Installing FreeBSD 7.1 on a Dell Inspiron 530s - HELP!

[patrick]

Booting in safe-mode doesn't have the TIMEOUT - READ_BIG messages, but
instead I get an interrupt storm detected. The LiveCD didn't work
because when I boot with ACPI disabled, no disks are detected which
means that I cannot mount the LiveCD. :(


On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 2:19 PM, patrick <gibblertron at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, I just got a new Dell Inspiron 530s, and am having some trouble
> getting FreeBSD 7.1 installed on it. When I boot up from the CD, after
> it detects all of the disks, I start getting messages like:
>
> acd0: TIMEOUT - READ_BIG retrying (1 retry left)
>
> and so on.
>
> Google results suggested that I disable ACPI from the boot menu. This
> works insofar as I get to the installation menu; however, when I go to
> partition the disk, it says that no disks were found. Is there a way I
> can disable ACPI, but set some boot-time variables to help the system
> find the disk controller?
>
> I'm in the process of creating a LiveCD to see if acpidump might help
> isolate just what the problem is, but if anyone has some advice in the
> meantime, I'd greatly appreciate it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Patrick
>