Bug 97019

Summary:	Cannot load the kernel after installation on Supermicro H8DAR-T
Product:	Base System	Reporter:	Greg Hamamjian <haxor777>
Component:	kern	Assignee:	freebsd-bugs (Nobody) <bugs>
Status:	Closed FIXED
Severity:	Affects Only Me
Priority:	Normal
Version:	Unspecified
Hardware:	Any
OS:	Any

Description Greg Hamamjian 2006-05-09 06:20:19 UTC

Upon initial installation of 6.1-RELEASE 64 bit on a Supermicro H8DAR-T system, the /boot/kernel directory is missing and the system doesn't boot.

Error is something to the effect of:

Cannot load kernel

I happened to catch the last message after installing the system and before booting into it by pressing CTRL-ALT-F2 (I believe.) I got a message something to the effect of:

rename of /boot/GENERIC to /boot/kernel file does not exist

Fix: 

1) Load fixit image with installation cd-rom and switch to holographic shell (CTRL-ALT-F4)
2) mount /dev/ad4s1a to any directory of your choice (e.g. mount /dev/ad4s1a /mnt.) 
2) copy /dist/kernels/install.sh to the above partition just mounted.
3) edit the install.sh and change the line that says /$[some variable]-/boot to the newely mounted parition /boot (e.g. /mnt/boot)
4) change to the /dist/kernels directory and run the install.sh from your mounted drive with kernel kernel arguments (e.g. cd /dist/kernels && /mnt/install.sh kernel kernel)
How-To-Repeat: Install 64 bit 6.1-RELEASE on a Supermicro H8DAR-T standard with MBR (no boot-loader) and re-boot to start system.

Comment 1 ian j hart 2006-05-10 11:43:34 UTC

Did you do a "standard" install?

kernels/install.sh was rewritten to allow a choice of kernel. e.g. GENERIC or SMP
If you run the script by hand you need to rename the installed kernel. If you use
one of the "potted" installs, sysinstall should do this for you.

A manual install would be something like (i.e. not tested)

cd /dist/kernels
./install.sh GENERIC
mv /boot/GENERIC /boot/kernel

If you want to install somewhere other than /, you should be able to set DESTDIR to
avoid editing the script.

I guess you could call this a "feature".

-- 
i j hart

ICT Technician
Cardinal Newman Catholic School & Community College

Comment 2 jfritschi 2006-05-12 20:52:28 UTC

Had a similar problem on my t22 thinkpad (i386). The kernel was simply missing 
after serveral installations.

I did 6.1-RELEASE standard installations with several different configurations 
regarding slice setup /mbr (allways the whole hd for freebsd) and 
installation medias (ftp and cd). All failed with a missing kernel. 

After finding this bug report i started to investigate a bit. With debug on i 
can see a few error messages on the debug console:

DEBUG: Executing command 'rm -rf /boot/kernel'
DEBUG: Command 'rm -rf /boot/kernel' returns status of 0
DEBUG: Executing command 'mv /boot/GENERIC /boot/kernel'
mv: rename /boot/GENERIC to /boot/kernel: No such file or directory
DEBUG: Command 'mv /boot/GENERIC /boot/kernel' returns status of 1

I tried to install again to get some more debug info on the next "try" and 
suddenly it worked. I have not changed a bit and have absolutely no clue what 
the problem was. I would be happy to investigate some more if someone could 
tell me some neat way to log the debug console of sysinstall or any other 
debug technique for the problem.
---

Joachim

Comment 3 Greg Hamamjian 2006-05-19 03:46:25 UTC

To whom it may concern:

Going through some troubleshooting steps with i j hart (ICT
Technician) from the Cardinal Newman Catholic School & Community
College, I was informed to submit a Followup letting you know that the
above problem also applies to the i386 architecture.

-=3D-Thanks in Advance
-=3D-Greg

Comment 4 Mark Linimon freebsd_committer

2006-05-25 23:18:43 UTC

Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-amd64->freebsd-bugs

Apparently also happens on i386.

Comment 5 gregh 2006-10-03 00:05:15 UTC

To whom it may concern:

The issue stated in problem report kern/97019 also occurs in 6.2 (Beta 1.) I am downloading Beta 2, will test some time this week.
-- 
Greg Hamamjian
CCTV Suppliers INC
2529 Foothill BLVD #106
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Office: (818) 249-3555

Comment 6 Greg Hamamjian 2006-10-03 20:00:34 UTC

Issue also occurs in 6.2 BETA2.
-- 
Greg

Comment 7 Greg Hamamjian 2007-02-07 04:30:23 UTC

To whom it may concern:

The problem report stated in 97019 seems to have been rectified in the 6.2-Release.

Thanks again to all that were involved.
-- 
Greg Hamamjian

Comment 8 Christian S.J. Peron freebsd_committer

2007-02-07 05:19:48 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->closed

Submitter reported the problem has been corrected in 6.2