RELENG_7: /boot/loader command prompt mode broken?

[Kevin Oberman]

> Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:21:47 +0800
> From: Eugene Grosbein <eugen at kuzbass.ru>
> Sender: owner-freebsd-stable at freebsd.org
> 
> Hi!
> 
> Today I've updated my 7.0-STABLE system using source upgrade path.
> loader(8) boots it just fine but it's impossible to issue commands
> using its command prompt mode (N.B.: beastie_disable="YES"
> and autoboot_delay="2" are in my /boot/loader.conf).
> 
> At boot time, I hit "Space" button to reach its command prompt - that works.
> While typing of a command, I observe one of bad things:
> 
> 1) it just hangs solid (keyboard LEDs do not switch) after a couple
>   of characters entered, or
> 2) system spontaneously reboots while typing, or
> 3) it shows endless flow of hex dump, presumably from BTX.
> 
> Most of time it hangs, a couple of times I've got reboot
> and once there was hex dump. I use vidconsole with PS/2 keyboard.
> 
> Seldom I've allowed to type 'boot -s' and hit enter without a problem -
> it boots system OK then. So, I assume there is a problem
> with vidconsole input/output routines.
> 
> I've rebuilt /boot/loader using sources of 7.0-RELEASE and it works nice now.
> My has Intel D975XBX motherboard, I use PS/2 keyboard.
> What should I try to debug this?
> 
> Here is my /etc/src.conf:
> 
> WITHOUT_ATM=
> WITHOUT_AUDIT=
> WITHOUT_AUTHPF=
> WITHOUT_ZFS=
> WITHOUT_CDDL=
> WITHOUT_FORTRAN=
> WITHOUT_GCOV=
> WITHOUT_HTML=
> WITHOUT_I4B=
> WITHOUT_INET6=
> WITHOUT_IPFILTER=
> WITHOUT_IPX=
> WITHOUT_KERBEROS=
> WITHOUT_PF=
> WITHOUT_PROFILE=
> 
> And I have 'CPUTYPE?=pentium4' in /etc/make.conf
> 
> Eugene Grosbein
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> 

Eugene,

Just a shot in the dark, but do you have a /boot.config file on the
system? We have had a similar issue on a few systems and concluded that
it could be "fixed' by rolling back to an older loader binary or by
removing the /boot.config file.

Added data on this would be helpful.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman at es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634
Key fingerprint:059B 2DDF 031C 9BA3 14A4  EADA 927D EBB3 987B 3751
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