From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 29 21:54:17 2011 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 8FE9C106564A for ; Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:54:17 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from andreas.junius@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ey0-f182.google.com (mail-ey0-f182.google.com [209.85.215.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 26C3E8FC18 for ; Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:54:16 +0000 (UTC) Received: by eaai12 with SMTP id i12so5331413eaa.13 for ; Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:54:16 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type; bh=kFFGFUwnGGJ2ihMGUBfBjL5pxL9BDr3bAHpXCrzRI70=; b=esjQUuEQYRqC0ucjrvPodJAsalLORXS+/tk8AW0qXgeQ8hOhFWn3Hq3SJcMk4DWKnm Kc2dlz93JqRDt4vmDXuQE3Y6bMGTnfwYlYUSlYM9Sjfc8x3CqMszkhbX/l/58ZTOqs7g f1EZhAtX5rvsJ+GPpT2+0dP7ijSK2L8pznyAs= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.24.80 with SMTP id w58mr164618wew.11.1322603655060; Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:54:15 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.227.159.197 with HTTP; Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:54:14 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:24:14 +1030 Message-ID: From: Andreas Junius To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: Can't install freebsd/pcbsd 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: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:54:17 -0000 On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 3:45 PM, wrote: > There were more typos and bad grammar than good information in my previous > response. What I ment to say: > > Go into the BIOS and make sure the CD is first in the boot list. Then > make sure another system can read and boot the FreeBSD CD. After that > if you can still not boot the install program on the acer, you either > have the FreeBSD CD on a CD the acer can not read or the CDROM on the > acer is bad. > > If there is still an OS on your laptop find what kind of CD it can read, > test that and burn a FreeBSD ISO image on that type of CD. Some of the > older drives will not read the the 700MB CDs or R/W Cds. Also some brands > (or maybe all) CDs do not have an indefinite shelf life. I forget which > brand but I just tossed about 50 CDs becuase I could not write on them. > > Again, I guess I was tired, sorry for the previous effort. > > _____ > Douglas Denault > http://www.safeport.com > doug@safeport.com > Voice: 301-217-9220 > Fax: 301-217-9277 > I got it finally installed after some playing with the bios settings. The Acer has a switch, called silent boot, which displays an image instead of the boot messages. I disabled this setting and it was possible to start the insallation routine. The problem could be triggered by some kind of strange timing problem. It looks if it were looking for data first on the CD-Rom and directly after the first reads on the harddisk. I had to install it twice to get these problems fixed. However the problem didn't diappear completely. I've now the same problem on every startup. FreeBSD gets loaded, it displays the boot options and it reboots immediately again and again. I found a workaround though. The F12 key should lead to a boot menu, however it does only defer the startup process to a degree (without showing anything). That's obviously enough time to get over the position where it starts to loop and the OS gets startet properly. I'd love to fix this, too. Any ideas where to search or what to do are highly appreciated! Cheers, Andy