# System not booting after upgrade 12.3 -> 13.0



## Ozric (Dec 21, 2022)

I did an upgrade from 12.3-RELEASE to 13.0-RELEASE on a system and now it will not boot. This is what it shows on boot:







It will hang there. It is exactly the same in Single user mode. Could it be the joy module that is causing it to not boot, and if so how do I remove that from loader.conf?
In the loader prompt I tried running `unload`and then `boot` but that gave the same output.


----------



## SirDice (Dec 21, 2022)

It's booting, you just don't see anything because the console has been switched to the serial port (check option 5. Cons; it's been set to serial).

And why did you upgrade to 13.0? That version is end-of-life, you should have upgraded directly to 13.1 (there's no need to install any of the 'intermediate' versions).

Just hit the power button (short press), that should gracefully shutdown the machine. Then when booting double check the menu, make sure Cons: is set to 'video'. Finish the upgrade process you already started. Make sure you do it all, `freebsd-update install` should be run a total of _three_ times, then also upgrade all your installed ports/packages. Work your way through the whole upgrade process. Then start another upgrade from 13.0 to 13.1.

On second thought, how far did you get with the upgrade? Was this right after the first `freebsd-update install` and the first reboot? Then only the kernel has been updated, that's easy to rollback. You're probably better off restoring the 12.3 kernel and restart the upgrade process from scratch, only this time upgrade to 13.1 instead of 13.0.


----------



## Ozric (Dec 21, 2022)

SirDice said:


> It's booting, you just don't see anything because the console has been switched to the serial port (check option 5. Cons; it's been set to serial).
> 
> And why did you upgrade to 13.0? That version is end-of-life, you should have upgraded directly to 13.1 (there's no need to install any of the 'intermediate' versions).
> 
> Just hit the power button (short press), that should gracefully shutdown the machine. Then when booting double check the menu, make sure Cons: is set to 'video'. Finish the upgrade process you already started. Make sure you do it all, `freebsd-update install` should be run a total of _three_ times, then also upgrade all your installed ports/packages. Work your way through the whole upgrade process. Then start another upgrade from 13.0 to 13.1.



I just did it off the top of my head and I did not remember that 13.1 was the latest version.

I changed to Cons: Video in the boot menu but it still stalls with the same printout on screen. As you said it may very well be booting, because the caps/scroll/num lock LEDs are still responsive, so the system hasn't hanged.


----------



## SirDice (Dec 21, 2022)

Was this after the first reboot? Right after the first `freebsd-update install`?

In that same menu, selecting kernel.old should boot your 'old' 12.3 kernel.


----------



## Ozric (Dec 21, 2022)

SirDice said:


> Was this after the first reboot? Right after the first `freebsd-update install`?


Correct, this was after the first `freebsd-update install` when it tells you to reboot and run it again.


----------



## SirDice (Dec 21, 2022)

Try changing option 6; to kernel.old and set 5 Cons; to video again. Hopefully that will boot your old system again. It's probably best to start the upgrade process from scratch again. You only have a new kernel now, so that's easy to back out.


----------



## _martin (Dec 21, 2022)

The addr, size of framebuffer is weird though, I'd expect proper numbers there. The "joy" not found - that's some sort of module you're trying to load ?


----------



## Ozric (Dec 22, 2022)

SirDice said:


> Try changing option 6; to kernel.old and set 5 Cons; to video again. Hopefully that will boot your old system again. It's probably best to start the upgrade process from scratch again. You only have a new kernel now, so that's easy to back out.


Unfortunately it stalls in the same way (with the difference that the joy module seems to load):


----------



## covacat (Dec 22, 2022)

try to boot 13.1 from installation media
copy 13.1 loader.efi over your hdd efi partition loader.efi and bootx64.efi (make backups of present files)


----------



## _martin (Dec 22, 2022)

covacat said:


> copy 13.1 loader.efi over your hdd efi partition loader.efi and bootx64.efi (make backups of present files)


I agree this is a good way to go. But doesn't freebsd-update do this automatically? I personally don't use it so I'm wondering if this step was not done by the upgrade.


----------



## covacat (Dec 22, 2022)

probably it does if the efi partition is mounted but he is on 13.0 in the best case


----------



## SirDice (Dec 22, 2022)

_martin said:


> But doesn't freebsd-update do this automatically?


No. freebsd-update(8) doesn't touch any of the boot loaders, you always have to update those yourself. It will update the files in /boot/ (/boot/loader.efi, /boot/gptzfsboot, etc) but it won't apply those.


----------



## _martin (Dec 22, 2022)

SirDice said:


> No. freebsd-update(8) doesn't touch any of the boot loaders, you always have to update those yourself.


Good to know. And then doing so is really a good idea now. 

I think OP's current loader has problem setting up frame buffer and hence OP is experiencing those issues. It would be worth checking out if SSH is accessible (or at least ping) to see if system is actually frozen or if there's no vidconsole only.


----------



## zirias@ (Dec 22, 2022)

I have a machine here showing _exactly that_ when I try to boot in UEFI mode (and yes, it's really frozen). But then, this didn't work on 12 either. Nevertheless, it _might_ be something to try: Boot in CSM mode.


----------

