V2.2 Failure: "CAM status: ATA Status Error" on Netgate FW-525B
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Hardware: Intel PineTrail D CPU - ICH8M Express Chipset Motherboard
Jetway FW-525B
Purchased from NetgateWorked great will all pfSense versions thru v2.1.5
Fails/Locks up on v2.2 during bootupCAM Status: ATA Status Error
ATA status: 7fTried other CF cards - Same issue with them…
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wait sorry didnt read the fact you tried other CF cards … lol The only thing i could suggest is trying connecting to sata port or something and try regular hard drive ? Maybe Freebsd 10.1 doesn't like your hardware, its possible.
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Similar sort of problem that I had on a Jetway FW-525B system that I attempted to upgrade to 2.2-RC a month ago.
I had found this thread on FreeBSD forums:
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/installing-freebsd-10-0-on-jetway-board-fails.44819/
But no joy there, and I have not had the time to get back to it and the hardware is in a location remote from me.
From the thread, it seems there is a regression in FreeBSD 9.something due to some change of the ATA sub-system code, and some hardware combinations just do not work [nicely|at all] on later FreeBSD. That stuffs up the ability to upgrade to pfSense 2.2.
I suggest you contact NetGate and see if they have advice or ideas.
For my Jetway FW-525B, it is sitting on 2.1.5 and I am not pressing the upgrade button. -
Hi,
I had a similar issue. Upgrade started via Web. After 40 min. I decided to Hard Reboot the Box. I had no output at the serial, but the pfsense is now working. Connect over ssh works. No additional reboot made yet.
At the moment i can´t find anything´s not working.
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With that DMA error try this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/UpgradeGuide#Disk_Driver_Changes
To make it boot interrupt the boot loader where it starts counting back from 4. At the OK prompt enter:set hint.ata.0.mode=PIO4 bootOnce booted edit /boot/loader.conf.local as referenced in the linked doc.
If that Netgate box is unmodified it surprises me though because it will have been tested. Is it an FW-7541?
Steve
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Sorry, no, it is a Jetway FW-525B
With that DMA error try this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/UpgradeGuide#Disk_Driver_Changes
To make it boot interrupt the boot loader where it starts counting back from 4. At the OK prompt enter:set hint.ata.0.mode=PIO4 bootOnce booted edit /boot/loader.conf.local as referenced in the linked doc.
If that Netgate box is unmodified it surprises me though because it will have been tested. Is it an FW-7541?
Steve
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Sorry, no, it is a Jetway FW-525B
Then definitely contact Netgate and talk to them about it.
And go back to 2.1.5 in the meantime - with the nanoBSD on the CF card you can simply switch back to the old slice at the console when it is about to boot. -
The CF slot on that board is confirmed as DMA capable?
Steve
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I've got one of these and haven't managed to get 2.2 stable on it yet myself.
Yes, it was sold by Netgate but only briefly. It hasn't been sold by them in over a year, the platform was dropped for various reasons. Among them, the heat issues and some stability concerns. On paper they were nice boxes but in practice, not so much. I'm fairly certain all of them that were sold are out of warranty.
I've tried updating the BIOS, tinkering with various disk options in the BIOS, and with DMA, write caching, and so on. At best it still spits out errors but some configurations are better/worse.
Here's come bits from an e-mail I had with phil.davis about it a couple weeks back:
The first thing I'd try is to change the BIOS to AHCI for the mode, it appears to default to IDE. That may make a difference. I still saw an error or two in AHCI mode but it was less than I saw in the other mode. Disabling block mode transfers on the CF ports seems to have helped even more, though I still get one now and then. There may be other relevant BIOS options I didn't spot that are worth a try also. The BIOS is accessible through the VGA port. There is a boot logo that hides the BIOS messages so the access key isn't visible, but if you tap DEL will get you in. The BIOS should be accessible over the serial console also by pressing DEL while it boots but that may be harder to catch.
[…]
Here is what I show currently:ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 1 lun 0
ada0: CFA-4 device
ada0: Serial Number 004119B0109W3759
ada0: 16.700MB/s transfers (WDMA2, PIO 2048bytes)
ada0: 3919MB (8027712 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 7964C)
ada0: Previously was known as ad1When mine shows that, I see 2 (+/- 1) ATA errors during the boot sequence and it seems to be OK after that. Using the PIO modes I get about a dozen or more than continue well after boot.
I would not expect the UDMA modes to work since the CF socket wouldn't pass the 80 pin test.
