From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Dec 19 11:57:40 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0763E16A4CE for ; Fri, 19 Dec 2003 11:57:40 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail1.panix.com (mail1.panix.com [166.84.1.72]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37EC243D48 for ; Fri, 19 Dec 2003 11:57:38 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from fj@panix.com) Received: from panix5.panix.com (panix5.panix.com [166.84.1.5]) by mail1.panix.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C37C48785 for ; Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:57:37 -0500 (EST) Received: (from fj@localhost) by panix5.panix.com (8.11.6p2-a/8.8.8/PanixN1.1) id hBJJvbQ13045 for freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org; Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:57:37 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:57:37 -0500 From: Joe Altman To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20031219195737.GA8021@panix.com> Mail-Followup-To: Joe Altman , freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Subject: Gateway M305X X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 19:57:40 -0000 I have the laptop mentioned in the subject line, and for several weeks now I have tried to install FreeBSD on it. I have tried several releases, from 4.6 up to 5.2 RC1. They have all failed. Each failure is different for each release; some releases differ (to my eye) wildly from others; some are almost identical. In only one case was I able to get to the /stand/sysinstall screens; that install failed due to what I recall as a geometry issue. It was for an earlier release, and I only got that far because I futzed with the geometry in the BIOS. The most common failures are all ones mentioned here recently, notably for 5.x candidates the double fault error posted here this month; this error(the syntax of mine may be slightly different, but it is very similar)[1]: "ad0: READ command timeout tag=0 serv=0 - resetting" I've also seen errors related to cbb. I have tried various fixes suggested to others here, but no joy. To me, the kicker is this: on a whim, I decided to try to install NetBSD 1.6.1. Does it surprise anyone that the basic NetBSD system installed without a hitch? I didn't try very hard to install X. I noted that Net uses wd0, not ad0. I noticed in my reading that Warner Losh does things NetBSD related, so I thought my experience might be useful information, especially if some code is shared between the two projects. I have all of the dmesg output, two scanpci dumps, and fdisk/mbrlabel output from NetBSD. Is there a chance that a review of one or more of these things by a more experienced eye might indicate a course of action for me? Thanks for any help, or suggestions. [1] I don't know how to capture to text such things, because in all failures the machine pretty much hangs before the kernel boot...