I forgot the USB drive at home so debugging will have to wait. Last night I:

1. Tried resetting the config. Used auto-detect to configure WAN
2. As soon as LAN settings are saved, the system crashes
3. Reinstalled pfSense, reconfigured as above but only WAN.
4. Restarted, then the install wouldn't load. I got numerous errors including drive detatched and periph destroyed. Subsequent restarts just hang with the same errors.
   1. This might be
5. So I tried loading the drive on my OSX machine and it was unrecognizable - still need to test this (below)

I also:

1. Tried upgrading RAM - no success. First 2x2GB, then 2x512MB. Neither worked.
2. So I tried clearing/resetting CMOS to ensure the hardware was being recognized. No fix.

In addition to the previous TODOs (some of which I have completed), here are some more:

1. Test continuity in Dupont header to USB Female connector
2. Prep hard drives for 2.5" drive install (I think I'm done with using USB to boot.)
   1. Move files to 3.5" drive and partition 2.5" to isolate logs/data from OS
   2. Look into the CSM settings as described here.
3.  Collect TODOs into a (singular post to follow)