Date: Thu, 12 Jun 1997 21:44:31 -0600 From: gastop@top.net To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Help me! [X crashed and I have no /kernel file now] Message-ID: <v01540b00afc6679f8a67@[204.214.28.46]>
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Hello. I am fairly new to unix and FreeBSD (single digit # of weeks). I
have really enjoyed learning a lot about unix and X windows. I think you
guys are doing a great job, and I would advise you to keep up the good
work.
Anyway, I have installed the 2.2.2-RELEASE version of FBSD and XF8632. As I
said, I am a new user (strike one). I was logged in as root (strike two),
getting my system set up well enough to use under my preferred name of
dgast. As I was using xvidtune to tune my monitor for the best view in
1024x768, it lost sync and went into protect mode, leaving me a blank
screen. I had no way to get out of X that I could tell.
(Meta-Ctrl-Backspace) was unavailable, and I had to hit the reset button on
the case (strike three). Upon rebooting, I keep getting the message:
FreeBSD ....
....
enter ? for file list or press Enter for defaults:
can't find /kernel
FreeBSD ...
[etc]
Upon hitting ? I _do not_ get either kernel or kernel.GENERIC listed. Drat.
Otherwise, the rest of the file system (That I could see) looked OK. I
mounted root and dug around, and it appears to only be missing those two
files.
I have run fsck from the fixit floppy, and I have cleaned up the FS in the
/ partition. I even managed to figure out the mount command without any man
page. (I have no unix experience, so I am fairly proud of this.)
To actually get to the point: I need the generic kernel file available to
me via FTP, or some other method that I could access through the fixit
floppy. I would d/l the sources, but at this time I think that I would
rather not try to learn how to use makefiles without having to specify that
I want it to compile to /mnt3/kernel. As far as I can tell, this is the
only file that I need. Where would I go about finding this particular file?
I have not tried it, but I think that I could use the ppp utility on the
boot disk and the ftp utility on my hard drive. If not, I could copy it to
a floppy (provided it fit) and mount and copy.
Also, is there a way to mount the root directory as read-only? This would
make me very happy (I think).
If you need a system profile here is how I am set up:
Pentium 90MHz w/ Intel Neptune Chipset (GW2K Surplus motherboard)--
No screamer, but runs X nicely.
8 MB RAM. (I have 32 for it currently in my Mac, but this shouldn't
matter as far as /kernel)
Unisys 17" monitor. This shouldn't matter as far as the /kernel
file is concerned.
4.3 Maxtor HD. (This is actually 4139mb. Maxtor defines 1 gb as
10^9 instead of 1024^3. Basically, they are lying.) Geometry: 8400c 16h 63s
512b/s. Despite what some sources say, it will boot just fine. (except
after frying vital pieces of startup code.)
3 Button PS/2 Mouse and Mouse port. Some documentation said that I
would need to enable the PS/2 option in the kernel, but the one the disk
d/led for me worked fine.
104 key windows 95 kb. As soon as I get it running again, I am
going to learn how to make the extra keys do something.
3.5 and 5.25 floppies. Due to BIOS limitations, the system will
only boot off of the 3.5" (A: for DOS fans) drive. If I could fit the
/kernel file onto a 5.25, I could mount it, and cp it to the wd0 root
partition.
I hope you guys can help me. Thanks again.
Daniel Gast
gastop@top.net
PS I have not signed on to the mailing list as of yet, and in the event
that I am unable to get signed on, I may not receive a reply if it is sent
to the mailing list. If someone would be so kind as to send it to me
personally, I would be very grateful.
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