Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:43:07 -0500 From: "Greg Larkin" <glarkin@sourcehosting.net> To: "'ghozzy'" <ghozzy@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Instruction fault panic while installing 6.2 on VMware Server Message-ID: <00cc01c759c5$3546cbd0$0901a8c0@TWEETY> In-Reply-To: <a066eefc0702240344w9be5e7ahb9da4dc1aaf6ce88@mail.gmail.com>
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>=20 > Hi, >=20 > On 2/23/07, Greg Larkin <glarkin@sourcehosting.net> wrote: > > Hi everyone, > > > > I'm creating a standard FreeBSD 6.2 ISO image that I can use to > > perform unattended installations into VMware Server virtual=20 > machines. > > I'm using VMServer 1.0.1, and I've hit a roadblock when sysinstall > > attempts to create the root filesystem. > > > > The first thing to mention is that VMServer is running on a=20 > CentOS 4.4 > > host OS, and the CPU architecture is a Via C3 Nehemiah. =20 > Technically, > > the VMServer software is not supposed to work on the Via C3=20 > line, but > > the Nehemiah apparently supports the CMOV instruction that VMServer > > requires. I've been able to install Fedora Core 6 successfully and > > run it with no problems, so I'm wondering if I just need to find the > > right options to configure FreeBSD 6.2 to get it to work. > > > > Anyway, the VM boots fine, loads the FreeBSD ISO, and launches > > sysinstall, but as soon as newfs is invoked to make the root > > filesystem, I get this: > > > > Making a new root filesystem on /dev/ad0s1a > > Panic: privileged instruction fault > > (auto reboot) > > > > I've tried installing from the standard 6.2 release ISO as well as a > > custom ISO with a recompiled kernel, but I get the same error either > > way. I also tried disabling ACPI during boot with no success. > > > > My custom kernel config is included below. My first=20 > thought was that > > if I explicitly set the CPU to I486, that might help avoid the > > instruction fault, but that doesn't work. I didn't see any other > > options that looked like they would fix the fault, but I'm not very > > experienced at kernel configuration either. > > > > Does anyone have an idea how to troubleshoot this problem? Thank you > > for any help! > > > > Regards, > > Greg Larkin >=20 > I have experienced similar problem in VMware Workstation=20 > under Windows XP > on Via C3 Nehemiah processor since FreeBSD 5.x. In my case privileged > instruction fault shot somewhere in rc boot process. Tracing=20 > down the cause of > fault i found out that it was xstore instruction, which=20 > VMware did not emulate. > It turned out to be the merit of new random generator=20 > appeared somewhere in > 5.x, which detected the Via processor and tried to use its=20 > hardware random > number generator. My workaround was to patch kernel to=20 > disable using this Via > processor feature completely. The result was successful=20 > booting and running > FreeBSD 5.x and 6.x under VMware on this machine. >=20 > Attached is the patch i use for 6.x kernel. >=20 > Hope this helps. >=20 > -- > ghozzy >=20 Hi Ghozzy, Thanks very much for that - I appreciate it! I'm in the midst of building a new ISO, and I'll test it out and let you know what happens. I should have grepped /usr/src for "Nehemiah"! Do you (or others) think there is any call for either VMware Server detection in the kernel or a kernel config option specifying that the kernel is going to run in a VM? =20 I wonder if patches like this and others would be useful to add to the official kernel sources, since VMware supports FreeBSD as a guest OS? Perhaps there are other kernel optimizations and configuration options that would make sense if the kernel knew it was running in a VM? Regards, Greg Larkin
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