From owner-freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Mon Aug 31 06:35:51 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B97ED9C427F for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yaneurabeya@gmail.com) Received: from mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (mailman.ysv.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::50:5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 98B10DDB for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yaneurabeya@gmail.com) Received: by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) id 95BAB9C427D; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 +0000 (UTC) Delivered-To: hackers@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7B5B29C427C for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yaneurabeya@gmail.com) Received: from mail-pa0-x233.google.com (mail-pa0-x233.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:400e:c03::233]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4DBEDDDA for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yaneurabeya@gmail.com) Received: by pabzx8 with SMTP id zx8so128962301pab.1 for ; Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:35:50 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=content-type:mime-version:subject:from:in-reply-to:date :content-transfer-encoding:message-id:references:to; bh=V6L79BJZtErcYwMQiDJ882I0vY60QxDJqFQ0mulFglQ=; b=gpcLhOqMt9/sMZ+OZo9yjEm/DHOl/fMl/Q+JbG6ytP+q/j0mGxth3Cly35kT7x18c8 HaxLj7qgxZb+3aBTJPDofblOfF+HPZV3m8xvh5FtnTfT+aAjZ5pjpbtBTVAVAHKIjYJ1 wIXluJdfWf3fIDu+E3PCjW7fw8AvTRlcfum3LfK5iLnGW09whwo/8iRlP/xvdNGY4zMo ygj25i1UsSYPbCSb4Jnk2WTAqV2bu7ggyHQr3Xw0UHKun36FZoe7v+U6ZRXBsNXWeeq8 Rk6X9+/uTXzCGagGVBbgFxLKFIK4+65SLVzu4vCdmV0YbkWeE4pdSf21Bh4Zca2vPD5I si9A== X-Received: by 10.66.222.103 with SMTP id ql7mr34108312pac.144.1441002950720; Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:35:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ?IPv6:2601:601:800:126d:919d:8454:1cf6:d1a2? ([2601:601:800:126d:919d:8454:1cf6:d1a2]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id a17sm433091pbu.55.2015.08.30.23.35.50 for (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:35:50 -0700 (PDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 8.2 \(2104\)) Subject: Re: Puzzle involving serial console and ...??!? From: Garrett Cooper In-Reply-To: <20150831030639.GH1153@albert.catwhisker.org> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2015 23:35:49 -0700 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: <20150831030639.GH1153@albert.catwhisker.org> To: hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.2104) X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 06:35:51 -0000 > On Aug 30, 2015, at 20:06, David Wolfskill = wrote: >=20 > I may be going mad -- that's likely the simplest explanation, and > Occam's Razor would thus indicate that this hypothesis should be > accorded a degree of plausibility, at least. >=20 > As described in = , > I have my own quirky ways of upgrading FreeBSD systems, the basics > of which remain fundamentally unchanged for the last dozen years > (well, a few more than that, but...). In turn, much of that approach > was borrowed from one of my pre-FreeBSD experiences in an IBM > mainframe environment (as a "systems programmer"). >=20 > What's causing me to question my tenuous grasp of reality is this: > Referencing the above-cited Web page, my build machine ("freebeast") > normally runs headless, and I use a cable to connect its serial > port to the serial port of one of my other machines ("albert"). >=20 > By doing so, I have a working serial console (once the FreeBSD > loader gains control from the BIOS, at least)... half the time. >=20 > I have determined that whether or not I have a functioning serial > console for freebeast depends on whether I boot albert from slice > 1 or slice 2: if from slice 1, it doesn't work; if from slice 2, > it does. >=20 > Even when the contents of the 2 slices are functionally equivalent > (that is, the file systems of the 2 slices are as "the same" as a > "dump 0Lf | restore" pipeline can make them, except for a deliberate > difference in the contents of /etc/fstab (as the root and /usr file > systems are on different slices in the two cases)). >=20 > I use tip(1) on albert to access the serial port (as I have since > 1998); I leave the speed at the default of 9600 because it has -- > save for this case -- always worked for me in the past. >=20 > Does anyone have any suggestions for figuring out what is really > going on here? While I can't just reboot "albert," I have another > (similar) machine ("pogo") that I use for testing stuff that I plan > to do to albert, and I could easily connect teh serial cable to > pogo instead of albert and tinker with that. >=20 > Thanks. I'm on the list, so list replies need not Cc: me. David, Not sure what hardware you=E2=80=99re dealing with, but it = doesn=E2=80=99t necessarily sound like a firmware bug; it would be = helpful to determine what you=E2=80=99re running though=E2=80=A6 ran = into issues with Dell r710s in the past where not having the right = formula of firmware caused the machine to have quirky interactions on = the serial console. Cheers, -NGie=