# problems booting freebsd installation on net5501 - no real output in console



## rusma (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi!

I'm experiencing some problems on installing FreeBSD/i386 via tftp/internet and serial console on my Soekris net5501. I have not installed freebsd on it before, but OpenBSD has worked fine two times before. Here is some output from my serial console (putty):


```
5 Seconds to automatic boot.   Press Ctrl-P for entering Monitor.

comBIOS Monitor.   Press ? for help.

> boot f0

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997,1998,1999  Intel Corporation
VIA Rhine III Management Adapter v2.43 (2005/12/15)

CLIENT MAC ADDR: 00 00 24 CC 7C BC
CLIENT IP: 10.0.0.6  MASK: 255.255.255.0  DHCP IP: 10.0.0.7
GATEWAY IP: 10.0.0.1

 o
 silding the boot loader arguments
 nlocating the loader and the BTX
 oarting the BTX loader
 C
```

I don't see much more output than this. I've tried several times, doing the same thing - no difference. 

I use `Tftpd32Â´ for dhcp server and tftp server. It's configured like this: see 'tftpd32.ini.txt  (2.5 KB)'.

I have not done much configuring of bios at this point, except from configuring the console speed to be 9600 instead of the standard 19200. 

Any ideas?


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## aragon (Jan 16, 2010)

I recommend NanoBSD.


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## volatilevoid (Jan 16, 2010)

It seems your problems come from using Windows as PXE server.

The user michaelBSD had exactly the same problem until he switched to FreeBSD for serving the file. See this thread.


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## rusma (Jan 16, 2010)

aragon said:
			
		

> I recommend NanoBSD.



Eventuelly I will do that. I like upgrading natively, since freebsd is not on my desktop yet.


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## rusma (Jan 16, 2010)

volatilevoid said:
			
		

> It seems your problems come from using Windows as PXE server.
> 
> The user michaelBSD had exactly the same problem until he switched to FreeBSD for serving the file. See this thread.



OK. I'll set up a pc with serial and freebsd then.


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## rusma (Feb 23, 2010)

Off-topic:Sorry if I raise this thread from the dead by posting this. Better than scattering stuff all around in different threads I say. 

Now, on-topic: It seems I can't get the configuration of the dhcp server quite right. These are the contents of my /usr/local/etc/dhcpd.conf so far: 

```
ddns-update-style none;

subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
  option domain-name 		"example.org" ;
  option domain-name-servers 	10.0.0.1 ;
  option routers 		10.0.0.1 ;
  range 			10.0.0.4 10.0.0.4 ;
  option host-name 		"workbox" ;
  next-server 			10.0.0.11 ;
  option root-path 		"10.0.0.11:/usr/nfsroot" ;
  filename 			"/boot/pxeboot";
}
```
A somewhat altered version of the alternative configuration given here, with example IP ranges from here. Yet very archane for me 
I have this in my /etc/exports:

```
/usr/local/freebsd8	-network 10.0.0 -mask 255.255.255.0
```
I've also rebuilt the pxeboot to support serialspeed at 19200 (tips from here). rpcbind, mountd and nfsd are all started. Still, I get this lame output: 

```
> boot f0

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997,1998,1999  Intel Corporation
VIA Rhine III Management Adapter v2.43 (2005/12/15)

CLIENT MAC ADDR: [the mac address]  
PXE-E51: No DHCP or proxyDHCP offers were received.                            


PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

No Boot device available, enter monitor.


comBIOS Monitor.   Press ? for help.

>
```
The pxespinner spins for a long time, and then returns the message. 

I'm not sure what network interface to use on the net5501 and on the serving machine (I've got 3); since I've not specified any mac addresses (and this means I'm not supposed to specify anything).


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