cpdup failure in 19.1-rc1 installer

[lattera]

Attempting to install 19.1-rc1/amd64 on an APU4c4, the installer fails when it's trying to cpdup into /usr/local. Screenshots linked below:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DhCeDMHXTV4yMTcm6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/31FJd2xEDonahhrW9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2kUkd2uHbVHTe1Z9A

[franco]

Unfortunately it hides all the output. It's probably an FS-related error. Can you run the command manually?

[lattera]

Turns out it might be a hardware issue. When I exit the installer, I get a bunch of these errors in the serial console:

Code Select Expand


g_vfs_done():ada0p3[WRITE(offset=194326200320, length=32768)]error = 6
ahcich0: Timeout on slot 26 port 0
ahcich0: is 00000002 cs 00000000 ss 00000000 rs 04000000 tfd 50 serr 00000000 cmd 00407a17
(aprobe0:ahcich0:0:0:0): ATA_IDENTIFY. ACB: ec 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00
(aprobe0:ahcich0:0:0:0): CAM status: Command timeout
(aprobe0:ahcich0:0:0:0): Error 5, Retries exhausted


I've tried several mSata drives. So I'll reach out to PC Engines for support. Do you want me to update this thread with their response?

I kinda/sorta wonder if something changed in FreeBSD's geom/cam layers between 11.1 and 11.2. OPNsense 18.7 installs fine, but 19.1 shows tons of the GEOM/CAM errors above.

[cguilford]

Not sure if this helps?

http://www.pcengines.info/forums/?page=post&id=3F7CEF2E-AA70-436B-AC4E-74B8EA4A0723&fid=DF5ACB70-99C4-4C61-AFA6-4C0E0DB05B2A  but looks like it might of been a bios issue for this person.

[lattera]

Good to know. I'll see about flashing an older BIOS. Thanks for the tip!

[cguilford]

Another thread with a similar issue...
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=6366.0

[franco]

Ouchie, thanks for the heads-up.


Cheers,
Franco

[wschlich]

According to https://github.com/pcengines/apu2-documentation/blob/master/docs/pfSense-install-guide.md the issue (which affects only mainline BIOS versions, not legacy 4.0.x) is solved in mainline BIOS versions *after* 4.6.7 (latest one currently is 4.9.0.1).

The installation of OPNsense 19.1 worked well using mainline BIOS 4.9.0.1 on my APU4C4 (which just arrived this week with BIOS 4.6.1 flashed, meh).

[Sahbi]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here. I also ran into this exact error on my shiny new APU4C4 board which came with BIOS v4.6.4. According to what the user before me wrote this BIOS version is affected by the bug:

solved in mainline BIOS versions *after* 4.6.7 (latest one currently is 4.9.0.1)

So I tried to update to 4.9.0.1, BUT apparently they also changed the board name somewhere inbetween so I got this error while trying to flash:


After following the advice of running:

Code Select Expand

flashrom -w apu4_v4.9.0.1.rom -p internal:boardmismatch=force

I was still able to boot, and although the installer did seem to take its sweet time with /usr/local, it came through and I'm now accessing da interwebz through OPN. =]

[lattera]

Yup. For those, like me, who had to act in "emergency mode", I wrote an article about how to solve this: https://github.com/lattera/articles/blob/master/hardware/apu/2019-02-05_flashing_bios/article.md

I ended up using legacy v4.0.23, but I could upgrade to 4.9.0.1, I guess. :)

[newsense]

Which kinda begs the question, which path is worth staying on ?

On one hand you have Legacy + ECC, on the other there's no word of ECC yet that I could find but it's supposed to be the current one although quite unclear what major differences make it the better choice other than perhaps having the bulk of the development effort dedicated to it.

@lattera, your thoughts on it ?