From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Mar 27 20:53:17 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from dorm-36314.rh.uh.edu (Dorm-36314.RH.UH.EDU [129.7.141.218]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 50F4414C20 for ; Sat, 27 Mar 1999 20:53:15 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wotan@dorm-36314.rh.uh.edu) Received: from localhost (wotan@localhost) by dorm-36314.rh.uh.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id WAA00530; Sat, 27 Mar 1999 22:52:32 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from wotan@dorm-36314.rh.uh.edu) Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 22:52:32 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Fosburgh Reply-To: jef53313@bayou.uh.edu To: "Brian D. Woodruff" Cc: Greg Lehey , freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 3.1 UNstable In-Reply-To: <3.0.6.32.19990327211654.008b91f0@freeq.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG [snip] > booted off of CD-R with Walnut Creek 3.0 CD # 1 in it on some tries, off of > a 2.2.6 and 2.2.8 floppy disk on other tries Attempts to install 3.1 and above off of a lower version's install media is probably a bad idea. I see what the problem is and will point it out below. [snip] > the error message occurs upon boot after "successful" installation of the > OS. the system gets as far as where it says > > boot: > > and pauses before loading the kernel. when it tries to load the kernel, the > error message is > > "invalid format!" > > and then the same "boot:" message is displayed again, and the same thing > repeats every few seconds. when we typs "?" for a directory, we find the > kernel, kernel.GENERIC and all the other normal stuff, but it won't bloody > well load! You are getting the error message because the FreeBSD bootstrap that produces the boot: message like that only works on a.out kernels. The ELF loader looks markedly different, providing you with an option to hit space to get to a prompt, hit enter to boot immediately, or leave it alone and it will boot after 10 seconds. I guess the problem is that the installation medium (floppy or cdrom) installs whatever copy of the loader it has on it and not from the ftp site. At any rate, 3.0 worked because it still has a a.out kernel. Your options as I see them are to upgrade vi CVS and then a make upgrade, or else to reinstall using the 3.1 CDs or using the 3.1 install disk. [rest snipped] Jonathan Fosburgh Geotechnician Snyder Oil Corporation Houston, TX Home Page: http://www.geocities.com/vienna/1498 Manager, FreeBSD Webring: http://www.geocities.com/vienna/1498/computer/freebsdring.html ICQ: 32742908 AIM: Namthorien To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message