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[j3ffr3y]

Hi all,

I've seen a few posts stating that people got pfSense running on the GTA GB1000-GB1200 firewalls.  I've just acquired a GB1000R from my old company.  I upped the RAM to 512MB and I put in a Toshiba 512MB CF card.  pfSense will boot up but then fails with the can't mount root error.

Now in the GB unit, the CF reader is the Secondary slave device.  Just for dumb, I took the case apart and hooked the CF into a CF-IDE adapter and plugged it into the Primary Master IDE connector.  Whala,  pfSense booted up.  So apparently, pfSense doesn't see the CF card on the Secondary Slave.  Unfortunately, there is no way in the Bios to change these settings.  The case is too tight to fit the CF-IDE adapter in there permanently.

Does anyone have any ideas that I can do?  How did those of you already running on a GB unit get it working?  Should I try another CF card?

Thanks,

Jeff

[stephenw10]

I assume you are using a NanoBSD image on the CF card, you should be.

It expects by default to mount the root partition from the primary IDE master but fails in your case.
Not a problem. I expect it said 'type ? for boot options' or something similar. Enter ? and you should have a list you can choose to boot from including, maybe only, the secondary slave.
Enter that and it will boot. Possibly:

Code:

ufs:ad3s1a

Once it has booted edit the fstab to make the change permanent.

Steve

[j3ffr3y]

Hi Steve,

I'm using the 512MB nanobsd with VGA image.

Yes, I do get that prompt.  However, when I type ?, It doesn't show any available drives.

Thanks,

Jeff

[j3ffr3y]

Does anyone have any explanation why the boot won't see ANY attached drives when the CF card is the secondary slave?  Moving it to Primary Master enables pfsense to boot successfully.

[gderf]

All you have to do use a CF to IDE adapter like the one I use. It mounts where a PCI card bracket would be mounted to the rear panel. You'll need a 40 wire standard IDE ribbon cable to connect it to the primary IDE port. This assumes you will not be using the on board PCI expansion slot.

http://www.opentip.com/Electronics-Computers/Monoprice-Ide-To-Compact-Flash-Cf-Adapter-Pci-Bracket-p-1515902.html

This is what I do on my GB-1000 running m0n0wall, but pfsense 2.1 also works.

You will want to grind down the two screws that hold the bracket to the card, the portion protruding beyond the threaded part of the bracket is a bit long and interferes with the ethernet ports.