Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 02:10:40 -0400 (EDT) From: "House of Debuggin'" <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> To: scott@statsci.com Cc: bugs@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: 80387 hangs system at divide by zero Message-ID: <199504130610.CAA04290@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> In-Reply-To: <m0rzGIA-000r3vC@main.statsci.com> from "Scott Blachowicz" at Apr 12, 95 09:12:36 pm
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They say this Scott Blachowicz person was kidding when he wrote: > > "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@freefall.cdrom.com> wrote: > > > "Why does Linux work with my computer when FreeBSD just dies?" > > Does that mean I should mention that my brand new Pentium-90 system boots > from a Linux boot disc just fine, but just sits and spins trying to boot a > rawriten boot.flp from either the 0210 or 0322 SNAPs? :-( Argh... No, it actually means you should tell us exactly what sort of Pentium-90 system you have and then provide more details. :) > The only suggestion I've gotten on trying to figure out the problem is to > start disabling things in my BIOS setup to try to dumb things down. Well, you have to be a bit more specific than just 'sits and spins.' At what point does it start to 'sit and spin?' Does it at least present you with a 'Boot:' prompt? If not, can you tell if there's any floppy activity at all? I'm inclined to think that the BIOS settings won't affect much until the kernel is loaded, but I could be wrong. If the kernel does manage to load, how far does it get? > I > haven't gotten that far (mostly because I don't know that much about the > various BIOS setup configuration items). I've tried various combinations of > rawrite, rawrite3.zip (v1.3) and 'dd' from Linux to produce the disc. Have you also tried FTPing new disk images? In binary mode? (Yes, I know: stupid questions, but we have to cover all the bases.) > I > think I'm nearly convinced I've the boot disc right (hmmm...maybe I should > try booting a different computer with one). That would help, yes. If you have another machine handy, please try it. > So, it seems like it's gotta be > something in my BIOS setup or particular flavor of some piece of hardware (or > as was suggested - not having summoned the right daemons to haunt my system). > > Still out of it in Seattle... > > Scott Blachowicz Ph: 206/283-8802x240 StatSci, a div of MathSoft, Inc. One thing that could be causing a problem (*shudder*) is the keyboard probe code in the boot block. The new boot blocks in 2.1 check to see if there's a keyboard available, and if not they use serial port COM1 as the console device. One way to see if this is a problem is to keep a sharp eye on your keyboard LEDs. The keyboard probe actually tries to reset the keyboard, and when it does this it generally causes the keyboard LEDs to flash. If the LEDs flash, but nothing else happens, then it's possible that the keyboard probe is hanging the machine (how, I don't know, since it's virtually the same probe used in syscons, which seems to work fine). If the LEDs flash, then things pause momentatily, and then you see/hear more floppy activity, then it's possible that the probe incorrectly decided that you had no keyboard attached and defaulted over into serial console mode. The kernel will still be loaded if this happens, which is why you might see more activity after a brief pause. If absolutely *nothing* happens (no keyboard LED flashes, no floppy activity, no nuthin', except for the floppy drive motor spinning) then the bootblock isn't even being loaded correctly. In this case, I would begin to suspect the boot disk. If you do in fact manage to get past the 'Boot:' prompt, then this is largely irrelevant (and I can sleep better since this whole 'automatic serial console' thing was my idea), but you still need to provide more details. -Bill -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Bill Paul (212) 854-6020 | System Manager Work: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research Home: wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Møøse Illuminati: ignore it and be confused, or join it and be confusing! ~~~~~~~~ FreeBSD 2.1.0-Development #0: Tue Mar 14 11:11:25 EST 1995 ~~~~~~~~~
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