Stuck in bootstrapping hell - how do I troubleshoot?

[Alex Zbyslaw]

Chris Zumbrunn wrote:

>> The server is in a datacenter and I can only access it via ssh and 
>> boot either from the local disks or via network (freebsd or linux) - 
>> no serial console, so I can't see where it gets stuck during the 
>> bootstrap.
>>
Do you mean that you can boot the machine from an OS it picks up from the network?  I.e. you can boot some OS which is not the one of the local disk?  If so, then boot the network FreeBSD, mount your local disks and look at /var/log/messages.  If the machine was at least booting FreeBSD when it died then you should see something.


> Otherwise I'll get someone to sit in front of the machine and look at 
> the screen during a boot attempt

Well, that would be easiest, if you can do it.  How many airmiles do you have :-)

--Alex