Hello all,
I tried sending this message to freebsd-config and freebsd-install,
after subscribing to them, but no one answered back... so I am posting
my question here.
I just downloaded ISO images for 4.8-RELEASE, and prepared them for
installation on an brand new ASUS P4P800-based computer.
More information about this motherboard and integrated peripherals list,
can be found here:
http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket478/p4p800/overview.htm
I am having a problem booting up the CD-ROM on this computer. After the
kernel boots up, and then skipping the hardware configuration mode, the
kernel boots until it reaches the PLIP secion, where it just waits there
for good. The computer doesn't hang as I can press CAPS-LOCK and see it
switch lights, but it just sits there without doing anything. There's
also no disk activitity that I can see.
What I did to try and solve the problem is this:
1) downloaded 4.7 floppies, then tryed to boot from them. Same scenario.
2) disabled nearly everything in the BIOS (serial, parallel, LAN, audio
and even USB), but still same problem.
3) tried to boot into CLI mode, then disabled those same devices, but
still same problem.
4) removed the LAN cable so it won't probe the network, but still the
same problem persists.
5) loaded optimized and default values for the BIOS, but it still didn't
help.
By the way, I noticed that the kernel doesn't stumble in PLIP always...
Since I disabled the parallel port in the BIOS, I noticed that after
probing the serial ports, that the computer stopped responding and
froze. It means that what comes after PLIP is causing the problem.
Anyone knows what's the next hardware or thing that the kernel tries to
do after probing PLIP?
Anyone has the slightest idea how to debug or solve this problem?
Thank you in advance.
/Noor