FreeBSD Installation Problems

[John Vender]

On Thursday, March 27, 2003, at 07:57 PM, Sukhbinder Singh wrote:

>      First, I made the 2 image floppy disk for the 2 image files by
> downloading them from ftp.freebsd.org. These 2 files are kern.flp and
> msfroot.flp. I also downloaded and made an image disk for drvivers.flp 
> just
> to download the drivers at the installation process.  Then I reboot the
> computer and I put the kern.flp disk. Then the computer automatically 
> reads
> drive a: and process this disk. Then it comes to a point where it asks 
> me to
> insert MFS root floppy and press enter by prompting me a message like "
> Please insert MFS root floppy and press enter: " I then insert the MFS 
> root
> floppy disk and pressed enter and the computer starts processing this
> diskette then it comes to a point where it displays a message like "Hit
> [Enter] to boot immediately or press anykey for prompt" while this
> installation program counts down from 10 to 0 and automatically boots 
> after
> reaching 0. Then, the next message that I get is "Would you like to load
> kernel modules from the driver floppy ? Yes No", I pressed yes and I 
> loaded
> the drivers which I had copied from the drivers floppy from the 
> driver.flp
> file from ftp.freebsd.org.
>
>          Then I get a message like "probing devices please wait ......" 
> and
> then it pops up a window called Sysinstall Main Menuand it gives me 
> several
> options to select the installation type. I selected the "Standard"
> installation type and pressed enter to proceed to the next step. After 
> doing
> this I get a message saying "in the next menu, you will need to set up 
> a dos
> style ("fdisk") partitioning scheme for your hard disk. After pressing 
> enter
> at this prompt it takes me to the Fdisk Partition Editor. Where I have 
> 2 MB
> of my hard disk space devoted to FreeBSD. I made the dos partition 
> active,
> by moving the cursor to the partition and pressing S to set it Bootable.
> Then I press Q which means finished and moved to the next screen. In the
> next screen I got the Boot Manager Window to install the Boot Manager. 
> Then,
> I moved the highlighted cursor to the "install the FreeBSD Boot 
> Manager" and
> pressed enter. Then the installation program takes me to another message
> window where it states that "Now you need to create a BSD Partition 
> inside
> the FDisk partition just created ...." I pressed enter to proceed. Now 
> the
> installation program takes me to the FreeBSD Disklabel Editor window. 
> Here
> the highlighted cursor is at top most area of the screen at Disk : ad 0
> partition name : ad 0S2 Free : 3924585 blocks (1916MB). I pressed A 
> which
> means auto at the time when the highlighted cursor was at the top most 
> area
> of the screen at Disk : ad 0  partition name : ad 0S2 Free : 3924585 
> blocks
> (1916MB). By pressing A at this point I get the partition for FreeBSD
> partitioned into its own chunks. These pieces were for / ("root), 
> /swap ,
> /var, /usr. The root partition is assigned 256 MB, the swap partition is
> assigned 176 MB, the /var partition is assigned 256 MB, the /tmp 
> partition
> is assigned 256 MB and the /usr partition is assigned 991 MB 
> respectively.
>
>          Then from here again I press Q which means finish and I moved 
> to
> the next screen. The next screen is called the "Choice Distribution" 
> window
> here I selected the minimal option which stands for the smallest
> configuration possible and pressed ok. Then it takes me to the "choice
> installation media" window. I selected FTP from here and pressed enter. 
> Then
> it takes me to the "Please select a FeeeBSD FTP distribution site" and I
> selected the primary site called ftp.freebsd.org and pressed enter. 
> Then the
> installation program took me to the "Network Interface Information 
> Required"
> window. Where here I selected the PPP option. Then after selecting the 
> PPP
> option and pressing enter I was prompted another message window called 
> the
> "User Confirmation Requested" window. When it ask me "DO you want to try
> IPv6 configuration of the interface? " I selected no and pressed enter 
> to
> proceeded to the next screen. Then in the next screen I get another 
> window
> with a request message like "Do you want to try DHCP configuration at 
> the
> Interface ? Yes No ". I selected No and proceeded to the next level of 
> the
> installation process. In this next level, I get a big screen called the
> "Network Configuration" window to proceed with my ftp. I think or 
> suspect
> this is where the problem is.  This window has 7 fields which it 
> requires me
> to enter. These 7 fields are host, domain, ipv4 gateway, name server, 
> IPv4
> address netmask :, extra option to ifconfig. I do not know any 
> information
> regarding any of the fields. If I leave all of these fields empty, the
> installation program prompts me with an error message like "must 
> specify a
> host name of some sort !"  Then I just entered a host name for the host,
> like foo.com and pressed enter to proceed all the way through the 7 
> fields
> to the OK button. Then, the installation program brings me to another 
> window
> to enter the IP address of my service provider and then it prompts 
> another
> window asking me "Does your ISP support PAP or CHAP ppp logins ? Yes 
> No" I
> pressed Yes and it requested me to enter the login name for my service
> provider. I then entered my login name, then it requested me to enter my
> password to my service provider and I entered my password to my service
> provider and then it requested the provider's login phone number and I
> entered the provider login phone number. Then this installation program 
> asks
> me if my telephone line supports tone dialing ? I selected yes and 
> pressed
> enter and proceeded further. Then, the installation program brings me 
> to a
> window saying PPP command is already started on VTY3. I pressed enter 
> at the
> OK highlighted button and then I get the final message saying "Couldn't 
> open
> FTP connection to ftp.freebsd.org: Undefined error : 0." Then at this 
> point
> I get another message saying killing previous PPP process 76 and after
> pressing enter here I get another message saying "unable to adjust your
> media configuration and try again : " This is my installation process. 
> It
> fails to download freebsd automatically from the freebsd ftp site like 
> it
> should. Any help will be helpful.
>
> thanks,
>
> Sukh.

