Can't find kernel, finds slices but no files on them

[Polytropon]

On Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:28:30 +0200, Fritiof Hedman wrote:
> Hi list!
> 
> I must warn you, I'm quite new to FreeBSD (I'm mostly using Linux
> otherwise). I have inherited an old (yes, very old) BSD 4.7 machine on
> my work that I need to clone. I've setuped an identical copy of the
> slices on the target machine, ran dump the source machine and restore
> on the target machine, edited /etc/fstab to match the filesystems. I'm
> also running the GENERIC-kernel, I've done this using the FreeSBIE
> live CD.

What procedure did you use to clone? There basically is
the "one" way, using dump + restore on partitions (not
slices!), or dd on either partitions, slices, or the
whole disk.



> However, when I boot I get to BTX loader (so I guess boot0 and boot2
> is correct), that can't load kernel nor kernel.old. see attached
> img1.png .

Images cannot be attached to list messages. :-(



> I can't ls, as the loader says there is no such file or
> directory (also seen in img1.png).

You can use "echo *" in the loader stage, if I remember
correctly. Enter "?" for a list of the available loader
commands (or was it "help"?).



> lsdev gives a correct answer, all slices are there with their correct
> size. echo $currdev returns disk1s1a as it should (see attached
> img2.png).

Good, so the copy you've created seems to be okay.



> Mounting the disks works, and their content is correct, with all file
> params set.
> 
> Any ideas how to get this target machine to boot?

Maybe you just missed to prepare the "boot attributes" of the
new disk properly?

I suggest having a look at those documents:

Disk Setup On FreeBSD
http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/disksetup.html

Backup Options For FreeBSD
dump(8)/restore(8)
http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/docs/html/backup.html#_em_dump_8_em_em_restore_8_em

I'm almost sure that you will need to re-initialize something
within the boot chain (guess without further diagnostics)...




-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...