The presence of write caching (kern.cam.ada.write_cache) or read ahead (kern.cam.ada.read_ahead) does not seem to make a difference. Setting kern.cam.ada.send_ordered=0 and/or hw.ata.ata_dma_check_80pin=0 makes it worse. It may also vary from card to card.
The crux of it is, the FreeBSD disk driver stack in FreeBSD 10.x doesn't get along with that hardware. It needs to be duplicated on plain FreeBSD and reported upstream to them.
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Gave this another spin today and though I still get errors when it hits the CF hard, it seems to actually work. It boots, functions, the GUI is OK, though the console was spammed with ATA errors now and again.
Since I've lost track of all the things I've done but here's what I've tried lately:
- Updated the BIOS from Jetway for the board
- Reset the BIOS to factory defaults
- Reset the serial console access in the BIOS. Integrated Peripherals > Enable Remote Access, COM1, 115200/8/N/1)
- Integrated Peripherals > Onboard SATA > Set to AHCI
- In the BIOS on the first screen, I set every disk to Block Transfers = Disabled, 32bit transfers = Disabled
Why every disk, you ask? Because every time the thing booted up, the CF was detected as a different type of disk. One time it was a CF slave, another it was mSATA, another it was up in the Hard Disk listings.
With that combination it seems to function OK despite the errors. I'm still not convinced I trust it, but having watched it successfully complete a firmware update, I'm not quite so worried.
I don't seem to have a spare mSATA sitting around at the moment or I'd try putting one of those in rather than a CF to see if the problem is isolated to the CF socket.
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I forgot to add, I attempted a firmware upgrade twice and it did not appear to function, so it's still not ideal.
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Sorry, no, it is a Jetway FW-525B
Then definitely contact Netgate and talk to them about it.
And go back to 2.1.5 in the meantime - with the nanoBSD on the CF card you can simply switch back to the old slice at the console when it is about to boot.late to the party, but i have this error after updating to 2.2 from 2.1
when at the console prompt i see F1, F2 F3. how do i select which slice? do we enter "F1" or "F2" then press <enter>?</enter>
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Just press F1 or F2. F3 isn't bootable.
Steve
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Just press F1 or F2. F3 isn't bootable.
Steve
thanks for the tip!. "F1" in putty in suse brings up help window. i'll try minicom next ;-)
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Just press F1 or F2. F3 isn't bootable.
Steve
thanks for the tip!. "F1" in putty in suse brings up help window. i'll try minicom next ;-)
In Putty serial console, I think you just press the number "1" or "2" to select the boot slice. In the past I have wished it did not say "F1" "F2" - that makes for frustration for new users.
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Just press F1 or F2. F3 isn't bootable.
Steve
thanks for the tip!. "F1" in putty in suse brings up help window. i'll try minicom next ;-)
In Putty serial console, I think you just press the number "1" or "2" to select the boot slice. In the past I have wished it did not say "F1" "F2" - that makes for frustration for new users.
switched to minicom and got it to work, the F1 key that is.
logged into web interface and switched slice to 2.1.3 version. 2.1.3 version boots without the CAM/ATA errors.
odd thing is the 525B unit will now boot into F2 2.2.1 version without bricking, but with the CAM/ATA errors and appears like its functioning. i'll keep it at 2.1.3 for now.
i'll see about getting a new appliance either from pfsense or netgate's apu4.
doesn't look like freeBSD >=10. will fix this issue for this hardware. hope the new appliance is more future proof and runs cooler. ;-)
thanks phil & stephen!
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Just for fun I tried to load pfSense 2.3-ALPHA (that is following FreeBSD 10 as it progresses towards 10.3 next year) on an FW-525B in the cupboard. But no joy. Without having looked at FreeBSD-relted code for this I just thought I might get lucky for Christmas, but no.
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FYI- The problems with the 525-B units on FreeBSD 10 appear to be limited to the CF socket.
I ran a few quick tests here with a SATA disk and with an mSATA disk and it was fine one both. Though there are plenty of reasons to replace it ASAP (it's a space heater, among other problems), that may be a way to squeeze some more use out of it.
The underside of the access panel on the bottom has a mount for a 2.5" SATA disk, and at least mine has a cable inside already with SATA power+data on one connector. mSATA will work in the mini-PCIe socket that is directly across from the CF socket.
The socket for mSATA is circled in blue on the image above. The SATA cable is circled in orange. CF socket is in red.
I didn't run from it long term but I imagine it would also run fine from a USB thumb drive.
