Unable to boot FreeBSD 8.0-p3

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Fri, Jul 02, 2010 at 12:51:33AM +0800, GNUbie wrote:
> Hello Mark,
> 
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 12:36 AM, Mark Blackman <mark at exonetric.com> wrote:
> >
> > sorry, i'd have to dig out the 8.0 installer to give you precise
> > instructions.
> >
> > The general idea is to boot from the kernel on the CD, then at
> > the main menu there is a "fixit" option which should get you to
> > repair mode. From there you should get a shell which uses binaries
> > on the CD to permit you mount the existing filesystems and use
> > the old kernel installation at least.
> >
> > I didn't pay close attention to the beginning of the thread, but
> > I believe you have had  some kernel working on this machine at
> > some point.
> 
> Ok then. I will try it here. I will update you for whatever will be the result.

Mark's referring to the following choice in the FreeBSD installer
(otherwise known as sysinstall(8)):

  Fixit          Repair mode with CDROM/DVD/floppy or start shell

Be aware that you'll need the "livefs" CD/DVD to use this.  The "Shell"
choice won't give you all the necessary utilities you might need.

Otherwise, you'll need to use the FreeBSD "memstick" image (written to a
USB pen/flash drive (not hard disk).  Said image is bootable.  You can
use the memstick image for both a FreeBSD install *and* fixit; quite
nice!

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.              PGP: 4BD6C0CB |