Install to flash module boots S..L..O..W.. RESOLVED FOR NANOBSD IMAGE
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Hello all,
I have picked up a Dell/WYSE R90L Thin client. It has a semperon 1.5GHz 200U processor, gigabit ethernet, 1g RAM and 1G flash module (an Apacer module) as storage. I'm running pfsense on it via a USB stick at the moment and it runs great but I'm only running it via USB as I have a problem with running from the flash module.
To install to the module I ran a live version of puppy linux (first time and quite impressed, very useful) which recognised the flash module as sda so I dd'd a 1g nano image to it and rebooted. First reboot is via console of course and I set up the interfaces and then logged in via the web gui. Ran through the wizard setting the required PPPoE values etc. Rebooted fine for a couple of times but then no web gui appears, switch to the console and it has slowed to an absolute crawl, its printing characters to the boot up screen about one per 3-4 seconds or so. Boot time would be in hours, not seconds its that slow.
I rebooted and switched to the alternate slice F2 and it boots really fast again, but again only lasts a few reboots before that also grinds to an absolute crawl. I'm not making any outrageous command line changes, all I'm doing is adding firewall rules etc and all via the web gui. Like I say, I've done the same via a USB stick and that's running fine, but boots slower than the flash module when the flash module is booting correctly.
Can anyone suggest why the flash module won't last very long? Would you think its simply a bad module?
I was thinking of buyng a 2g module but anyone any similar experience, would it be good money after bad?
When the module was working, the WYSE unit seems great for loading pfsense onto, inexpensive (£19.99) and completely quiet and (I think I remember right) idles at about 11W. I've upgraded the RAM to 2g by the way (after the installation problems, but since running pfsense via the USB stick).
Anyone able to advise? Thanks in advance -
Try disabling serial ports from BIOS.
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Thanks very much for the quick reply. Its a very basic bios, but I'm pretty certain I remember seeing the option.
Wouldn't that affect all boot media though? Why does that not affect USB boot, SSD etc, and why does the module last a few boots with serial ports enabled? I didn't see how a read only file system could change from boot to boot, so I'm happy it's external to the OS, if you see what I mean.I appreciate these are not pfsense questions strictly, but if you can help I'd appreciate knowing the answer. Every day is a school day as the saying goes!
I've not long finished night shift so I'll connect back up to the console after a snooze; I'm running slow at the moment… I'll report back later.
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Read this: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=92499.0
So far only Full installs were reported, I think you're the first one reporting the issue with NanoBSD image. -
Hello again,
Well, a big THANK YOU for the replies. Disabled serial port 1 and 2 in BIOS and have rebooted a few times from both slice one and slice two. The only thing now is to re-do all the settings but that's a trade off I'm happy to pay. Thanks again.
Marked as resolved.
