FreeBSD (pfSense) -- Can't boot after install

BlueToast · November 2010

My original thread is at http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,29849.0.html, but I am trying to see if I can "load-balance" and try to get help from multiple locations through a broader publicity.

Here is the problem:

Computer starts.

Boot menu with "F1 FreeBSD" and a prompt for a shortcut key shows up (you either wait a couple seconds or hit F1).

The next line after the boot prompt is a non-rotating "|" or "\" (it will start out as - and rotate clockwise to said position, then never move again); pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL results in instant reboot.

What's wrong? I have tried many things. Any suggestions? Also, I have tried to mount the partition, but Partition Magic from UBCD v5.0.2 (not sure how outdated Partition Magic on that is) ends up giving me an error about unknown filesystem and stuff; pfSense uses a UFS2 filesystem.

mfillpot · November 2010

It sounds like the error message that you are receiving is a kernel panic that is stopping the rotating character and boot cycle. I have not used pfSense and don't know the installation procedures but a kernel panic is the result of installing conflicting drivers or missing kernel files, I would recommend installing psSense in a virtual machine a few time to better understand what it is doing.

You can probably have some luck reading the filesystem from a BSD based livecd, I found a project that is working on one at

BlueToast · November 2010

mfillpot wrote:

It sounds like the error message that you are receiving is a kernel panic that is stopping the rotating character and boot cycle. I have not used pfSense and don't know the installation procedures but a kernel panic is the result of installing conflicting drivers or missing kernel files, I would recommend installing psSense in a virtual machine a few time to better understand what it is doing.

You can probably have some luck reading the filesystem from a BSD based livecd, I found a project that is working on one at http://livecd.sourceforge.net/download.php

Going to try the LiveCD once it finishes downloading and I burn it to a CD.

In other news, I noticed the other day (when paying more attention) that there is a gibberish line during the reboot sequence immediately following the pfSense installation:

When I try to fsck using FreeBSD LiveCD v4.6:

[LiveCD] /dev # fsck -f ad0a
ad0: rejecting BSD label: raw partition offset != slice offset
ad0: start 63, end 156301487, size 156301425
ad0c: start 0, end 156301424, size 156301425
ad0: cannot find label (fixlabel: raw partition offset != slice offset)
ad0s1: rejecting BSD label: raw partition offset != slice offset
ad0s1: start 63, end 156301487, size 156301425
ad0s1c: start 0, end 156301424, size 156301425
ad0s1: cannot find label (fixlabel: raw partition offset != slice offset)
Can't open ad0a: Invalid argument
[LiveCD] /dev #

mfillpot · November 2010

It says that it cannot open or read the first partition of the first hard drive. Most likely your choice of filesystems was not set in the ramdisk image that is used to boot the OS. Did you select to use the default filesystem type on installation or did you choose a non-default filesystem?

BlueToast · November 2010

mfillpot wrote:

It says that it cannot open or read the first partition of the first hard drive. Most likely your choice of filesystems was not set in the ramdisk image that is used to boot the OS. Did you select to use the default filesystem type on installation or did you choose a non-default filesystem?

I don't recall having the ability of selecting the filesystem type. Let me check again later today..

BlueToast · November 2010

BlueToast wrote:

mfillpot wrote:

It says that it cannot open or read the first partition of the first hard drive. Most likely your choice of filesystems was not set in the ramdisk image that is used to boot the OS. Did you select to use the default filesystem type on installation or did you choose a non-default filesystem?

I don't recall having the ability of selecting the filesystem type. Let me check again later today..

Well...

pfSense and I.. I'm like.. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFU-
pfSense must be like..

(although maybe it is also having a super secret kernel panic for retarded reasons and doing the same thing I am)

Quickly read up at and the post that follows.

I think pfSense is FreeBSD-only.

mfillpot · November 2010

You are correct about pdSense, it is a FreeBSD based product that does not have any affiliation with Linux other than the fact it is unix-like. Unfortunately I am not fully versed in FreeBSD and think the last error messages you received are too vague to get any instructions from.

If you wish to continue trying to use pfSense the BSD gues will be your best help, hopefully some can chime in on this thread.

Or if you wish to give up on that attempt there are plently of good Linux based firewall distros you can use or you can install a generic Linux based distro and we can help you configure the firewall through an iptables script.

BlueToast · November 2010

Problem solved! FreeBSD didn't like large capacities for /.

Source:

YeOldeStonecat wrote: »

Using the IDE only....check
Burning at slowest....check

Hmmm....can you go into the BIOS and disable the onboard SATA ports? Just to ensure that they're out of the way?

They are disabled.

Everything below are BIOS defaults unless otherwise stated.
Advanced
CPU Configuration
Ratio CMOS Settings: 255

HyperThreading: Enabled

IDE Configuration
IDE Legacy COnfiguration: P-ATA Only

S-ATA Running Enhanced Mode: No (default is Yes)

P-ATA Channel Selection: Both

Only if S-ATA Running Enhanced Mode is not No -- S-ATA Ports Definition: P0-3rd./P1-4th.

