Can't boot into setup to install FreeBSD 6 -- Rev

[Benjamin Sher]

Dear friends:

Two more important pieces of information:

1) While I am unable to get into Setup (F2) during bootup, I am able to 
stop the booting with F12 (boot menu), which offers me four choices: 
Normal, Diskette, Hard drive and CD. But when I select any of them, I 
get "Try reboot with F2 or hit F1". When I try the CD, I am told "boot 
medium missing" (I think).

2)  I  have downloaded the FreeBSD 6 files (551 MB and 650 MB), but I 
have been unable sofar to burn the ISO image correctly using my Nero 
5.5. But I'll deal with that later.

Thank you.

Benjamin

Just downloaded the two FreeBSD CD's from the web and I would like to 
install them on my second hard drive. But I've discovered that I cannot 
boot up into my Setup (F2, as clearly indicated on my Dell 8200 
Dimension during bootup). I have never had this kind of problem before. 
I have two 40GB hard drives and wanted to install Linux into my second 
hard drive, but to do this I have to be able to go into my Bios and 
change the boot sequence. I have done this several times before with the 
same computer and the same Win XP OS. But now there is something wrong. 
In fact, I even tried to insert my Windows XP CD and tried to click on 
F2. But, once again, all that happened is that I was taken immediately 
to Windows XP. How do I regain entry to my Setup?

One last thing: I searched for the boot.ini file (making sure that the 
search included all hidden and system files). It's under C:\boot.ini

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP 
Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

I called Dell and asked for their help. Unfortunately, they are now 
charging $99 per incident, which is way beyond what I and my family 
(being Katrina refugees) can afford. But they did let me explain the 
problem, and the lady said that in her opinion this is a software issue. 
I tend to agree since I have never had a single hardware problem with my 
Dell computer in the six years I have had it. If so, may I ask if 
someone on the FreeBSD list would be kind enough to help me resolve 
this. We would very much appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Benjamin Sher
865-690-3898




Thank you so very much.

Benjamin