From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 23 16:26:08 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9BC521065694; Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:26:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@bitnix.ca) Received: from fep5.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6DD1A8FC0A; Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:26:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@bitnix.ca) Received: from srv.cnd.dundas.on.ca (d39-186-104.home1.cgocable.net [72.39.186.104]) by fep5.cogeco.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4D79112FA; Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:41:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: from monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca (monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca [10.87.0.20]) by srv.cnd.dundas.on.ca (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n2NFfPNm034332; Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:41:26 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@bitnix.ca) Received: from monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n2NFfP6f002755; Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:41:25 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca) Message-Id: <200903231541.n2NFfP6f002755@monk.cnd.dundas.on.ca> To: freebsd-current In-reply-to: Your message of "Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:36:15 CDT." <1237804575.1771.7.camel@balrog.2hip.net> From: "Douglas Berry" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:41:25 -0400 Sender: doug@bitnix.ca Cc: Robert Noland Subject: Re: Booting from usb hard disk X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Douglas Berry List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:26:09 -0000 On Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:36:15 CDT, Robert Noland wrote: > So I have my i386 install on a usb hard disk, which I can only boot > on one machine now. The one machine that I can make work has a bios > option that reads "BIOS ehci handoff". This used to work with the > old usb stack. The machines that it doesn't work on, boot the > kernel, but fail to mount root, giving me the forbidding mountroot> > prompt, which is immediately followed by the message saying that da0 > is attached. da0 is however not listed in the available boot > devices list. I tried playing around with the timeout in > vfs_mount.c, but that didn't seem to have any impact. It has been > suggested that this may be a "geom" timeout, but I don't know > anything about the boot system really. I have been using tunefs(8) labeled partitions on my usb hard disk under CURRENT. I changed the fstab entries to match the labels (eg. assume mylabel is myroot, /dev/da0s1a becomes /dev/ufs/myroot) It works well on most systems. On some systems, I see the symptom you show, but I am saved by the labels showing up just after the mountroot prompt. I am then able to type ufs:/dev/ufs/myroot and resume the boot. Maybe this helps you? cheers, doug