From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org  Wed May 29 23:42:41 2019
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1])
 by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB57115B0DE7
 for <freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org>;
 Wed, 29 May 2019 23:42:40 +0000 (UTC)
 (envelope-from rfg@tristatelogic.com)
Received: from outgoing.tristatelogic.com (segfault.tristatelogic.com
 [69.62.255.118])
 by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EC89E8D0FF
 for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>; Wed, 29 May 2019 23:42:39 +0000 (UTC)
 (envelope-from rfg@tristatelogic.com)
Received: from segfault-nmh-helo.tristatelogic.com (localhost [127.0.0.1])
 by segfault.tristatelogic.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4C0273AE87
 for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>; Wed, 29 May 2019 16:42:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg@tristatelogic.com>
To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: [SOLVED] New Install -- Doesn't boot
Date: Wed, 29 May 2019 16:42:38 -0700
Message-ID: <10367.1559173358@segfault.tristatelogic.com>
X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: EC89E8D0FF
X-Spamd-Bar: /
Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org;
 spf=pass (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of rfg@tristatelogic.com designates
 69.62.255.118 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=rfg@tristatelogic.com
X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-0.85 / 15.00]; ARC_NA(0.00)[];
 NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-0.49)[-0.485,0]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[];
 R_SPF_ALLOW(-0.20)[+mx]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[];
 MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; TO_DN_NONE(0.00)[];
 PREVIOUSLY_DELIVERED(0.00)[freebsd-questions@freebsd.org];
 RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-0.97)[-0.970,0];
 DMARC_NA(0.00)[tristatelogic.com];
 NEURAL_SPAM_SHORT(0.82)[0.823,0];
 MX_GOOD(-0.01)[cached: mx1.tristatelogic.com];
 IP_SCORE(-0.01)[country: US(-0.06)]; RCVD_NO_TLS_LAST(0.10)[];
 FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[];
 MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+];
 ASN(0.00)[asn:14051, ipnet:69.62.128.0/17, country:US];
 RCVD_COUNT_TWO(0.00)[2]
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/options/freebsd-questions>, 
 <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
 <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 29 May 2019 23:42:41 -0000


After much fidling and experimentation, I can now say that when
installing either 12.0-RELEASE or 11.2-RELEASE (and perhaps also
earlier releases), under some circumstances (e.g. if one is doing
"manual" partitioning using GPT) it may perhaps be of some considerable
value to drop down into a shell and execute one or more of the following
shell commands prior to actually performing the install:

gpart destroy -F ada0
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada0 bs=1M count=10

where "ada0" would, of course, be replaced by the FreeBSD name for
the specific drive where one is planning to install the new OS.

Anyway, these additional steps seem to have worked for me, and I am
now successfully booting 12.0-RELEASE from the drive in question.

Regards,
rfg


P.S. I am not qualified to comment on why either of the above shell
commands might be either necessary or advisable when doing a fresh
install on a drive which has already had all partitions removed,
e.g. via the Linux gparted tool.