SG-1000 FAQ

The following list contains common questions about the SG-1000 asked by customers. The answers cover a wide range of topics.

How do I restore the firewall OS? (firmware)

Refer to Reinstalling pfSense Plus Software for instructions.

How do I reset to factory defaults?

There are several methods that can be utilized to reset the configuration back to factory defaults:

  1. From the SG-1000 web interface, visit Diagnostics > Factory Defaults

  2. From SSH, use menu option 4

  3. From the serial console menu, use menu option 4

    See also

    For information about connecting to the serial console, see Connecting to the USB Console

If none of those methods work, reinstall the OS image as described in How do I restore the firewall OS? (firmware).

Note

Resetting the unit to factory defaults only affects the configuration of the firewall and not the contents of the filesystem, which are only reset by reinstalling the OS.

Is the CPU temperature too high?

Initial builds of the SG-1000 displayed temperature output from an inaccurate sensor, which could be off by as much as 10.8 C (50 F), high or low. This sensor was not intended to be used by end-users, only for factory and test measurements. Netgate engineers had hoped it would be accurate enough to be useful, but it was not. Due to the unreliable nature of the sensor, the temperature output is not displayed in current builds.

The SG-1000 is passively cooled (no fans) and it will be warm to the touch. The firewall must be placed so it has adequate room for air to flow around the case.

What should my speed test results be?

Netgate is continually improving the drivers and making other optimizations to increase the speed of the SG-1000. With a basic firewall setup it can pass around 130Mbit/s. In other conditions, the speed may be higher or lower depending on the firewall configuration, enabled features, environment and testing methods.

Is booting from USB OTG supported?

Yes, provided that the eMMC contains a pfSense® Plus operating system image from December 29th, 2016 or later. After that date, the OS contains an updated U-Boot environment which is capable of booting from the USB OTG port.

If the eMMC is completely blank/empty, the SG-1000 cannot boot from the USB OTG port and must be booted from the SD card socket.

What packages are available?

Nearly all packages available for pfSense® Plus software are available for the SG-1000! There are a few packages that are unable to run on the SG-1000, however. These packages either have requirements that exceed the specification of the SG-1000 or they do not currently compile for the architecture used by the SG-1000 (armv7).

As of January 5th, 2016 the list of available packages on an SG-1000 is:

  • apcupsd

  • arping

  • AutoConfigBackup

  • Avahi

  • aws-wizard

  • Backup

  • bind

  • cellular

  • Cron

  • darkstat

  • FTP_Client_Proxy

  • haproxy

  • iftop

  • iperf

  • ipsec-profile-wizard

  • LADVD

  • Lightsquid

  • mailreport

  • mtr-nox11

  • nmap

  • Notes

  • nrpe

  • nut

  • OpenBGPD

  • openvpn-client-export

  • pfBlockerNG

  • Quagga_OSPF

  • routed

  • RRD_Summary

  • Service_Watchdog

  • Shellcmd

  • siproxd

  • softflowd

  • squid

  • squidGuard

  • Status_Traffic_Totals

  • sudo

  • syslog-ng

  • System_Patches

  • tftpd

  • tinc

  • zabbix-agent

  • zabbix-proxy

This list is subject to change.

Note

Some of these packages may install but not fully function due to resource constraints.

Why isn’t “my favorite package” available?

Some packages will not compile for the SG-1000 architecture, they exceed the hardware requirements and platform purpose, or they are intended for hardware or uses not possible on the SG-1000.

As of January 5th, 2016 the list of packages that have been excluded from the SG-1000 is:

  • blinkled

  • freeradius2

  • gwled

  • LCDproc

  • ntopng

  • Open-VM-Tools

  • snort

  • suricata

Why do I see failure messages in the BIOS output while booting?

The U-Boot environment used by the SG-1000 prints error messages that can look concerning but are quite normal, depending on the components installed in or connected to the SG-1000.

Note that both eMMC and Micro-SD cards are all considered “MMC” as they are Multi-Media Cards. eMMC is embedded on the system board, and Micro-SD cards are a removable type of MMC.

The boot environment might state “bad device” but that only indicates that the device is not bootable, it is not a comment about the status of the hardware component.

The following messages are normal without an Micro-SD card present

Card did not respond to voltage select!
*** Warning - MMC init failed, using default environment
** Bad device mmc 0 **

In this case, there is no Micro-SD card present so it could not be initialized or used as a boot device.

The following messages are normal when booting from an SD card without a boot environment on the eMMC

Card doesn't support part_switch
MMC partition switch failed
*** Warning - MMC partition switch failed, using default environment
** Unable to read "u-boot.env" from mmc0:1 **

The following messages are normal when the boot environment supports booting from the USB OTG port, but there is no bootable media connected to the OTG port

** Bad device usb 0 **

The boot environment on eMMC is corrupted and it will not boot from Micro-SD

If the boot environment is present on the eMMC but it is broken in some way, the SG-1000 may not be able to boot from a Micro-SD card. In this case, with a bootable Micro-SD card installed, short the “SD BOOT” header using a jumper (not provided). The “SD BOOT” jumper header is located next to the power connector. After reinstalling the operating system, remove the Micro-SD card and the jumper.