[SOLVED] Cannot install opnsense 18.1

[ppreininger]

Hi,
I'm using a fitlet 2 with an m.2 ssd card (64GB). I have an installation running with the following versions:

OPNsense 17.7.12_1-amd64
FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p17
OpenSSL 1.0.2n 7 Dec 2017

I tried to install the new version. First I tried with the console UI option. Starting was not possible anymore. I had to downgrade again - which fortunately worked without any problems. Now I tried to do a clean install, but the problem is, that the installer does not detect my ssd. Still, the installed version is booting and working.

[franco]

Hi there,

Could it be this? https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=7142.0

Something changed in hardware support going from FreeBSD 11.0 to 11.1.


Cheers,
Franco

[ppreininger]

Hi,
it may be similar, but in fact I can boot into the installer from ISB stick. As soon as I get to select the installation media, I cannot see my SSD, only the USB stick is shown. I haven't noticed any timeout error during booting into the system.

[dcol]

May be a catch 22, but did you try legacy mode. Not sure the M.2 SSD will work in legacy mode. But I know some BIOS'es won't boot in UEFI mode with any type disk. It's a FreeBSD bug they never fixed. I submitted bug reports over two years ago and they still ignore it because it doesn't affect the majority..

[ppreininger]

17.7 is working though, installation without any problems. Only reboot hangs

[dcol]

OPNsense 18.1 uses FreeBSD 11.1, 17.7.12 uses FreeBSD 11.0

Did you try legacy mode? Where does it hang, at the logo? Then it would be a FreeBSD issue. Don't use UEFI.
FreeBSD does not support UEFI booting in some systems.
You may have been just lucky to get it to boot with 11.0.

[jelly-ck]

Hi,
I'm using a fitlet 2 with an m.2 ssd card (64GB). I have an installation running with the following versions:

OPNsense 17.7.12_1-amd64
FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p17
OpenSSL 1.0.2n 7 Dec 2017

I tried to install the new version. First I tried with the console UI option. Starting was not possible anymore. I had to downgrade again - which fortunately worked without any problems. Now I tried to do a clean install, but the problem is, that the installer does not detect my ssd. Still, the installed version is booting and working.

I was able to boot OPNsense v18.1 on my filet2 by doing the following:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boot filet2 into its BIOS with USB installer plugged in.
1) Go to the boot options and make sure the USB installer is set to boot first.
2) Go to chipset > then i believe the last option, I think it is "South-something". There, go to SCC options, and disable the SD Card.
3) Save edits and exit. Computer will reboot.

For first booting into OPNsense, hold down the <ESC> key when you see the OPNsense menu come up. This will automatically bring up the loader prompt or you can just choose "Option #3" from the menu.

Step #1) when you see the "OK" prompt type the following:

set hint.hpet.0.clock=0 <press Enter afterwards>
set hint.sdhci_pci.0.disabled=1 <press Enter afterwards>
set hint.sdhci_pci.1.disabled=1 <press Enter afterwards>
set hint.ahci.0.msi=2 <press Enter afterwards>
boot <press Enter afterwards>

it should boot up fine now

Step #2) Once you have installed OPNsense, reboot without the USB installer, repeat STEP #1. Once you're at the main OPNsense menu, open a shell and add add the settings to /boot/loader.conf.local:

hint.hpet.0.clock=0
hint.ahci.0.msi=2
hint.sdhci_pci.0.disabled=1
hint.sdhci_pci.1.disabled=1

This will allow you to boot the filet2 in the future without having to go through step #1 everytime. Good luck.
Edit: Typos

[ppreininger]

Thank you, this worked perfectly

[0rland0]

Dear Fellow Forum Member,

my problem seems to be slightly different than yours, I downloaded an iso-image from
https://opnsense.org/download/

with that I created a DVD with the help from Brassero. That booted smoothly in my AMD based
computer. It is when I come to the login prompt the error starts.

If I login as root with the top secret password pfsense I find myself faced with a very helpful menu
for various tasks wich might had been helpful if any of those were of my concern. By perusing this:

https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/install.html

I figured I should have logged on as installer with the password opnsense. As there was no such user
on my DVD this seems like bad advice to me.

According to the previous posts on this thread, my problem is not that common soo my personal reflection
is that I probably should try some other image than this particular iso file or my problem is probably a stupid
newbie error. I would be very glad if someone could enlighten me upon where to find a proper image or how
enable the installer on the DVD I already downloaded and transfered to my DVD media.

Kind regards,
0rland0

[gbitglenn]

If the other instructions in this thread don't work, you also need "set hint.ahcich.0.sata_rev=2"

I'm using an Intel NUC6CAYH and it would only boot by setting the following at the bootloader prompt:

set hint.ahcich.0.sata_rev=2
set machdep.disable_msix_migration=1
set hint.hpet.0.clock=0
set hint.ahci.0.msi=2
set hint.ahci.1.msi=2

[shade73]

Thanks for the tip about Fitlet 2, I had to combine the 2 inputs from jelly-ck and gbitglenn

So I ended up with:

hint.hpet.0.clock=0
hint.ahci.0.msi=2
hint.ahcich.0.sata_rev=2
hint.sdhci_pci.0.disabled=1
hint.sdhci_pci.1.disabled=1

OPNsense is now up and running on Flitlet 2  :)

[franco]

Nice to hear!

You can set these values under system: settings: tunables now (use 18.1.6 image if you do a clean install) so no need to adjust loader.conf.local anymore.


Cheers,
Franco

[typoman]

I also just got it working on my Fitlet2 as well.  I'll recap what I had to do in case it helps anyone else.

• Update BIOS to FLT2.0.40.01.00 using the crappy instructions on the Fitlet2 wiki.  The missing step in their instructions is that once you get to the SHELL prompt you have to mount the file system by typing

Code Select Expand

FS1:  Then you can run the command that actually updates the BIOS:

Code Select Expand

flash flt2.bin

• Change BIOS settings to facilitate FreeBSD.  These Fitlet2 wiki instructions are also clumsy.  The OS setting is on the main page of the BIOS and the UFS setting under SCC is not present, but that seems to not matter.


• I used the VGA memstick installer for OPNsense 18.1.  I used rufus to write the stick.  I am not sure if any settings here matter, but I remember selecting MBR instead of GPT before I selected the image file.  Might be irrelevant.


• I followed the advice summed up in jelly-ck's post above, setting the 4 required hints to boot on this hardware.  I had to do all 4 and no others.  I was already familiar with these steps from working with pfsense. I am not proud to say how many times I've typed them.


• I ran the installer then rebooted, once again doing the 4 hints so it would boot all the way.  At the console, I set an IP and went to the web interface from another PC.  I made the hints permanent in the Tunables area that Franco points out above.  This worked great, and I like not having to directly edit the loader.conf.local file.  I applied the tunables and rebooted.  Worked like a charm.


• I pulled the hdmi and keyboard cables out and did a headless reboot from the web GUI.  Works great.  Cold boot to interface reply is 30 seconds.  Very happy.

Good luck!

[interfaSys]

Fitlet2 with extra LAN on 0.46 bios.

Since I wanted to use ZFS, I had to start with FreeBSD 11.1 and use a script to install of 18.7.4.
The only parameter I needed to add after the installation was: set hint.ahci.0.msi=2

I had disabled mwait and SDHC in the BIOS.

Had to install twice because of the broken installation wizard which destroy passwords. When using ZFS, password recovery from the live image does not work.