Bug 105196

Summary:	Dell E512 fails to boot FreeBSD
Product:	Base System	Reporter:	Rob Kolstad <kolstad>
Component:	i386	Assignee:	Remko Lodder <remko>
Status:	Closed FIXED
Severity:	Affects Only Me
Priority:	Normal
Version:	Unspecified
Hardware:	Any
OS:	Any

Description Rob Kolstad 2006-11-06 05:00:37 UTC

This is a new Dell E521 dual processor 64bit AMD 3800+ machine. I
am booting from CD using the 6.1 ISO image from the standard
distribution (others report the same problem on other releases).
Boot never succeeds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The booting gets this far when pause_boot is specified (all typed
by hand... typos are possible :( ):

...
ohci0 <OHCI (generic USB controller> mem 0xfe02f000-0xfe02ffff irq 21 at device 11.0 on pci)
ohci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
usb0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb0: SMM does not respond resetting

At this point there is a complete hang, the machine must be hardware-reset.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

When pause_boot is NOT specified, the probing gets much further
(same with ACPI-disabled boot mode):

...
vga0 ...
Timecounter...
panic: ohci_add_done: addr 0x3bef1ba0 not found

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In verbose mode, lots more output, of course:

Timecounter...
lo0: bfp attached
rr232x: no controller detected
panic: ohci_add_done: addr 0x3bef1ba0 not found

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that I have NOT fiddled with any BIOS settings.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Fix:

I am not the first to discover this!
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2006-October/003880.html
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2006-October/003942.html

All appearances are that the USB prober/driver is confused. I can't
figure out boot-hints to suggest alternative behavior.

I can postal-mail an E521 (almost new-in-box) to lend to a developer
who wishes to pursue this one. Given the apparently good price/performance
of the machine, I expect many folks will be purchasing them.

Otherwise, any hints or suggestions are welcome!

RK
How-To-Repeat: Just insert a boot disk and try to boot a Dell E521 (1GB
RAM); pick your favorite boot mode

Comment 1 jasu 2007-01-24 20:13:36 UTC

Hi,

Came across your problem report. I happen to experience just the EXACT 
same thing when booting 6.2 Release AMD64 on my brand new Dell E521 (AMD 
64 4200+ X2, nVidia Geforce 6150). After some googling it seems that a 
BIOS upgrade fixes this. I went from bios version 1.0.3 to 1.1.4 and 
then booted FreeBSD 6.2 Release AMD64 without any problems (although I 
haven't installed it (yet)). I haven't looked at the i386 version yet... 
On a side note: This problem is repeating itself all the way into 
Linuxland and is/was widely discussed in the Dell forums, so I assume 
it's not a strictly BSDish related problem. Please note however that 
this report is probably the same as 104810.

Dell E521 Bios update:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R142794&SystemID=DIM_P4_E521&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=308&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=3&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=190574


HTH,

Jacco

Comment 2 Remko Lodder freebsd_committer

2007-01-25 18:53:23 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->feedback

Jacco submitted information that this could be resolved with a bios 
upgrade. Can you please look into the details mentioned here? I will 
place the PR into feedback mode and grab it.

Comment 3 Remko Lodder freebsd_committer

2007-01-25 18:53:30 UTC

Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-i386->remko

I'll take it.

Comment 4 Remko Lodder freebsd_committer

2007-01-25 21:57:35 UTC

State Changed
From-To: feedback->closed

The submitter mentions that he no longer has the hardware (returned to 
vendor) , therefor we cannot resolve this. If someone has feedback 
whether the bios upgrade that Jacco mentioned works or not, please 
notify me!