FreeBSD 7.1 AMD Geode LX 800 / Compact Flash boot issues

[Johan Simpson]

> Disable DMA  by adding hw.ata.ata_dma=0 to /boot/loader.conf and see
> if it makes a
> difference.
>
> Jacques
>


Doesnt seem to work, ive re-installed a standard minimal 7.1R installation.

then booted into the dvd's fixit console, mounted the cf, changed
loader.conf to look like this:

    hw.ata.ata_dma=0
    hw.ata.ata_dma_check_80pin=0
    hw.ata.wc=0
    hint.acpi.0.disabled=0


Boot loader starts
then prints a | or /

after which it makes the screen red and fills it with garbage
arrow-like characters.

It is strange because i can mount the CF fine from the fixit console
and no-errors there. Only booting from it seems to give problems.


I believe it might be something else,
i found this :
http://phaq.phunsites.net/2006/08/15/freebsd-boot-loader-hangs-on-startup/


which says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The FreeBSD boot loader seems to hang at startup. The system will not
respond and not boot.
Either nothing or one of the following may be printed on the system console:

|

or

boot: -D

Reason

The reasons for this are most probably

   1. Absence of a serial port on your mainboard
   2. The serial port on your mainboard is deactivated
   3. FreeBSD has a default value to use a non-existing serial port

Solution

The FreeBSD boot loader is by its nature very limited in its capabilities.

It has quiet enough intellence for reading boot blocks and starting a
kernel, but it may stall if it is instructed to redirect it’s output
to a non-existing or disabled serial port.

So any of these solutions may apply:

    * check your BIOS settings and enable the serial port(s)
    * disable boot loader’s serial console redirection (remove -D flag
from /boot.config)
    * check and correct to boot loader’s compiled in default for the
serial port if you have an usual setup
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Im going to see if the serial port settings can make any difference.


Thanks for the advice.