Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:17:08 -0700 From: "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net> To: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Volker <volker@vwsoft.com>, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Kelly Black <kjblack@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Problem with /boot/loader Message-ID: <20080627041708.9609B45047@ptavv.es.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:55:40 PDT." <20080627035540.GA21710@eos.sc1.parodius.com>
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--==_Exmh_1214540228_60492P Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline > Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:55:40 -0700 > From: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> > > On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 08:12:33PM -0700, Kevin Oberman wrote: > > > Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:53:44 +0200 > > > From: Volker <volker@vwsoft.com> > > > Sender: owner-freebsd-stable@freebsd.org > > > > > > On 12/23/-58 20:59, Kelly Black wrote: > > > > Hello, > > > > > > > > I have a problem with loader. I recently upgraded from 6_rel to 7_rel. > > > > Now when I install world there is a problem booting. > > > > > > > > Here is what I do: > > > > cd /usr/src > > > > make buildworld > > > > make buildkernel KERNCONF=BLACK > > > > make installkernel KERNCONF=BLACK > > > > > > > > At this point I can reboot and all is good. After boot I install the new world: > > > > > > > > cd /usr/src > > > > mergemaster -p > > > > reboot into single user mode > > > > cd /usr/src > > > > make installworld > > > > mergemaster > > > > > > > > Now when I reboot there is a problem. I get an error that the system > > > > cannot boot. Part of it looks like this: > > > > Can't work out which disk we are booting from. > > > > Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to disk0: > > > > > > > > If I boot from a live disk and replace /boot/loader with > > > > /boot/loader.old it boots up fine and everything looks good. A new > > > > world and a new kernel. I would be grateful for any help or any > > > > pointers. > > > > > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Kel > > > > > > > > PS I do not do anything special with my loader config files: > > > > > > > > $ cat loader.conf > > > >... > > > > > > Kelly, > > > > > > the /boot/loader.conf file does not come into play at that stage. Early > > > in the loader code, loader needs to figure out, which disk (BIOS device) > > > has been booted from. Until loader knows which device was booted up, > > > it's unable to access any files (even loader.conf) on your boot device. > > > > > > As I've never seen such a problem while upgrading any system, I suspect > > > your problem must be settings specific. Can you show me your kernel > > > config or are you using a plain vanilla GENERIC? Which arch are we > > > talking about? > > > > > > As I'm currently investigating another boot problem (but earlier in the > > > boot chain), I'll check boot logic in the source code and may check for > > > your issue, too, at that time, so it's just one effort. But please stay > > > patient for some days, as I'm currently too busy. > > > > We just got hit by this. The loader never loads and nothing boots. But a > > system admin discovered that the problem disappeared if the /boot.conf > > file was deleted. It just contained '-P'. > > > > Once this file was removed, the system just booted up as expected. When > > he changed it to -D or -h, the boot still locked up. > > I believe you mean /boot.config. :-)] Fingers faster than brain. Sorry. > -P set the console to the serial port assuming no AT/PS2 keyboard is > connected to the machine. -D and -h are described in more detail in the > Handbook. man boot describes that pretty well, to0. > > Even with -P, -D, -h, or -Dh, the system *should* still actually boot > up, you just won't see anything on the VGA console until the system is > fully up and getty/login is run against ttyv0 (VGA console login). The system in question are servers and have no VGA console. They just hung without any sign of the loader, but when he used the old loader, the system booted normally. I thought that /boot.config was read by boot2, so it should be over an done with before loader is even started. All I can think is that the result of having set any of these flags, all of which are related, causes loader(8) to go off the deep end. I think I'll suggest that he try just -s in /boot.config > If Kelly has no /boot.config, then I'd say the issue you're reporting is > a different bug/problem, but should still be investigated. It may be different or it may be a different manifestation of the same one. Rather hard to tell at this point. I am very busy with preparation for a major upgrade to our Chicago hubs and may not get much chance to play with these now, but I'll ask the admin to give it a shot, along with an empty /boot.config. -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4 EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751 --==_Exmh_1214540228_60492P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) Comment: Exmh version 2.5 06/03/2002 iD8DBQFIZGnEkn3rs5h7N1ERAoHGAKCuruBQDWrH3+kWkKBY75rTITuD7QCfSb8p EqMeVmpP13RrR02uGmDC2fU= =59bS -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --==_Exmh_1214540228_60492P--
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