Installer stuck in reboot loop - how can I enable a serial terminal to see why?

Status
Not open for further replies.

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
I'm trying to install 9.10 to an ASRock J1900 board (only 4GB for now). The installer boots, but it reboots after a few seconds around the time it reports "waiting for usbus0". There may be more output after this, but it's hard to say for sure.

Is it possible to use the grub 'e' option to add something at boot time so that I can capture the full boot trace over a serial interface? I've looked about for information on enabling the serial console for FreeBSD, but I've not found anything that's helped (I'm used to Linux, so FreeBSD is new to me).

I've tried running the installer from a USB CD-ROM, USB flash drive and a SATA drive. They all boot, but have the same problem.

Chris
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
No need for a boot trace as that is the problem.

Even the installer won't run with 4GB? I'm just trying to use existing hardware to put together a demo system (no storage) to show people the GUI / features.

I'll try installing into a VM as that will allow them to see something running.

I would still like to know how to activate a boot trace though as the system (when the RAM arrives) will be headless.

Thanks
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
No need for a boot trace as that is the problem.

I've just managed to install on another (older) system that only has 4GB RAM. The most obvious difference is this one has an Intel NIC where as the other one has a Realtek.
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
No need for a boot trace as that is the problem.
Maybe not. RAM finally arrived and the system still fails to boot the installer, even though it now has 8GB and an Intel NIC.

So, how do I enable boot trace?
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
After more testing:
  • System fails to boot FreeBSD 9
  • System boots ok with FreeBSD 10.3
  • FreeNAS 9.10 does not boot
  • FreeNAS Corral does not boot
Anyone got any ideas on what I should be looking at?
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
I've just tried this again with 11.0 (8GB RAM) and am seeing the same behaviour.
I've used the serial boot option to capture the boot messages, but there's nothing obvious in there - last message output is "waiting for usbus0".
 
D

dlavigne

Guest
Just to clarify: it does not boot into the installer? Or it installs, but then does not boot?

If it does not boot into the installer, what command/utility did you use to write the image?
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
That's right, the installer fails to fully boot. The installer image is fine - it boots on another board (DN2800). I've even tried using this second board to install to an SSD that I then tried in the J1900 board.

The last message that's output in all cases on the J1900 is "waiting for usbus0".

Image was written using 'dd'.
 

Stux

MVP
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
4,367
Do you have legacy/uefi options in your BIOS? Can you try twiddling them and see if it makes a difference.

Also, some BIOSes have options for emulating legacy mice/keyboard via USB etc... try fiddling with those settings.
 

Jailer

Not strong, but bad
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
4,976
Can you try twiddling them
Is that a technical term or another one of those obscure IT acronyms that elude me?
 

Stux

MVP
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
4,367
Is that a technical term or another one of those obscure IT acronyms that elude me?

Yes, technical term, means to adjust the various values of the whatsit
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
Ok, I've twiddled all the whatsis I can find without any luck.

Looking at the startup trace, I can see that the watchdog is being enabled:
Code:
wbwd0: <Nuvoton NCT6102 (0xc4/0x52) Watchdog Timer> at port 0x2e-0x2f on isa0
wbwd0: Before watchdog attach: Watchdog enabled. Scaling by 1s, timer at 4 (<=4s left). CRF5 0x02 CRF7 0x00


This happens even when it is disabled in the BIOS.

The reboot is happing about 4 seconds after this, which sounds suspicious to me...

Is there some GRUB foo I can add to stop this?
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
Some progress - if I set the BIOS to enable the WDT reset (I had it set it disable) and set the initial reset time to 255, then I can get into the installer!

Will try an install to see if there's enough time to get it done...
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
No, that doesn't give it long enough to install.

It looks as if I'm seeing the same issue as was reported in https://bugs.freenas.org/issues/7237 (resolved)

I'm currently trying an install after adding the fix to that issue to GRUB:
Code:
set kFreeBSD.hint.wbwd.0.disabled=1
 

keylevel

Explorer
Joined
Mar 9, 2017
Messages
58
Ok, I've now got the system installed, but it no reboots during "Generating DH parameters" on the first boot.

I saw "Starting watchdogd" shortly before this, but it appears as if the watchdog isn't being serviced.

I had set kFreeBSD.hint.wbwd.0.disabled=1 in GRUB when the system booted, so it also looks as if this is being overridden at some point?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top