Now everytime i startup, it boots from CD onto the point where it tells me the version of pfSense (after all the hardware stuff), then tries to unpack this .uzip file, then the kernel panics. It always panics from the same process "newfs".

Now here's the strange part: m0n0wall works fine on this machine. pfSense works fine in VMWare Session on another machine with an Athlon CPU.

Could it be that the pfSense kernel doesn't like the Nehemia CPU? I'm trying to get pfSense into my productive environment because i like m0n0 but want additional features like logging - pfSense seemd perfect :)

I'll be greatful for any input :)

Cheers,
Alex

sullrich

Please take a look at http://wiki.pfsense.com/wikka.php?wakka=BootTroubleShooting

Demerzel

Hello,

Ok, i found this Wiki page earlier, but that's only a limited help:

If the installer fails to start correctly (system reboots), try (try each substep, then rerun the installer each time):
* Make sure BIOS is up to date
I'm running VMWare, i don't think there's a bios update - running latest version though (VMware server w/free license)

* Changing the hard drive ribbon cable
Can't change cables either…

* Forcing a slower speed in the bios for the channel
Ok, i tried that, forced bios to several PIO modes, for no good :(

_* Try running from a shell on the livecd:
o

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

+ (note that ad0 is the first ata hard drive)
o

fdisk -I ad0

+ (note that ad0 is the first ata hard drive)_
Hm, i wish i could do that, but kernel panics out before that.

Here's the exact output:


... hardware stuff ...

Welcome to the pfSense 1.0-BETA1 on the 'cdrom' platform...

md0.uzip: 1309x65536 blocks

Fatal trap 1: priviledged instruction fault while in kernel mode
cpuid=0; apic id = 00

instruction pointer = 0x20:0xc08d2d87
stack pointer        = 0x28:0xd0a98bc0
frame pointer       = 0x28:0xd0a98bdc
code segment      = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b,
                          = DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1
processor eflags    = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process    = 64 (newfs)
trap number        = 1
panic: priviledged instruction fault
cpuid = 0
uptime = 26s
Cannot dump. No dump device defined.

The last message makes me wonder a bit - it finds the harddisk and cdrom in the hardware section earlier.

I also found http://wiki.pfsense.com/wikka.php?wakka=BootOptions, tried the stuff in the VMWare ESX Section, to no avail.
I also read that other people are running pfSense on a Nehemia C3 with no problems… Do you need any other info?

I'd really love to run pfSense, but i can't find a way :(

Cheers,
Alex

sullrich

The only other thing I can think of is to change the CD-ROM from primary to seconary or from secondary to primary, etc.

It is true that pfSense runs on these processors just fine. I think you're running into a ATA issue.

hoba

I also would try to disable all unneeded devices in the bios. I have 2 nehemias as well and have installed nehemias for others too. As geekgod said, they do work. The processor is not the issue.

Demerzel

@hoba:

I also would try to disable all unneeded devices in the bios. I have 2 nehemias as well and have installed nehemias for others too. As geekgod said, they do work. The processor is not the issue.

Ok, now i created a virtual disk on another machine (on which pfSense works), installed it on the virtual disk (SCSI), copied the virtual disk to the other machine and used it there. In the VMWare BIOS, i turned off everything including IDE Controllers (as only the SCSI drive is there), all serial and parallel ports, etc.

Now pfSense boots from the SCSI drive, comes to the same point as before, only that now it's already installed. It turns on swap (last message i see) and then craps out. Faulted program now is always ldconfig, not newfs.

Any more ideas? I can't think of anything more - although i have to say i'm no expert…

Cheers,
Alex

hoba

Then it's most probably a vmware nehemia issue ???
Can you test running pfsense at this machine directly not inside vmware?
Keep in mind, vmware server is beta.

sullrich

Oh, I sorta misread about the VMWare portion. For some reason GSX is borked. The good news is that Virutal Server works fine (atleast the beta does).

Demerzel

@sullrich:

Oh, I sorta misread about the VMWare portion. For some reason GSX is borked. The good news is that Virutal Server works fine (atleast the beta does).

Hm, then something must be wrong with my machine - was running GSX server 3.2.0 and upgraded to VMWare Server beta (hoping it could work better), but the effect seems to be the same - kernel panic :(

Demerzel

@hoba:

Then it's most probably a vmware nehemia issue ???
Can you test running pfsense at this machine directly not inside vmware?
Keep in mind, vmware server is beta.

