Extremely weird problem at boot

BlazeStar

So I've been happily using pfSense 2.2 for a few weeks now and a computer with the following specs :

Intel Dual Core I3-4150 3.4Ghz
8GB DDR3 1600Nhz
2 x 60GB SSD
Triple Gigabit Ehternet

And today I made a few changes :

Created a few DHCP reservations
Changed the LAN interface from /24 to /16

Just to make sure all was in order, and being alone at the office, I decided to reboot.

The server wouldn't come back up after several minutes, so I got worried…

I went to see the console screen and the strangest thing was going on...

It was still booting, but incredibly slow.
I've never seen anything like that... The boot screen was "loading" and the letters appeared one after the other, with several seconds between each.

I tried powering it off, then booting again...
Then I tryed all the options in the menu, including using an older kernel (which doesn't work), by the way, that part is very quick... like normal screen... until I launch a Single user or Multi user boot... then it is always the same... incredibly slow boot...

I let it run for several HOURS and it was still booting!!!!

I took a quick video of what it looks like because it's very hard to explain:
https://youtu.be/I0HiXVhsVoo

So does anyone have any idea of what the hell is going on with this?

For now I have reverted to using an ASUS router with the most basic config just so we have internet at the office...

But so all port forwarding, VPN, etc etc etc won't work before i fix this.

And of course I don't have a recent backup of my config :'(

cmb

That sounds like this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Upgrade_Guide#Console_Problem_Workaround

though that shouldn't have just started out of nowhere, it would have happened on the first reboot post-upgrade to 2.2.2 for systems that were affected.

The workaround there will get it to boot quickly. Then if you upgrade to 2.2.3, that won't happen again.

muswellhillbilly

@BlazeStar:

And of course I don't have a recent backup of my config :'(

When you do get your system back up, you can do the following (this is one of many ways to do pretty much the same thing):

1. Log onto your pfSense system on the command line. Write a shell script thusly and save it in your /root folder. Call it something like 'backup.sh':

#!/bin/sh
cd /conf
cat <<end |="" ftp="" 'ftp:="" username:password@myftp.site.com="" '<br="">put ./config.xml
END

Obviously, substitute 'username', 'password' and 'myftp.site.com' for your corresponding site and credentials.

2. Create a cron job: 00 5 * * 1-5 /root/backup.sh. This will upload your system's config file at 5am every working day.</end>

muswellhillbilly

PS: I had something similar happen to me a while back. If all else fails, you ought to be able to boot into single-user mode (shows in your YouTube clip), navigate to the /conf folder and pick up the config file by copying it to a USB stick.

BlazeStar

@cmb:

That sounds like this:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Upgrade_Guide#Console_Problem_Workaround

though that shouldn't have just started out of nowhere, it would have happened on the first reboot post-upgrade to 2.2.2 for systems that were affected.

The workaround there will get it to boot quickly. Then if you upgrade to 2.2.3, that won't happen again.

Sorry for the late reply.

Dude, you're a life saver.

Thank you so much.

I did exactly that :

To work around the issue, restart the system and activate option 3 at the pfSense logo boot menu for the Loader Prompt. At the loader prompt, enter:
unset boot_serial
boot

Then I updated to 2.2.3

Then rebooted normally.

And everything's good!

Thanks again!

@muswellhillbilly:

PS: I had something similar happen to me a while back. If all else fails, you ought to be able to boot into single-user mode (shows in your YouTube clip), navigate to the /conf folder and pick up the config file by copying it to a USB stick.

I did try the single-user mode and the same problem was occurring before the fix above.

@muswellhillbilly:

@BlazeStar:

And of course I don't have a recent backup of my config :'(

When you do get your system back up, you can do the following (this is one of many ways to do pretty much the same thing):

1. Log onto your pfSense system on the command line. Write a shell script thusly and save it in your /root folder. Call it something like 'backup.sh':

#!/bin/sh
cd /conf
cat <<end |="" ftp="" 'ftp:="" username:password@myftp.site.com="" '<br="">put ./config.xml
END

Obviously, substitute 'username', 'password' and 'myftp.site.com' for your corresponding site and credentials.

2. Create a cron job: 00 5 * * 1-5 /root/backup.sh. This will upload your system's config file at 5am every working day.</end>

Thank you that's very wise, i'll be creating that cron job for sure!