FreeBSD 10 w/ fresh root-on-ZFS fails to boot

Elliot Robinson elliot.robinson at argiopetech.com
Sat Aug 16 03:28:51 UTC 2014


Good evening all,
I'm attempting to install FreeBSD 10 from the memstick image. Installing
with guided partitioning works and boots with no modifications, but I'd
prefer to run ZFS. I've spent the last 6 hours pursuing that goal to no
avail. Any assistance the group could offer would be greatly appreciated.

So far I have attempted to install with root-on-ZFS with GPT and MBR, swap
on and off, and 4k alignment on and off. I've also done some half-hearted
playing with the loader.conf & etc after the install, but, since all the
references I can find are focused on FreeBSD 9, I've come to the conclusion
that the root-on-ZFS utility knows better than I what needs to be done.

The only variable change which seems to have an effect is the GPT/MBR
change. GPT gives:

gptzfsboot: error 1 lba 1
gptzfsboot: error 1 lba 49
gptzfsboot: No ZFS pools located, can't boot

after POST. MBR POSTs, then freezes with no output. As best I can tell with
gpart, the partition table is effectively equivalent between guided and
root-on-ZFS w/ GPT installs (with the obvious exception of the filesystem
on ada0p2).

Hardware platform is a 2009-era Dell Studio XPS with a Core2 Duo and 8GB
RAM. Installation media is a 40GB OCZ Vertex II SSD.

Best regards,

---
Elliot Robinson
PGP Key: 9FEDE59A


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