booting off 6.0 cdrom for Install

[Jud]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005 00:20:15 -0600, "Daniel Goldberg"
<dgoldberg at tarshis.com> said:

> I have created a "FreeBSD_Install" cdrom from the
> 6.0-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso download.
> When I boot from the cd I reach a 6-option Boot menu but do not get to
> the Install menu described in 2.3.1 of the Handbook.
>  
> Note: If I do try to boot, the boot process itself seems to fail with a
> "Cannot dump: no dump device defined" following a "Fatal trap 12 page
> fault while in kernel mode"- in case that illustrates anything, and
> that's boot attempts with or without APCI.

A dump device is a place to put information about problems so that you
can debug them.  It's not what's preventing you from getting to the
Install menu.  The kernel panic - "Fatal trap 12 page fault while in
kernel mode" - is what's doing that.  Re kernel panic, see generally
<URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic>.  I don't have the
technical proficiency to help you further re the panic - hopefully
someone else on the list might be able to do that.  I'll try to suggest
some possible workarounds, though:

1) See if the most recent -STABLE snapshot (obtained via FTP, probably
the same place you downloaded the 6.0-RELEASE iso from) likes your
laptop better than the release iso.

2) Check system hardware, particularly memory, for trouble.
 
> So the basic question is:
> Is the install process supposed to be as simple as: 
> A     create a primary FAT32 partition
> B     boot your machine from the FreeBSD_Install (DISK 1) cd 
> C     follow the prompts through the install process 

Simpler than that, actually.  The availability of disk space that can be
made a primary partition is necessary, but FAT32 isn't.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.  Hope you get there.

Jud