[SOLVED] Install on serial-only device

[emilio.b]

Hello i'm really need some advice on install opnsense onto a serial-only device (no VGA).
I already read the manuals and tried out some of the available .img file to no avail.

The device is a miniITX board with only a usb/serial adapter.

TIA

[chemlud]

Hy!

You could copy the nano image to a USB stick and run from there or you can install to a SATA device with a full image copied to a USB stick. Choose your weapon! :-D

In both cases you can use the serial console to control the machine...

[emilio.b]

Hi and thanks for your answer.
Unfortunately this method seems to fail with both nano and serial images (already tried to download from different mirrors to be sure).

The USB sticks begin to boot but at kernel boot it stops to show anything on serial console:
https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=3189.0

What is the method to transfer the .img files to usb stick? Simple copy, dd with tools like rufus, or other?

TIA

emilio

[chemlud]

Hi!

Details see here:

https://opnsense.org/users/get-started/

;-)

I use Win32diskimager for Windows, works great.

With which baud rate do you start your serial console? Should be 115200 to follow the opnsense boot process...

I have never seen this "boot screen" as given in the screen shot of your cross post. Should look completely different, in my opinion...

In my Atom (openvox) board you have to set in BIOS (advanced options) "Reedirection after BIOS post" from "always" to "Boot loader". Maybe you should have a look at the BIOS options if you can find a related option...

[emilio.b]

Hi,
unfortunately it seems that access to bios settings of my board is protected in some way. So no access to bios redirection settings or the like.

I've tried out also win32diskimager to no avail - same behaviour (se my previous screenshot).

The board is used actually with a pfsense and with pfsense the boot process is ok from there so i can get both the 1st boot screen and all the kernel boot from serial. So i think the bios console redirection should be ok here.

With opnsense img files during boot, i can see the boot menù, then the loading proceeds until i get the word 'Booting' in vertical sticking there. So i can see the 1st part of the booting process from serial, only the second one stops show throught it.

Noticed also that the regular 'asterisk' which should be the loading icon, on my console appears as a vertical stream instead of a sequence of symbols in the same place. Maybe some wrong putty settings?

Any idea?

TIA

emilio

[chemlud]

You can't enter the BIOS? Even if it's unrelated to this issue I would not use such a board... Reflash the BIOS and/or update to latest BIOS and then retry ;-)

PS: Can you provide some details (maker, series) of this strange mobo?

[chemlud]

PPS: The same putty settings work fine for current pfSense and opnsense here. Same with minicom on Linux. So this should not be a problem...

[emilio.b]

Hello Chemlud
the device/board is this:

https://store.pfsense.org/SG-2440/ (internally it's an ADI board from adiengineering.com)

already read tha manual to search a method to access the bios to na avail :-(

Thanks for any further ideas

emilio

[chemlud]

...hmmm, maybe some "custom" BIOS avoiding proper boot of other OS? Would contact pfsense netgate service or board manufacturer (nothing at its homepage, apparently) for a clean/open copy of the BIOS, if you are determined to change the software.

For me personally, it is totally unthinkable to use a security appliance when I cannot see/change the BIOS on my own in year 2016...

[chemlud]

Hi!

Any news, good or bad? Interestingly, I (!) was contacted by pfsense in the meantime, unfortunately I don't know why...

Interesting times, these days.

[chemlud]

Hi emilio, best wishes from pfsense/netgate, they are willing to help you through the issue, but not on this forum.

I offered to post the replies, but apparently they don't want to post here anything other than this offer to help...

Hope this helps, although in 20 years of internet use I have never encountered something as strange as this....

[emilio.b]

Hello Chemlud and thanks for your support.
I've sent netgate a message days ago in order to get some support to sort the issue to no avail - apparently they didn't reply to my email...

Any further advice on this?

Any way to reach them (netgate) directly (some real person)?

TIA

emilio

[chemlud]

Hi emilio!

I decided to leave the pfsense forum alone (at least for a while), I don't feel really comfortable there anymore, although I had funny times and met  helpful people there. Maybe the only way would be to register there and start a thread, they are pretty aware of this thread here

https://twitter.com/gonzopancho/status/743374459516518400

Hope that helps and have fun with opnsense! :-)

[franco]

Er, wow, ok.

[franco]

Hi Emilio,

The question that you should be asking is whether this boots on a stock FreeBSD 10.2, and if not if it boots on a stock FreeBSD 10.3.

If it boots with 10.2, then we broke something.

If it boots with 10.3, then 16.7 will help.

If both do not boot ask support what operating systems and versions are supported and how to achieve a successful boot.

Or you can try your luck with opnsense-bootstrap:

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=3116


Cheers,
Franco