From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 20 21:17:59 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6379E16A47D for ; Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:17:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu) Received: from dc.cis.okstate.edu (dc.cis.okstate.edu [139.78.100.219]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0ECE313C6F0 for ; Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:16:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu) Received: from dc.cis.okstate.edu (localhost.cis.okstate.edu [127.0.0.1]) by dc.cis.okstate.edu (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l8KLGjGO051565 for ; Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:16:45 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu) Message-Id: <200709202116.l8KLGjGO051565@dc.cis.okstate.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-ID: <51563.1190323005.1@dc.cis.okstate.edu> Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:16:45 -0500 From: Martin McCormick Subject: Re: 6.2 Headless Installs Don't Seem to Work. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:17:59 -0000 Watanabe Kazuhiro writes: > Try: > > console="comconsole,vidconsole" > boot > > instead of "boot -h". First, thanks for an excellent suggestion. I tried it and have not been successful so far. During the pause, I hit 6 and got control of the boot process. I typed console="comconsole,vidconsole", hit Enter and then the word boot at which time the booting process resumed. It came up in video console mode, completely ignoring the directive. The FreeBSD Handbook has a chapter on "Setting up the Serial Console" (24.6), which explains the -h and -D flags, the -D flag allowing for a Duel video and serial console. It also has a very interesting passage, quoted here: -D Toggles single and dual console configurations. In the single configuration the console will be either the internal console (video display) or the serial port, depending on the state of the -h option above. In the dual console configuration, both the video display and the serial port will become the console at the same time, regardless of the state of the -h option. However, note that the dual console configuration takes effect only during the boot block is running. Once the boot loader gets control, the console specified by the -h option becomes the only console. End of quote. That hard lockup I described in an earlier message is not what I thought it was. It isn't a lockup for the whole booting process, but a lockout of the serial console. It is as if the -h flag gets turned off after the boot block runs. Either the -h or the -D flags produce exactly the same results. You do get the serial console during the kernel boot as expected and then it reverts back to the local video console just after the message I quoted in an earlier message that says, "Trying to mount /root on /dev/md0." This makes a certain amount of sense even if it is the wrong behavior. The documentation says that only the duel mode should behave this way and then the kernel goes to whatever mode -h told it to use. That is apparently what is not happening. If I do just the console="comconsole,vidconsole" I get nothing serial at all. When I install a 6.2 kernel and put that command in /boot/loader.conf, it works on the serial port perfectly. All versions of FreeBSD up to 6 did continue to work via the serial port so that one could do the whole installation via that method so whatever broke was introduced in FreeBSD6 if that helps narrow things down any. Thanks for any further suggestions. I did go ahead and enlist the aid of a coworker on this system so the immediate problem is solved, but I have been experimenting with the CD this afternoon to see if the suggestion solved the problem. It should have so this is a bit strange. Martin McCormick WB5AGZ Stillwater, OK Systems Engineer OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group