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I seem to have bricked my SG105

Hey everyone,

So I was gifted an old SG105 that I'm using to learn Sophos and while trying to get the configuration going I attempted to upgrade the appliance to UTM 9.711-5.1 through an .iso from https://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/downloads/utm-downloads. I ripped it to a USB and booted the SG with it, everything with the install was going smoothly until I got an error that it couldn't find install.tar, which seemed odd considering it's definitely in the download package... So I unplugged the USB and rebooted the appliance but now all I'm getting is a blinking cursor. Even if I have that same USB inserted it doesn't do anything except show the cursor. Did I just completely brick the thing? Hopefully not...



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  • Hello ,

    Thank you for reaching out to the community.
    This happens because during part of the installation process. the USB drive is un-mounted and needs to be mounted again.

    It also expects to find install.tar at /install/install/install.tar and so we must mount the device to the /install path.

    You don’t need to be a wizard to re-mount the USB stick. It’s also not difficult to list all the drives and pick out your USB device address from the list. Keep reading to learn how to fix this easily:

    Step 1: Reboot the server.

    You can’t get past this error and start over without rebooting.

    Step 2: Boot from the USB.

    You’ll need to load all the way up to the installer, but don’t start the install yet.

    Step 3: Open the Shell

    press ALT + F2 before proceeding with anything else. This will open the shell, where we will run our command to re-mount.

    Step 3: Re-Mount the USB drive.

    The main command you will be running will be something like this

    mount /dev/sdb1 /install

    /dev/sdb1 was the path to my USB stick’s boot drive.

    • You can find yours by running fdisk -l to list the disks

    If you don’t have any other devices attached to your server, it will most likely also be sdb1 for you. You can confirm the mount success by running ls- alF after mounting to get a directory listing, cd over to install dir and check it out.

    Step 4: Exit the Shell Safely.

    Press ALT + F1 to quit the shell

    Step 5: Install.

    Run the installer and enjoy your new Sophos UTM!

    Notes: Quit the shell with ALT + F1 and proceed directly to installation without doing anything in-between.

    Some helpful commands are:

    • cd to change directory
    • ls -alF to view directory contents
    • fdisk -l to view disks attached to the system

    Thanks & Regards,
    _______________________________________________________________

    Vivek Jagad | Team Lead, Global Support & Services 

    Log a Support Case | Sophos Service Guide
    Best Practices – Support Case


    Sophos Community | Product Documentation | Sophos Techvids | SMS
    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • Hey Vivek, I appreciate the response. I've tried your recommendation, but as it is now, I can't load anything past the BIOS. As soon as the BIOS loads all I get is the blinking cursor, and I'm unable to continue with any of the instructions. I've uploaded a video of the process to make sure I'm explaining it correctly.

    https://imgur.com/a/Ug68teB

  • Which ISO are you downloading and installing?  If it is the hardware ISO, it won't work with your home license, and you have to do some things to make that work correctly with a hardware appliance.  You will need the software ISO though to install.  You have to also wipe the existing drive in the appliance and load from scratch.  There is apparently another method that you can use that is posted on the forums about deleting a specific file and then you can load your home license.  I don't recall what it is off hand, but you can search for that.

    As far as the blinking cursor, are there any beeps you can hear as well or is it silent?  If you are using Rufus to create the USB ISO, make sure you are using that 'DD mode' when creating the ISO.  If not, you can get this cursor.  I'd normally say to also make sure UEFI isn't on in the BIOS, but because it's a hardware appliance, it shouldn't be on in the first place because UTM/XG doesn't support that.  Stuck out tongue

    OPNSense 64-bit | Intel Xeon 4-core v3 1225 3.20Ghz
    16GB Memory | 500GB SSD HDD | ATT Fiber 1GB
    (Former Sophos UTM Veteran, Former XG Rookie)

  • /resized-image/__size/1376x708/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/51/pastedimage1653517276426v2.png

    This is the ISO I was trying to install, was that not the right one? To be honest I'm not entirely sure how to tell... As far as the cursor goes, there aren't sounds, just silent. I can try ripping the ISO again with DD mode, I definitely didn't do that the first time. Would you be able to point me to any resources on wiping the drive in the appliance so that I can load from scratch? Assuming that's what I need to do of course.

    Appreciate the help!

  • Hey ,

    Use the following tool: https://rufus.ie/en/

    And the follow the steps again and see if that helps !! 

    Thanks & Regards,
    _______________________________________________________________

    Vivek Jagad | Team Lead, Global Support & Services 

    Log a Support Case | Sophos Service Guide
    Best Practices – Support Case


    Sophos Community | Product Documentation | Sophos Techvids | SMS
    If a post solves your question please use the 'Verify Answer' button.

  • Rufus is what I was originally using to burn the .iso, but it's not giving me an option for DD mode. Is this the .iso I'm supposed to be using for my SG105?

    /resized-image/__size/1376x708/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/51/pastedimage1653517276426v2.png

  • If you have a license that isn't a home license, yes.  If you are applying a home license for personal use, no. 

    You would have to read the how-to on the forums here to know exactly what to do, because the software appliance is what ISO you would need; however, I believe it's just a matter of making sure the drive is re-imaged completely when you reinstall the UTM software.  You lose the LCD functions, but that's about all you lose.

    Regarding 'DD' - it may not prompt you for that, if it doesn't - no sweat.  I've had the prompt before, and if it asks you when you start to make the image in Rufus, select it.  Otherwise, you should be fine.

    OPNSense 64-bit | Intel Xeon 4-core v3 1225 3.20Ghz
    16GB Memory | 500GB SSD HDD | ATT Fiber 1GB
    (Former Sophos UTM Veteran, Former XG Rookie)

Reply
  • If you have a license that isn't a home license, yes.  If you are applying a home license for personal use, no. 

    You would have to read the how-to on the forums here to know exactly what to do, because the software appliance is what ISO you would need; however, I believe it's just a matter of making sure the drive is re-imaged completely when you reinstall the UTM software.  You lose the LCD functions, but that's about all you lose.

    Regarding 'DD' - it may not prompt you for that, if it doesn't - no sweat.  I've had the prompt before, and if it asks you when you start to make the image in Rufus, select it.  Otherwise, you should be fine.

    OPNSense 64-bit | Intel Xeon 4-core v3 1225 3.20Ghz
    16GB Memory | 500GB SSD HDD | ATT Fiber 1GB
    (Former Sophos UTM Veteran, Former XG Rookie)

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