Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 19:22:06 -0500 (EST) From: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: John Daniels <jmd526@hotmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org, n_hibma@FreeBSD.org Subject: RE: problem with install bootup Message-ID: <200002240022.TAA23562@server.baldwin.cx> In-Reply-To: <20000223193343.69694.qmail@hotmail.com>
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On 23-Feb-00 John Daniels wrote: > When I boot from the kern floppy my system hangs after the following is > printed to the screen: > =============================================== > /boot.config: -P > Keyboard: no > - > BTX loader 1.00 BTX version is 1.01 > =============================================== > My system is an Acer Aspire PIII 450, 128MB RAM, 8GB HD with the following > hardware: [ snip ] Apparently your BIOS doesn't support your keyboard, as that is why you get the 'Keyboard: no' line, AFAIK. I'm not as familiar with that part of the loader. Once it "detects" that you don't have a keyboard, it switches to using the serial console on COM1 at 9600 BPS. That is why you don't see any further output and pressing Enter on the keyboard has no affect, the loader is communicating over COM1 rather than the keyboard/monitor. We do support USB, but I don't use it personally, so I'm not sure how good the support is in -stable. I don't think the boot floppies support USB though. > First: It's my understanding that USB is supported so I don't understand why > I get the message "Keyboard: no." Second: Everything seems to go well for > 2-3 minutes: the drive is humming, I get messages on the screen, etc but > then the baton stops turning, the floopy stops (I guess it has finished > reading) and nothing happens. > > Can anyone explain this? See above. > NOTE I have the second floppy disk: mfsroot and I have tried putting it > into the drive after a couple of minutes of inactivity (despite not being > prompted to do so) but nothing happens (even after hitting return a few > times). > > What is the correct behavior? Shouldn't there be a prompt for the second > disk? See above, you are doing everything right, it just seems that your BIOS tells us that you don't have a keyboard. Even then, I think that since the boot floppies don't support USB by default, you'd have no keyboard once you got the kernel loaded anyways. > I am very excited about getting freeBSD. I read a lot about installation > and freeBSD before I started the install process, but I never thought I > would have problems this early in the install process. Heh, thanks for reading before asking. :) > I have used VAX/VMS and Win95/98/NT for many years. I was going to try > RedHat but Linux doesn't support USB. This seems to have been a lucky > coincidence since it appears that freeBSD is *much* better (more stable, > more centralized, coherent development, astoundingly easy to use/upgrade > especially with PORTS system, and a license that appears to be better for > developers). FreeBSD appears to be the best kept secret in "free" operating > systems! We're not trying to be a secret, honest. Anyways, I'm cc'ing Nick Hibma <n_hibma@FreeBSD.org> as he is Mr. USB, and he should be able to help you out much more than I can with this. I believe that once you get the keyboard issues straightened out you won't have any more problems with the loader. > John > jmd526@hotmail.com -- John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> -- http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ PGP Key: http://www.cslab.vt.edu/~jobaldwi/pgpkey.asc "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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