FreeBSD 5.3; hoto migrate from i386 to amd64 mode

[Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.]

Meyendriesch, Burkard wrote:

>hello folks,
>
>on my Athlon64 based box I installed 5-CURRENT about a year
>ago. Because at that time amd64 mode didn't work very well 
>with a lot of ports I installed FreeBSD in i386 mode. Meanwhile 
>I followed the release path to 5.3.Everything works very fine.
>
>Now I want to use the full power of my 64 bit CPU. I cross 
>compiled the kernel to amd64 mode (cd /usr/src; make kernel 
>TARGET=amd64 TARGET_ARCH=amd64 KERNCONF=REINEKE64) and tried 
>to reboot the machine with the new kernel. The kernel himself 
>seems to work but when he tries to mount the root filesystem 
>the system hangs. I think something in my migration is wrong.
>
>Can someone please tell me the correct procedure to get my 
>system work in amd64 mode without complete re-installation.
>
>Thanks a lot
>Burkard
>  
>

Ouch!  Before you read any further, let me state
in no uncertain terms that I am not an expert!

Did you also make a world for the new target
architecture?  It would probably not be a
Good Thing(tm) to have a kernel built for amd64
trying to work with an i386 userland, and that
could be a possible, even likely,  explanation for
the failure to mount the fs ....

My tentative advice: Boot up with the old kernel,
**make a complete backup**, and then either:

A> Try again with a full buildworld/buildkernel etc,
routine, OR:

B> Contact the freebsd-amd64 list with a new
question.

I'd probably recommend the latter first ...

Kevin Kinsey