I'm sorry, i can't run pfsense directly on the machine because it is remote and has a windows server running. All i can do is install and use virtual machines for running the firewall - are there any alternatives on windows?

Cheers,
Alex

hoba

You might want to try the vmware player instead of vmware server but I don't think server and player can coexist on the same machine. However, if it runs in player and not in server it would be a proof that the bug is in vmware server beta.

Demerzel

@hoba:

You might want to try the vmware player instead of vmware server but I don't think server and player can coexist on the same machine. However, if it runs in player and not in server it would be a proof that the bug is in vmware server beta.

I uninstalled the VMWare Server and installed the player instead - but didn't even come so far as to boot, Player didn't like Virtual machines created elsewhere, didn't boot neither from virtual disk nor from virtual cd drive :(

Now i installed GSX Server 3.2.1 - same as 3.2.0, kernel panics with the newfs process.

Is there any alternative for virtual machines on windows? I tried to install Virtual PC 2004 (now Microsoft), but it doesn't like the Nehemia processor.

Cheers,
Alex

hoba

I'm running pfsense with vmplayer fine here (not on a nehemia though). This looks more and more like a vmware nehemia bug to me :(

sullrich

@Demerzel:

@hoba:

You might want to try the vmware player instead of vmware server but I don't think server and player can coexist on the same machine. However, if it runs in player and not in server it would be a proof that the bug is in vmware server beta.

I uninstalled the VMWare Server and installed the player instead - but didn't even come so far as to boot, Player didn't like Virtual machines created elsewhere, didn't boot neither from virtual disk nor from virtual cd drive :(

Now i installed GSX Server 3.2.1 - same as 3.2.0, kernel panics with the newfs process.

Is there any alternative for virtual machines on windows? I tried to install Virtual PC 2004 (now Microsoft), but it doesn't like the Nehemia processor.

Cheers,
Alex

Try VMWARE Server. It's beta, but works well for me to do testing.

Demerzel

@sullrich:

@Demerzel:

I uninstalled the VMWare Server and …

Try VMWARE Server. It's beta, but works well for me to do testing.

I think i have tried all versions of VMWare by now - GSX 3.2.0 and 3.2.1, VMWare Server (Beta) and VMWare Player. Maybe things would work with VMWare Player (although i doubt that meanwhile), if i had a chance to build an image to run on that machine. Player can't make an image, and images made on another machine don't fit there since i can't even tell Player which NIC to bridge where.

pfSense runs so fine on my regular machine that i'm really eager to find a way to run it on the server… Where's the big difference in that section between m0n0 and pfSense? m0n0 seems to be fine on the server...

Cheers,
Alex

sullrich

m0n0wall == FreeBSD 4
pfSense == FreeBSD 6

Major major major differences.

Demerzel

@sullrich:

m0n0wall == FreeBSD 4
pfSense == FreeBSD 6

Major major major differences.

Ok, i didn't know that - must be a big difference indeed.

Now i tried to run pfSense in Virtual PC 2004 - no chance either. So this must be a FreeBSD / Emulation problem, i suppose… Will try plain vanilla FreeBSD in an emulated session on the Nehemia these days.

Cheers,
Alex

Demerzel

@Demerzel:

Now i tried to run pfSense in Virtual PC 2004 - no chance either. So this must be a FreeBSD / Emulation problem, i suppose… Will try plain vanilla FreeBSD in an emulated session on the Nehemia these days.

Ok, tried the bootonly CD from FreeBSD, Release Version 6.0 - this one boots up fine on the Nehemia. So there must be some sort of pfSense - Virtual Machine - Nehemia problem - anything i can do to solve this issue?

Cheers,
Alex

hoba

Send a copy of pfsense to vmware with your nehemia kernel panic. The server is beta and they will accept bugreports I think ;D

ecce

Hi all,

I've got the same problem on a VIA EPIA M10000 running VMWare Server 1.0.0.
Any news with this?

Booting with RC1 livecd iso image stops with the same kernel panic at newfs.

Already searched VIA and VMWARE forums for similar reports, there doesn't seem to be any.

I've tried already disabling Acceleration and "memory page trimming" in the VM - didn't work.

VMWare edition and Developer edition didn't work too.

I'll try to get the Embedded edition into a vmdk somehow (maybe dd it from a knoppix live cd onto the hard disk), I'll report back my results.

Marc