PCEngines alix2c3 (Substitute for WRAP) boot failes

mezza

You're a star. Tried for hours to get BIOS update working with XMODEM. If any one has instructions I'd be extremely grateful for enlightenment.

Ended up downloading your CF image for FreeDOS and the 0.98g update, and just replacing the BIOS files with the 0.99 files.

Thanks,

mezza

naughtyusmaximus

@ircman:

Hi!,

I;m running the latest 0.99 version from the 10th of december. So looks like its not resolved ?

Yep, same here. This issue is not resolved for me either. :(

naughtyusmaximus

Also, I've tried with the 0.92 bios which was reported as working on the first page, and still get the same error message about my USB ports when I boot pfSense

sullrich

Unfortunately Pascal has not sent me a ALIX board to test this. This is likely to be fixed until we have a Alix testing board in one of the coreteam members possession. If anyone knows him, I encourage you to ask him for a board so we can get this fixed once and for all.

naughtyusmaximus

I don't know Pascal, but I sent him an email, and this was the reply:
How should I know where to send a board ???

Please ask the core dev to request a board at
http://www.pcengines.ch/order1.php?c=2 with the
note "pfsense developer sample"…

Best regards,

Pascal Dornier

sullrich

Great, thanks! I have ordered a board and hopefully will be able to get to the bottom of this soon.

naughtyusmaximus

Thanks for all your hard work!

pcengines

Some notes:

If you plan on re-using the CF card later, I suggest making a back-up of the blank CF card with dd. Repartitioning
CF cards can be tricky.
Current BIOS = 0.99. Going back to v0.92 could cause stability issues.
Xmodem reprogramming is not implemented yet. Sorry…
Do NOT rename the alix*.bin files, sb.com will automatically pick the right file depending on which board you have
Page fault issue: unless somebody pushes my snout towards the right problem, I assume this is a FreeBSD problem.
Reboot issue: ALIX does not have a keyboard controller, and does not attempt to emulate one. To reboot, please
use port 92h or the CS5536 specific reset registers.
Bonus points for changing the default baud rate to 38400. Come on guys, life is too short to work at 9600 baud...
(dd-wrt / openwrt uses 115200 !)
Questions / comments to PC Engines -> please email, I cannot monitor this forum.

mustardman

I'm running the latest pfsense in VMWare and I get those "no such process" errors

gmckinney

@pcengines:

Some notes:

Page fault issue: unless somebody pushes my snout towards the right problem, I assume this is a FreeBSD problem.

The only time I have seen this issue occur was when I had installed the wrong bios version for the Alix board I was upgrading the bios on… I had make the cardinal mistake of renaming a .bin file thinking it was the correct one for the board I was working with...

DUH!!!!

gm...

naughtyusmaximus

I'd really like to get this working, so is there anything I can do (as a normal user) to help point you in the right direction?

sullrich

The board has shipped. Hopefully should have it soon.

gmckinney

@sullrich:

The board has shipped. Hopefully should have it soon.

If Pascal shipped from his location then it will take about a week - at least that is how long it takes hardware from him to reach me here in Florida (USA).

gm…

blueice

I hope the rc4 released after all this problems fixed :)

lepole

@pcengines:

Some notes:

If you plan on re-using the CF card later, I suggest making a back-up of the blank CF card with dd. Repartitioning
CF cards can be tricky.

Current BIOS = 0.99. Going back to v0.92 could cause stability issues.

Xmodem reprogramming is not implemented yet. Sorry…

Do NOT rename the alix*.bin files, sb.com will automatically pick the right file depending on which board you have

Page fault issue: unless somebody pushes my snout towards the right problem, I assume this is a FreeBSD problem.

Reboot issue: ALIX does not have a keyboard controller, and does not attempt to emulate one. To reboot, please
use port 92h or the CS5536 specific reset registers.

Bonus points for changing the default baud rate to 38400. Come on guys, life is too short to work at 9600 baud...
(dd-wrt / openwrt uses 115200 !)

Questions / comments to PC Engines -> please email, I cannot monitor this forum.

sofar I´ve been running pfsense "1.2-RC3 built on Fri Dec 14 14:42:07 EST 2007" on an alix with bios 0.99 without any problems. Its been up 24 days, 02:21 right now and never let me down. I have yet to try a new pfsense snapshot an duse vlans…
Reboots never failed or hung! The hardest part was getting the bios up to date but with the image of free dos posted by someone before in this thread it was no problem at all! I just copied the newest firmware into the img and flashed away! Once that was done it just worked (after setting the baud rate - wasn´t there a menu item once for setting the pfsense baud rate?)

So what I really want to say is THANX for the great product (both pfsense and pcengines!)

blueice

@sullrich:

The board has shipped. Hopefully should have it soon.

hi,
finally you have receive the board?
Thanks,
Christos

sullrich

@blueice:

@sullrich:

The board has shipped. Hopefully should have it soon.

hi,
finally you have receive the board?
Thanks,
Christos

Nope.

gmckinney

Sullrich,

You should see the board about any time - mine just arrived Saturday (but had to wait until today to get it)…

gm...

fcspaul

Since this is the board I am looking at I was wondering if you have received the board and had a chance to look at it.

sullrich

The board arrived but I do not have a power supply. Will have to pick one up.