I've been trying to get 5.x installed on a machine in order to evaluate upgrading from 4.x, but am running into a host of troubles. First, I tried to install 5.2. Booting from CD, BTX would halt with a register dump. Next, I tried to install 5.3. Booting from CD, I'd eventually reach the Beastie menu, but the screen scrolling was all messed up (I could see fragments of my POST output, BTX loader and Beastie menu.) At this point, the timer was stuck at 10, keyboard input had no effect and the system appeared to be frozen. Next, I tried to install 5.4. Booting from CD, I'd read the Beastie menu (this time with properly-behaving console). But again, the timer was stuck at 10, keyboard input had no effect and the system appeared to be frozen. Next, I installed 4.10 (which installs fine) and tried to cvsup to -stable, but had problems with buildworld. Can anyone help me get 5.x (-stable) installed on this machine? The machine is a clunker - P2-266 with 48MB RAM and a couple of 2GB ATA drives. Thanks, -- Matt Emmerton
On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 11:57:38 -0400 Matt Emmerton <matt@gsicomp.on.ca> wrote:> to be frozen. Next, I installed 4.10 (which installs fine) and tried > to cvsup to -stable, but had problems with buildworld.More information required (as almost always): - type and model of maxhine? - dmesg output from 4.11 (or 4.10) - describe in detail your buildworld problems (and any other problems), specifically any error messages you might get. Have you ruled out hardware problems? By running memtest86 for example? (Yes, I know that 4.10 installs ok. That proves almost nothing.)> Can anyone help me get 5.x (-stable) installed on this machine?People on this list can probably suggest things to try that will help you towards that goal, but so far I haven't found any mind readers on this list. You will have to give us all information in the normal way.> The machine is a clunker - P2-266 with 48MB RAM and a couple of 2GB > ATA drives.And you are not running out of space during buildworld? -- Regards, Torfinn Ingolfsen, Norway
Matt Emmerton
2005-Jun-30 22:47 UTC
Problems with 5.x [ boot-loader related, NOT hardware related ]
> On 2005-Jun-30 18:18:16 -0400, Matt Emmerton <matt@gsicomp.on.ca> wrote: > >> More information required (as almost always): > >> - type and model of maxhine? > > > >It's home-made. It doesn't have a type or model. FWIW, it's ran FreeBSD > >fine since 3.2. > > Presumably you bought the motherboard. What brand is it?DFI 686IPK. A piece of crap, really, but it worked fine for -stable all the way through 3.x and 4.x.> >> - describe in detail your buildworld problems (and any other problems), > >> specifically any error messages you might get. > > > >Basically, it konks out immediately while trying to rebuild 'make'because> >of missing system headers. Probably a caveat with trying to build 5.x ona> >4.x machine but I didn't see anything in special instructions (UPDATING)or> >on the web about this. > > Can you please cut-and-paste the exact commandline you use to buildworld, > the contents of /etc/make.conf and the tail of the make output (back to > the last few command echos).I don't have the info. I'd need to reinstall 4.10 on it, cvsup to -stable and try again. Frankly, I'm not concerned why attempting to buildworld 5.x sources on a 4.x machine screws up -- I'm more interested why 5.x won't even install. The "build from source" was just a last-ditch attempt at 3am this morning. Is there anyone who actually _worked_ on the BTX and boot loader changes in 5.x willing to comment on my particular problems getting any flavour of 5.x to install on this machine?> >> Have you ruled out hardware problems? By running memtest86 for example? > >> (Yes, I know that 4.10 installs ok. That proves almost nothing.) > > > >The system has run fine for 3+ years - the hardware is fine. > > Hardware can fail from old age. Anything with moving parts (fans and > disk drives) as well as electrolytic capacitors have a finite lifetime.That doesn't explain why 4.10 was working fine on it yesterday and a few hours later 5.x doesn't If the hardware was broken, I'd be intelligent enough to realize that and wouldn't waste anyone's time here. I've been tracking -stable for 7 years and have seen my share of broken hardware to know what those problems look like, so let's just focus on the problem at hand, okay? -- Matt
> Matt Emmerton wrote: > > I gave precise descriptions of what happened on 5.[234] > > and can provide more details if requested > > Please provide dmesg output from 4.x, as this will help us help you!See http://www.gsicomp.on.ca/~matt/5x/dmesg.410 -- Matt Emmerton
Hi Matt, On Thu, 2005-Jun-30 11:57:38 -0400, Matt Emmerton wrote:>First, I tried to install 5.2. Booting from CD, BTX would halt with a >register dump.There are some people around who can read BTX dumps. Any chance of you posting it? The CD boot mode was changed from "floppy emulation" mode in 4.x to "no emulation" mode in 5.x (for slightly more details, see the '-b' and '-no-emul-boot' options to mkisofs). At a guess, it looks like your BIOS doesn't handle the latter very well. My two suggestions are: 1) A BIOS upgrade. If your BIOS is flashable, check out the vendor's website. 2) Boot from physical floppies. The images are in the 'floppies' directory on the CD-ROM. I presume you've satisfied yourself that the CD-ROMs aren't corrupt. (Unlikely but possible). You might have to experiment with dis/enabling ACPI to get things working.>Next, I installed 4.10 (which installs fine) and tried to cvsup to -stable, >but had problems with buildworld.Generally, upgrading to version N from version N-1 is only supported from the latest version of N-1, so you might need to upgrade your 4.10 system to 4-STABLE first. Alternatively, you will need to post more details (cut-and-paste) of the errors you are getting. -- Peter Jeremy