From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Dec 9 10:44:45 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 15A9B16A4CF for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 10:44:45 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail8.speakeasy.net (mail8.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.208]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9295F43D2C for ; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 10:44:40 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Received: (qmail 17729 invoked from network); 9 Dec 2003 18:44:39 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO server.baldwin.cx) ([216.27.160.63]) (envelope-sender )encrypted SMTP for ; 9 Dec 2003 18:44:39 -0000 Received: from laptop.baldwin.cx (gw1.twc.weather.com [216.133.140.1]) by server.baldwin.cx (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hB9IiWie069363; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 13:44:33 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from jhb@FreeBSD.org) Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.5.4 on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <63948.24.62.116.53.1070986332.squirrel@goepp.com> Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 13:44:33 -0500 (EST) From: John Baldwin To: Daniel Goepp X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.55 (1.174.2.19-2003-05-19-exp) cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Set boot loader to boot off CD manually X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 18:44:45 -0000 On 09-Dec-2003 Daniel Goepp wrote: > Hi all, > > I was banging my head against the wall too long yesterday, so I have > broken down, and have to ask. Any help on this matter is greatly > appreciated. > > Here is what I'm trying to do. I have two computers, both running 4.8, > clean, minimal installs. They have two serial cables connected to each > other to act as serial consoles, and -Dh has been added to /boot.config, > along with ttys having been updated. The console bit works great. What I > want to be able to do, is completely rebuild one of the machines remotely. > So I log into one, serial over to the other, and reboot it. Then, when > the loader comes up, I stop it, and break to the "ok" prompt. I unload > the kernel that was starting to load, and at this point, want to boot off > CD, to rebuild the system, as though I had gone into the BIOS, and set the > CD as the first boot device. However, I don't have remote access to the > BIOS, so I can't do this. The BIOS does not provide a way to talk to the CD to read files off of it unless you boot from it. So, no, you can't boot from the hard drive and read files off the CD from the loader. However, you can copy the kernel and mfsroot off of the CD and stick them in /boot/new/kernel and /boot/new/mfsroot.gz and then manually load the new kernel and mfsroot from the hard disk's loader to get into the installer. I.e. something like: ok unload all ok load /boot/new/kernel ok load -t mfs_root /boot/new/mfsroot ok boot -- John Baldwin <>< http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/