nano 15.7.x images not booting problem

[thegooddoctor]

Tried 15.7.11 and 15.7.18 (i386 and amd64) opnsense nano images installed on a USB stick and could not get the system to boot from the stick (manually selected the boot drive or auto [bios selects drive]) on a HP business laptop and on a gigabyte z87 based desktop.

No problem booting from OPNsense-15.7.18-OpenSSL-vga-i386.img.bz2 (but would like the nano image).
No problem booting from most recent pfsense nano images.

[luckas]

I confirm! 15.7.18 (amd64) opnsense nano images installed on a USB stick and could not get the system to boot from the stick (manually selected the boot drive or auto [bios selects drive) on a HP probook 450 g3  laptop and on a gigabyte j1800n based desktop.
Where I can take the previous verision nano.img working  files, or fix a problem!

[franco]

How do they not work exactly? Where do they get stuck and what is the error message?

[luckas]

I insert a usb stick with nano.img to a computer, power on  and I wait for loading, but occurs nothing - simply infinitely blinking cursor

[thegooddoctor]

Thank you luckas for confirming the issue.

... and yes the screen is just a blinking cursor upon boot up.

[franco]

I'm unsure why the FreeBSD procedure doesn't work here...  and without the hardware I have no way to try it out..

If there's something wrong with our nano images it's somewhere inside https://github.com/opnsense/tools/blob/master/build/nano.sh

[thegooddoctor]

Could you post a link to the nano image prior to 15.7.11?
Finding a working nano image would provide a good starting point to compare working vs nonworking code.

[franco]

The nano image for the original 15.7 had a rather annoying defect so we decided not to publish it anymore as soon as 15.7.11 came out. The nano code did not change in 15.7, I'm pretty sure. We don't have a baseline beyond OPNsense vs. FreeBSD NanoBSD vs. pfSense.

[thegooddoctor]

I examined the OPNsense-15.7.18-OpenSSL-nano-i386.img file and found that it contained 3 embedded .img files.
0.img - kernel 1
1.img - kernel 2 (redundant kernel)
2.img - looks to be a null filled .img file

Extract the first .img file (0.img) and write the 0.img file to a flash memory card does create a bootable and working opnsense card.


Still don't know why your nano images do not work, but this seems to be a work around minus the 2nd (redundant) kernel.
I don't know if 2.img is required with the nano build.

Tools used: 7-zip and Rufus
Tested on HP business laptop and on a Gigabyte Z87 based desktop.

[franco]

Thanks for looking into this, the second image is dormant and may or may not be revived later on. It is, however, a typical FreeBSD NanoBSD image.

pfSense uses a slightly different style for the bsdlabel invoke:

https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense/blob/master/tools/builder_common.sh#L685-L686

Here is the OPNsense version:

https://github.com/opnsense/tools/blob/master/build/nano.sh#L146

The -m argument should be automatically selected, but maybe it isn't. I am still not sure what causes this and do not have the time to look into this at the moment. :/

[bartjsmit]

I see the same problem on a Dell OptiPlex 745 using the 16.1 64-bit nano image and on a Dell Latitude 2100 using the 16.1 32-bit nano image.

Both were dd-ed under Linux to a SanDisk Cruzer 4GB USB stick. The Dell 745 runs 64-bit 16.1 just fine upgraded from 15.7. When I tried the 15.7 nano image on the 745, I also had the same issue: POST and then flashing cursor.

Bart...