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Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:51:10 +0100
From: Nicky Bulthuis <nicky@valuecare.nl>
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Subject: Can't load kernel, trying to install on a Dell R900.
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Hello all,

I'm having 'a lot' of troubles installing FreeBSD on a new Dell R900 
from CD. Somehow it just doesn't seem to be able to load the kernel from 
the CD.

The machine is turned on with the CD is inserted.
It shows the message of the BTX Loader and then it stops with an error 
message:

can't load 'kernel'

At first i figured my CD was broken, so i used a different image. Still 
no dice, same error message. I've tried 6.2 (amd64), 6.3 (amd64) and 7.0 
(amd64), sadly none of them work.

I've disabled the internal CDrom drive and used an external USB CDrom 
drive. I figured, perhaps the internal cdrom drive is incompatible with 
FreeBSD. Sadly that also didn't work.

Output from lsdev:

cd devices:
    cd0: Device 0x0
disk devices:
    disk0: Bios drive C:

I've tried install CD from VMWare ESX server, which does boot up and can 
be installed. So the hardware does seem to work.

Can anyone advice me on how to proceed in getting FreeBSD on the 
machine. Perhaps an alternative install method, or perhaps the Loader is 
not configured properly for the R900.

Thanks in advance,
Nicky