Hmm, it's been ages since I've done an ftp install but it seems 
sysinstall from your floppies is doing its job and you're getting 
through the required steps. I've just had a read of the handbook but the 
ftp install description is a bit sparse and I can't work out from it 
what the problem is and I don't have a machine to to try it on other 
than an old 486 with only 16 meg of ram, small hard disk and rather 
ancient 2.2.8 FreeBSD on it.

Hopefully someone with recent experience doing an ftp install will see 
where the problem lies. Last time I did it which was years ago I don't 
recall coming across your problem although I do remember my first 
attempt at the ftp install wasn't smooth sailing, I just don't remember 
what I was stumbling on.

If I don't see any help on this in the next couple of days I'll see if 
any of my FreeBSD loving friends have any recent ftp install experience 
and can see where your install is going wrong.

Cheers...John

>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: John Vender <john at jmv.com.au>
> To: Sukhbinder Singh <sukhbinders at hotmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 6:53 PM
> Subject: Re: FreeBSD Installation Problems
>
>
>> On Wednesday, March 26, 2003, at 08:53 PM, Sukhbinder Singh wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>>         I am trying to install FreeBSD into my personal computer,
>>> however I am receiving error messages during the course of my
>>> installation. When I am trying to install using the floppy method at
>>> the final prompt where the istallation program requests me to put in
>>> floppy disk in drive a and press enter. After putting in the disk and
>>> pressing enter I receive a warning or error message like "Error
>>> mounting floppy fd0 (/dev/fd0) on /dist: Invalid argument".
>>>
>>>           When I try to install it via FTP, at the end of the
>>> installation procedure I receive a message like "Couldn't open FTP
>>> connection to ftp.freebsd.org: undefined error : 0"   Can someone
>>> please help me troubleshoot this problems which I had been facing with
>>> the installation of FreeBSD into my personal computer.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>
>> from what you write I assume you made the installation floppies and the
>> first floppy boots the system and starts the installation process.
>> Please describe step by step what what is happening while you are 
>> trying
>> to do the install from the point the system boots and starts the
>> installation process including the options you select at any point 
>> where
>> you are asked to select options.
>>
>> Cheers...John
>>
>>
>