Only if S-ATA Running Enhanced Mode is not No -- Configure S-ATA as RAID: No

Channel 0 Master: Hard Disk
Type: Auto

LBA/Large Mode: Auto

Block (Multi-Sector Transfer): Auto

PIO Mode: Auto

DMA Mode: Auto

S.M.A.R.T.: Auto

32Bit Data Transfer: Disabled

Channel 1 Slave: ATAPI CDROM
Type: Auto

PIO Mode: Auto

DMA Mode: Auto

Hard Disk Write Protect: Disabled

IDE Detect Time Out (sec): 15 (default is 35)

ATA(PI) 80Pin Cable Detection: Host & Device

Floppy Configuration
Floppy A: Disabled (default is 1.44 MB 31/2")

Floppy B: Disabled

SuperIO Configuration
OnBoard Floppy Controller: Disabled (default is Enabled)

Serial Port1 Address: Disabled (default is 3F8/IRQ4)

Serial Port2 Address: Disabled (default is 2F8/IRQ3)

Only if Serial Port2 Address is not Disabled -- Serial Port2 Mode: Normal

Parallel Port Address: Disabled (default is)

ACPI Configuration
ACPI Aware O/S: Yes

Advanced ACPI Configuration
ACPI 2.0 Features: Yes (default is No)

ACPI APIC support: Enabled

AMI OEMB table: Enabled

Headless mode: Disabled

WOL S4&S5 Support: Enabled

Power Button Instant Off: Disabled (default is Enabled)

After Power Failure: Always Off

Event Log Configuration

Remote Access Configuration
Remote Access: Disabled (default is SMDC)

USB Configuration
USB Function: Disabled (default is 4 USB Ports)

Only if USB Function is not Disabled -- Legacy USB Support: Enabled

Only if USB Function is not Disabled -- USB 2.0 Controller: Enabled

Only if USB 2.0 Controller is not Disabled -- USB 2.0 Controller Mode: HiSpeed

USB Mass Storage Device Configuration
USB Mass Storage Reset Delay: 20 sec

OnBoard Devices Configuration
Onboard ATI Video: Enabled

Onbaord 82551 LAN: Enabled

Remote Boot OS by 82551: Disabled

Onboard 82546 DualPort LAN: Enabled

Remote Boot OS by 82546: Disabled

Hardware Monitor
Auto-Control Fan's Speed: Disabled

Chassis Instrusion Detect: Disabled

Back Plan Fan Speed

PCIPnP
Plug & Play O/S: Yes

PCI Latency Timer: 64

Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA: Yes

Palette Snooping: Disabled

PCI IDE BusMaster: Enabled

IRQ3: Available

IRQ4: Available

IRQ5: Available

IRQ7: Available

IRQ9: Available

IRQ10: Available

IRQ11: Available

IRQ14: Available

IRQ15: Available

DMA Channel 0: Available

DMA Channel 1: Available

DMA Channel 3: Available

DMA Channel 5: Available

DMA Channel 6: Available

DMA Channel 7: Available

Reserved Memory Size: Disabled

Extended BIOS Data Area: Enabled

Boot
Boot Settings Configuration
Quick Boot: Enabled (default is Disabled)

Quiet Boot: Disabled

AddOn ROM Display Mode: Force BIOS

Bootup Num-Lock: On

PS/2 Mouse Support: Auto

Wait for 'F1' If Error: Enabled

Hit 'DEL' Message Display: Enabled

Interrupt 19 Capture: Enabled

Primary Display Device: Auto

Boot Device Priority
1st Boot Device: PM-WDC WD1600AAJB-00J3A0

2nd Boot Device: SS-ATAPI-CD ROM-DRIVE-56MAX

Hard Disk Drives

ATAPI CDROM Drives

Security
Boot Sector Virus Protection: Disabled

Chipset
Intel E7500/E7501 North Bridge Configuration
Chipset Memory Remap Feature: Enabled

CAS Latency: Auto

South Bridge Configuration
MPS Revision: 1.4

Intel PCI-64 Hub 2 Configuration
PCI Bus Frequency: Auto

Clock Gen. Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Now, before I wrote this up and was actually preparing to write this up, I attempted to install pfSense through Advanced/Expert installation. Through this, I formatted and partitioned the harddisk, and set / to be 1024M and swap to be 8192M (this I did differently from all other installs, although I have tried partitioning the harddisk as 16GB before but without changing these values for / and swap here). This time it actually fully successfully booted into pfSense without a problem.

I am going to try this again but partitioned to 100% (it worked like this in previous paragraph) with 16GB on / instead of 1GB, and 8GB on swap. I am also going to enable 32Bit Data Transfer on the harddrive. (EDIT: Added a third one as storage to be * (remaining capacity of primary partition).) Success.

Trial 2: partitioned 100%, / to be 32GB, swap to be 8GB, storage to be *, BIOS settings unchanged from first trial... Success

Trial 3: partitioned 100%, / to be 64GB, swap to be 8GB, storage to be *... Failure

FreeBSD must have a thing about large capacities.

FreeBSD (pfSense) -- Can't boot after install

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