Boot loader/kernel error

[Dan Nelson]

In the last episode (Oct 08), Hac Phan said:
> I'm having trouble with a machine that was recently rebooted and will no
> longer boot correctly.
> 
> The boot process hangs with the following screen:
> Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf
> -
> 
> The cursor does not move and no other text is displayed. After about 10
> minutes, the boot finishes (without the splash screen) and displays the
> login prompt.  I tried to login but it timed out after 300 seconds.

That behaviour is consistent with having a serial console setup in
/boot/loader.conf .  As soon as the loader sees "console=comconsole", it
will switch its output and the kernel's output to com1.  If com1 doesn't
exist, it will take a long time to boot.  When the kernel finally finishes,
init still start a getty on the physical console, which is when you see the
login prompt.  If you can boot your fixit CD and get the root filessytem
mountd read/write, try commenting out that comconsole line.

Most bad loader.conf problems can be fixed by hitting space just before the
loader starts up the kernel and unsetting the bad variable, but "comconsole"
is one of the commands that it runs immediately, and I don't think you can
stop the loader from parsing loader.conf.
 
-- 
	Dan Nelson
	dnelson at allantgroup.com