DEC750 issues on startup from Serial Console

[Taralas]

I am having issues getting into the Setup menu on my existing DEC750. When using PuTTY, and connected to the serial interface, I am getting the following prompt:

Code Select Expand

BIOS Version : 05.32.50.0012-A10.20
BIOS Build Date : 11/15/2021
Processor Type : AMD Ryzen Embedded V1500B
System Memory Speed : 2400 MHz
Press Esc to go to Setup

However, the system does not respond to the Esc key, nor does it respond to any keyboard input. I have tried this from an existing serial console, and 2 other machines with no change.

The additional output is as follows:

Code Select Expand

uart0: <8250 or 16450 or compatible> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 3 flags 0x10 on acpi0
hwpstate0: <Cool`n'Quiet 2.0> on cpu0
Timecounter "TSC-low" frequency 1097937965 Hz quality 1000
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
nvd0: <TS256GMTE652T2> NVMe namespace
nvd0: 244198MB (500118192 512 byte sectors)
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/gpt/rootfs [rw]...
ugen0.1: <AMD XHCI root HUB> at usbus0
ugen1.1: <AMD XHCI root HUB> at usbus1
uhub0 on usbus0
WARNING: /mnt was not properly dismounted
uhub1WARNING: /mnt: mount pending error: blocks 16 files 1
on usbus1
uhub1: <AMD XHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus1
uhub0: <AMD XHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 3.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus0
uhub1: 3 ports with 3 removable, self powered
panic: ufs_dirbad: /: bad dir ino 18429440 at offset 512: mangled entry
cpuid = 4
time = 1514767363
KDB: stack backtrace:
db_trace_self_wrapper() at db_trace_self_wrapper+0x2b/frame 0xfffffe008fa13890
vpanic() at vpanic+0x17f/frame 0xfffffe008fa138e0
panic() at panic+0x43/frame 0xfffffe008fa13940
ufs_lookup_ino() at ufs_lookup_ino+0xc75/frame 0xfffffe008fa13a20
vfs_cache_lookup() at vfs_cache_lookup+0xad/frame 0xfffffe008fa13a70
lookup() at lookup+0x45c/frame 0xfffffe008fa13b10
namei() at namei+0x259/frame 0xfffffe008fa13bc0
kern_statat() at kern_statat+0xf3/frame 0xfffffe008fa13d00
sys_fstatat() at sys_fstatat+0x2f/frame 0xfffffe008fa13e00
amd64_syscall() at amd64_syscall+0x10c/frame 0xfffffe008fa13f30
fast_syscall_common() at fast_syscall_common+0xf8/frame 0xfffffe008fa13f30
--- syscall (552, FreeBSD ELF64, sys_fstatat), rip = 0x8011f019a, rsp = 0x7fffffffd328, rbp = 0x7fffffffd440 ---
KDB: enter: panic
[ thread pid 67 tid 100147 ]
Stopped at      kdb_enter+0x37: movq    $0,0x11f821e(%rip)
db>

From this, I would assume the media was corrupted in some way, hence my desire to boot from a USB device and reimage the device. However, if I cannot get into the Boot menu, I cannot choose the boot device. Any assistance anyone can provide would be welcome.

[cookiemonster]

Maybe a hint here https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=26906.0
There is a serial port on them, are you connected to it?

[Taralas]

Yep. I am connected to the serial interface on the DEC750, and using PuTTY to communicate via the virtual COM port created when connecting to the USB interface.

[meyergru]

I think that the problem may be that you cannot do any input at all. I have the same hardware, but I can connect to the box using 'cu -l /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200' under Linux and can actually interrupt boot and even configure the BIOS of the DEC750.

I have no experience in using PuTTY for serial connections, but w/r to serial communications parameters like XON/XOFF a.s.o., it looks a little simplistic. Did you try something else like YAT, Tera Term or Kermit?

[Taralas]

I did try a connection from a RasPi using https://github.com/Pack3tL0ss/ConsolePi which has worked on this device in the past, but doesn't seem to work now.

And I tried the same command but using the USB serial interface on the RasPi, but the same result. I think the UEFI is corrupted in some way, but cannot confirm.

[cookiemonster]

If you can, stick with linux and a normal terminal. I imagine the issue is the speed at which the key(s) sequence to interrupt the boot sequence needs to be entered. Just like when doing this over emulated hardware like VMs, iLOS, BMC, etc. it can take a few tries due to the latency in the connection.

[Taralas]

Understood. I did directly connect via a machine on Ubuntu yesterday, but no change in results. Thankfully I had some spare equipment to put into service for the weekend, and I have a support request in to Deciso, but wanted to see if I could get this resolved on my own.

The worst part is this setup was able to get into the UEFI boot menu over the last year without an issue. Now the device doesn't respond at all via anything I connect to it.

[cookiemonster]

I seem to recall there was a problem in the last year with a release with a problem with the serial port.
Hopefully the support call will solve soon.
Could you try using another image on USB with a different OPN version in the meantime?

[Taralas]

Would love to! However, I cannot select any boot devices on the appliance at all. I even thought about swapping the NVMe module (on the DEC750) but no joy.

[Taralas]

The resolution was some PuTTY settings, specifically setting the Terminal | Keyboard seetings for Backspace to CTRL-H, and the Function Keys to VT100+. Screenshot attached.

[cookiemonster]

thanks for sharing.