After trying unsuccessfully to boot FreeBSD 5.4 installed onto an existing filesystem that held 4.6, but after the installation completing not being able to get past the F1 FreeBSD prompt, I decided to wipe out the filesystem and start with a new filesystem, thinking this might be the problem! But after doing that and installing it, it still wont boot!!! It just sits there at the F1 FreeBSD prompt and makes a beeping noise!
This sucks big time. There must be something wrong with FreeBSD here, 4.6 **ran fine** on this computer, and how 5.4 wont run at all!!! I tend to suspect FreeBSD 5.x has introduced a lot of new bugs and incompatabilities. --- Milscvaer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > --- "Gary W. Swearingen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Milscvaer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > > > I would like to try to boot the system on the > hard > > > driv e from a floppy. Maybe there is something > > wrong > > > with the boot record on the HD. Does anyone know > > if > > > this is possible and how I can do that? > > > > Sure, but you've left us in the dark as to what > you > > have to work with > > there. Do you have FreeBSD or some unixy OS on > > another system or on a > > "live CD"? Or just a floppy "fixit"? Or what? Do > > you have enough > > hard disk space to leave your /usr/home out of the > > picture until you > > get FreeBSD going on another part of the disk? > > (Maybe after deleting > > unneeded parts of /usr/home's filesystem.) > > > > I am sorry, I should explain the situation a more > clearly. I have already run the FreeBSD 5.4 > installation program, which seems to have completed > successfully, to install FreeBSD on the hard drive. > However, after I reboot the system after the > installation program completes, I cannot boot > FreeBSD > from the F1 FreeBSD prompt. It just beeps when i > press > F1. I then booted into the fixit floppy, and it does > appear that the FreeBSD system is there on the hard > drive. Why I cannot boot the system I dont know. I > thought it might be a boot record problem, so I > wondered if I could use a floppy disk with a boot > loader on it, which could then be used to start the > system on the hard disk. > > I thought the install program would replace the boot > records, in fdisk I have marked the partition > active, > and it prompted me to install the boot loader. I > have > several times gone into fdisk to try to get the boot > records replaced. > > I tried using one of the boot floppies used to start > the freebsd install, (kern1.flp), which if I boot > off > of that I get what appears to be a boot2 (boot:) > prompt where I can type ad(0,a)/boot/kernel/kernel, > to > boot the FreeBSD system i have on the hard disk, > however after doing so a lot of numbers and > gibberish > appear on the screen with the message "BTX Halted". > > I do have a fixit floppy so I can try to get in > there > and do some more things to fix this. > > > Anyway, if you can run a FreeBSD off a fixit or > live > > CD somehow, you > > can "bsdlabel" to put /boot/boot = boot+boot2 on a > > floppy so you > > should be able to get a "boot2" prompt (the one > > before the "loader" > > prompt) and try to boot your 5.4 from there. Or > you > > could try using > > "fdisk" and "boot0cfg" and "bsdlabel" to put new > > boot records (MBR, > > boot1, and boot2) on a floppy or on your hard > disk, > > too. > > > > If you can DL and burn a CD, get yourself a "live > > CD" or CD-based > > "fixit", else try to find room on your HD for a > > fresh minimal FreeBSD > > install, else get an old HD and install fresh to > > that. Another thing > > you could try is getting a Grub floppy off the > > Internet and try > > booting from the Grub command line. > > > > I suppose that your problem is related to the fact > > that your "upgrade" > > is reusing your old partition(s) and maybe old > boot > > records. > > > > BTW, if you can keep your /usr/home out of the > > picture and then copy > > it to your new system, you can end up with nice > new > > UFS2 filesystems. > > > > BTW, if that's your only copy of /usr/home, you > > probably shouldn't be > > trying to install a new OS on the disk anyway. > You > > should be able to > > find another HD for a small FreeBSD (or a copy of > > /usr/home) for VERY > > little money these days. > > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
