freebsd stable - Feb 2007 - PXEboot fails at kernel (text) loading

Hi,

I have a FreeBSD 6.1 PC as the server to a PXE boot
of another Compaq Deskpro EN PC.

The Compaq PC has the option of a "Network Service
Boot" with the F12-key during BIOS boot up. On the
server, tftpd, bootpd and dhcpd are all working well.

For the diskless kernel config I have used the
GENERIC one, but added:
   options BOOTP
   options BOOTP_NFSROOT
   options BOOTP_COMPAT

When all this is in place, and I reboot the client
PC, the PXE works fine and I get the "Welcome to
FreeBSD!" window, that allows me to choose from a
list of options:
   1. Boot FreeBSD [default]
   2. Boot FreeBSD with ACPI enabled
   3. Boot FreeBSD in Safe Mode
   4. Boot FreeBSD in single user mode
   5. Boot FreeBSD with verbose logging
   6. Escape to loader prompt
   7. Reboot

Now whatever option (1 to 5) I choose here, I always
get:

  /boot/kernel/kernel text=0x4d568c /

and the last slash is rotating for a very tiny
while after which the system kind of implodes,
blanks the screen and reboots from BIOS.
Apparently something goes very, very wrong
when loading the text part of the kernel.

On the server, I've checked the /var/log/xferlog,
which has entries like this:

 read request for //pxeboot: success
 read request for /boot/loader.rc: success
 read request for /boot/loader.4th: success
 read request for /boot/support.4th: success
 read request for /boot/beastie.4th: success
 read request for /boot/screen.4th: success
 read request for /boot/frames.4th: success
 read request for /boot/kernel/kernel: success
 read request for /boot/kernel/kernel: success

Is it OK to have a double kernel read at the last
two lines?

Any idea what's wrong here or what I could do to
further test what the actual problem is?

Thanks,
Rob.



 
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On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:22:22 -0800 (PST) Rob wrote:
> I have a FreeBSD 6.1 PC as the server to a PXE boot
> of another Compaq Deskpro EN PC.
> The Compaq PC has the option of a "Network Service
> Boot" with the F12-key during BIOS boot up. On the
> server, tftpd, bootpd and dhcpd are all working well.
> For the diskless kernel config I have used the
> GENERIC one, but added:
>    options BOOTP
>    options BOOTP_NFSROOT
>    options BOOTP_COMPAT
According to man diskless those options are not needed for PXE.
> Any idea what's wrong here or what I could do to
> further test what the actual problem is?
You may consider re-reading man diskless -- all needed info is located
there.


WBR
-- 
Boris Samorodov (bsam)
Research Engineer, http://www.ipt.ru Telephone & Internet SP
FreeBSD committer, http://www.FreeBSD.org The Power To Serve

Rob wrote:
> Is it OK to have a double kernel read at the last
> two lines?
>
> Any idea what's wrong here or what I could do to
> further test what the actual problem is?
Argh. I had this same problem as recently as October, but I can't 
remember exactly what caused this. When I went back and re-did things 
according to 'man diskless' (and what Doug White told me in the first 
place), it all worked.

Regards,
BMS