Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 9 Oct 2011 00:11:22 -0500
From:      Adam Vande More <amvandemore@gmail.com>
To:        Colin Barnabas <axel@ucs.com>
Cc:        Michael Starr <masmidow@gmail.com>, FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: New FreeBSD User | HP Doesn't Boot
Message-ID:  <CA%2BtpaK077aH2v-S3J9bjeZPo-ZTqy4h-7TgkodYm%2BGyEZD0zLQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20111009015141.GA60380@hs1.VERBENA>
References:  <CAEZdUGikPzsN=q-m_szHJCGxGT81UGA7Lbd7remTDdiqM5p3og@mail.gmail.com> <20111008235238.GB3136@hs1.VERBENA> <CAEZdUGiV_aXM67S4Yfw-i5tPZcwCWOiKPSFCPBOLkCfWjMmjeQ@mail.gmail.com> <20111009015141.GA60380@hs1.VERBENA>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 8:51 PM, Colin Barnabas <axel@ucs.com> wrote:

> Are you able to boot from the usb you used to install? If yes,
> then my first instinct would be to scrub the disk and
> start over. Hopefully what ever is going on is just a freak anomaly.
>
> If you can boot the from the usb stick, go to the fixit shell and
> run
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=1k
>

Can you please not top-post while on this list as it's convention states?

That command is suboptimal to put it kindly.  First, it's not necessary to
wipe the entire drive, simply destroying the first couple sectors will be
sufficent for the cause.  Second, in the rare case you do need to wipe the
entire thing, don't use bs=1k unless you really enjoy sitting around
waiting.   Use either of the following if you really must:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=1k count=1
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad0 bs=512k

but you can call me uncle Eddie if that somehow helps.  I'm not sure how you
think a bad burn would cause POST to fail.  First, I'd check around and see
if there were problems with system like this:

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-111507-hp-pavilion-dv6000-won-t-turn-on-black-screen

Then I might look for BIOS updates to fix the problem.  Teseting BIOS to
defaults would be something I would try, followed by unplugging unnecessary
peripherals.

-- 
Adam Vande More



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?CA%2BtpaK077aH2v-S3J9bjeZPo-ZTqy4h-7TgkodYm%2BGyEZD0zLQ>