New DEC750 Unable to Boot

[4dsf34w5]

I purchased a DEC750 from the OPNsense official store. I booted the device, went to shell, and tried to import a config from my existing virtualized installation. It had an incorrect name (not conf.xml) so I unplugged it, renamed the file, booted, went into shell, and ran opnsense-importer.

After running the import it noted something to the effect of import successful, please reboot. After rebooting, the device no longer boots successfully. I can't boot into multi or single user modes at all, nor does autoboot work. I get this far each time:
```
   Autoboot in 0 seconds. [Space] to pause     23.4 ``Quintessential Quail'' -

Loading kernel...
/boot/kernel/kernel text=0x18a7e0 text=0xea7240 text=0x6921dc data=0x140 data=0x1ccc08+0x4323f8 syms=[0x8+0x19f5d8+0x8+0x1be5a2]

Loading configured modules...
/boot/kernel/if_bridge.ko size 0xe4c0 at 0x235e000
loading required module 'bridgestp'
/boot/kernel/bridgestp.ko size 0x7870 at 0x236d000
/boot/kernel/if_lagg.ko size 0x18338 at 0x2375000
loading required module 'if_infiniband'
/boot/kernel/if_infiniband.ko size 0x3538 at 0x238e000
/boot/kernel/pfsync.ko size 0xe450 at 0x2392000
loading required module 'pf'
/boot/kernel/pf.ko size 0x752b0 at 0x23a1000
/boot/kernel/opensolaris.ko size 0xab48 at 0x2417000
/boot/entropy size=0x1000
/boot/kernel/carp.ko size 0xf460 at 0x2423000
/boot/kernel/zfs.ko size 0x5b9380 at 0x2433000
/boot/kernel/if_enc.ko size 0x4b58 at 0x29ed000
/boot/kernel/pflog.ko size 0x3b18 at 0x29f2000
/

```

The serial console then seems to freeze up and I can no longer interface with the device.

Any guidance for how to resolve this issue? It was fresh from the store, I did not install any new OPNsense on it, but did try to restore a 23.7 to a 23.4 device.

Thank you.

[franco]

Check BIOS settings as described here: https://docs.opnsense.org/hardware/serial_connectivity.html#legacy-uart-vs-uefi-serial


Cheers,
Franco

[4dsf34w5]

Thank you for the response. I have confirmed the UART 0 Legacy Options is disabled per the link (it was set to disabled already).

[franco]

Ok, the console settings might be wrong in the system then. Where did the config.xml come from?

Does it boot at all, can you access LAN IP maybe anyway?


Cheers,
Franco

[4dsf34w5]

The config.xml was exported from a virtualized OPNsense that has been running for years- I can look up the settings in the file I’m sure.

It doesn’t boot at all, so I can’t access the LAN unfortunately. Is there a factory reset mechanism? I can’t find any docs on the button next to the power LED, but don’t want to cause further damage.

[franco]

I'm afraid the previous console config settings will not work on the device. It's likely booting but not in a configuration you expect. Probably best to boot from a serial image install to see if it prints boot info there and let's you login. From there you can import and modify the settings for the administration settings and do an in-place reinstall.


Cheers,
Franco

[4dsf34w5]

Thank you Franco, that seems to be it. I very much so appreciate the help.The export from the virtualized instance was in `video` mode, while I probably needed `serial` or something to that effect. A reinstall allowed me to get rolling regardless and I'll be more careful with the config import.


I wonder if it would be worthwhile to print some warnings to validate console mode on the importer?
https://github.com/opnsense/core/blob/master/src/sbin/opnsense-importer#L235

[franco]

Ok, glad you could solve it.

In the importer it's more fragile... it's tailored for recovery and quick bootstrap of a working config but from the GUI import side the backup was actually extended to prevent that:

community/23.7/23.7:o system: improve configuration import when interfaces or console settings do not match

"Exclude console settings from import." is on by default for a configuration import from there.


Cheers,
Franco