Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2013 17:51:46 -0800 From: Kevin Oberman <rkoberman@gmail.com> To: Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org> Cc: rjk@wintek.com, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Sanity Check on Mac Mini Message-ID: <CAN6yY1uBVNYbpjfn10pm6yQ45M-o4vpdGXizyM%2BCqjruF9D9GQ@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <71F173FA-CB9C-43B4-A702-ABA82268EA83@lafn.org> References: <51CB1227-3A5F-4688-B48D-4D0E47A17572@lafn.org> <5138A742.3090200@wintek.com> <97F9BA96-A328-4EF9-8E39-A8160AF9EB7A@lafn.org> <CAN6yY1vgjwxOCVrvJkJ4AS%2BfXVQMbhJVKbtc=jo6BT-M2gP6qA@mail.gmail.com> <71F173FA-CB9C-43B4-A702-ABA82268EA83@lafn.org>
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On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 2:18 PM, Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org> wrote: > > On 7 March 2013, at 11:57, Kevin Oberman <rkoberman@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org> wrote: > > > > On 7 March 2013, at 06:42, Richard Kuhns <rjk@wintek.com> wrote: > > > > > On 03/07/13 01:59, Doug Hardie wrote: > > >> I have a new Mac Mini and have encountered the same problem reported > last year by Richard Kuhns. YongHyeon PYUN provided some patches to the > kernel that resolved the problem. However, without an internet connection > its a bit tricky to get them into the system. Here is the approach I > believe will work, but wanted to check first before I really mess things up. > > >> > > >> 1. Downloaded from current today via svnweb.freebsd.org: > > >> sys/dev/bge/if_bgereg.h > > >> sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c > > >> sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c > > >> > > >> I believe the patches are incorporated in today's versions. The > comments indicate such. Thus I don't need to apply the original supplied > patch. > > >> > > >> 2. Put those on a flash drive. > > >> > > >> 3. Install 9.1 release from flash drive onto the Mini disk. Have to > include the system source. > > >> > > >> 4. Copy the files from 1 above from flash over the files on the disk. > > >> > > >> 5. Rebuild the kernel and install it. > > >> > > >> Thanks, > > >> > > >> -- Doug > > > > > > That's worked for me 3 times now. > > > > Thanks. Well, I got 9.1 Release installed, but it won't boot from the > internal disk. It doesn't see the disk as bootable. I installed using the > entire disk for FreeBSD. I used the i386 release. Perhaps I need to > switch to the amd64 release? > > > > I would generally recommend using the amd64 release, but it may not get > your system to boot. > > > > How is your disk partitioned? GPT? Some BIOSes are broken and assume > that a GPT formatted disk is UEFI and will not recognize them if they lack > the UEFI boot partition. UEFI boot is a current project that seems likely > to reach head in the fairly near future, but it's not possible now. > > No idea what the default partitioning is for BSDInstall. However the Mini > is only EFI or UFEI with some fallbacks although the comments I find in the > web indicate that different models have different fallbacks. > > One comment indicates that an older unit will boot if its MBR > partitioning. I don't know if the new installer supports that or not. > > > > > You may be able to tweak your BIOS to get it to work or you may have to > install using the traditional partitioning system. The installer defaults > to GPT, but can create either. > > > > I have such a system (ThinkPad T520) and I have two disks... one that > came with the system and containing Windows, and my GPT formatted FreeBSD > disk. I wrote a FreeBSD BootEasy boot into the MBR of the Windows disk and > it CAN boot the GPT disk just fine. Not ideal for most, but it works well > for me > > Based on a comment I say, waiting till the empty folder icon appears and > then plugging in the install memstick causes the mini to boot from disk. > That just downright weird, but it works. I could live with that, but this > is an unattended server and would experience some down time if I am not > there when there is a power failure. > > I just found some "instructions" for using MBR with bsdinstall, but given > there is an effort to create a UEFI boot which I suspect would expect to > find the GPT boot partition, perhaps I should just go with the memstick > approach To be cleat, you just insert the thumb drive and the hard drive boots? That IS weird! Or do you get the BootEasy prompt for the partition/disk you want to boot? If the latter, the system is processing the MBR from the thumb drive and using that to boot the GPT disk. I am not an expert on EFI or UEFI. I know EFI is older and UEFI replaced it about five years ago. I am not entirely clear on the differences, but I assume a newer Mac Mini would be UEFI. My experience with boot loaders is, to put it politely, ancient. I mean pre-BIOS. I have, at best, a limited understanding of BIOS booting and not much on UEFI, but I know that UEFI can boot devices using the old PC partitioning system as well as GUID (GPT) partitioned ones. The Wikipedia article on UEFI is enlightening. -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer E-mail: rkoberman@gmail.com
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