Unable to boot PFSense Embedded from CF using ALIX.2c2

[wittend]

I was using (I thought) pfSense-1.2-RC4-Embedded.img for about a week fairly happily. Then I tried to make a change to the remote management and got things bunged up.  It seemed simpler to re-flash and start over, but I have met with NO success.  I tried to update the BIOS from PCEngines, but I can't boot FreeDOS either.  M0N0Wall seemed to work, but doesn't tell me much.  The old WRAP image of MonoBSD (FreeBSD 4.9) works fine.  I tried a number of different CF's - Toshiba, Sandisk, Lexar - all the same (128 M to 2Gb).  I put the flash in an ALIX.3c1 and get the same behavior.  I tried some 1.0 Images, etc., all the same.

What am I doing wrong?

Everything goes OK until I get down to loading USB drivers, and then I get:

uhub0: 4 ports with 4 removable, self powered
ehci0: <ehci (generic)="" usb="" 2.0="" controller="">mem 0xefffd000-0xefffdfff irq 9 at de
vice 15.5 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb1: EHCI version 1.0
usb1: wrong number of companions (1 != 2)
usb1: companion controller, 4 ports each:

Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
fault virtual address  = 0x2c
fault code              = supervisor read, page not present
instruction pointer    = 0x20:0xc0624952
stack pointer          = 0x28:0xc0c20bac
frame pointer          = 0x28:0xc0c20bac
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        = 0 (swapper)
trap number            = 12
panic: page fault
Uptime: 1s
Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - press a key on the console to abort
Rebooting…
Keyboard reset did not work, attempting CPU shutdown

then it locks up...

-- Dave W.</ehci>

[gmckinney]

Try setting the USB to 1.1 instead of 2.0 in the bios - if I remember correctly there was an issue with that, at least in the Alix 1c version - not sure about the Alix.2c2 version - it could be a bios issue there - are you running the bios version 99 ( http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2.htm ).

Also - if you search the forums you will find a "different" method to flash the Alix bios images to the unit instead of the FreeDOS method.

gm…

[wittend]

@gmckinney:

Try setting the USB to 1.1 instead of 2.0 in the bios - if I remember correctly there was an issue with that, at least in the Alix 1c version - not sure about the Alix.2c2 version - it could be a bios issue there - are you running the bios version 99 ( http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2.htm ).

Also - if you search the forums you will find a "different" method to flash the Alix bios images to the unit instead of the FreeDOS method.

gm…

Thanks!  Shutting off USB in the BIOS at least got me up and running.  I'll work on updating the BIOS as time allows.  Wonder why it worked before today?

– Dave W.