# FreeBSD 8.1 hangs up on boot. After loader issues a 10 second wait for key presses.



## francis (Dec 22, 2010)

Hello, I have a question about FreeBSD boot. The point is that, FreeBSD hangs up for about ten seconds after menu "Welcome to FreeBSD", exactly is about the moment when it comes to countdown e.g from 3 to 0 (someone set it up for 10 seconds). At this point the system freezes, and after about 10 seconds, begins to start.

I tried to add an entry to the kernel 
	
	



```
SCSI_DELAY=2000
```
 But it did not help.

I added to the /boot/loader.conf file 
	
	



```
kern.cam.scsi_delay="2000"
```
 But still no effects. 

According to FreeBSD handbook (*Chapter 11 Configuration and Tuning, 11.12 Tuning Disks*) which describes SCSI_DELAY in this way; 





> The SCSI_DELAY kernel config may be used to reduce system boot times. The defaults are fairly high and can be responsible for 15 seconds of delay in the boot process. Reducing it to 5 seconds usually works (especially with modern drives). The kern.cam.scsi_delay boot time tunable should be used. The tunable, and kernel config option accept values in terms of milliseconds and not seconds.


 I do not have any idea. Here is some information, about computer. 

[CMD=]uname -p[/cmd]

```
i386
```
[cmd=]sysctl -a | egrep -i 'hw.machine|hw.model|hw.ncpu'[/cmd]

```
hw.machine: i386
hw.model: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU        E3200  @ 2.40GHz
hw.ncpu: 2
hw.machine_arch: i386
```

[cmd=]grep -i cpu /var/run/dmesg.boot[/cmd]

```
CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU        E3200  @ 2.40GHz (2400.01-MHz 686-class CPU)
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
```
Some results of the dmesg command. 


```
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x1008-0x100b on acpi0
real memory  = 1073741824 (1024 MB)
avail memory = 887263232 (846 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <GBT    GBTUACPI>
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)
 cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
 cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  1
acpi_hpet0: <High Precision Event Timer> iomem 0xfeff0000-0xfeff03ff on acpi0
Timecounter "HPET" frequency 25000000 Hz quality 900
ata0: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
est1: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu1
est: CPU supports Enhanced Speedstep, but is not recognized.
est: cpu_vendor GenuineIntel, msr 6160c2506000c25
device_attach: est1 attach returned 6
```

And some technical information;

```
RAM: DDRAM-2 1GB GOODRAM 
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-73PVM-S2H
```
 Does anyone has some idea, why FreeBSD hangs up? And one more thing. After this "freeze", system boots normally.

Thanks.


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## wblock@ (Dec 22, 2010)

It's not clear that SCSI_DELAY has anything to do with the pause you're seeing.  AFAIK, SCSI_DELAY only applies to SCSI controllers and disks anyway; do you have a SCSI controller, and if so, which one?


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## gordon@ (Dec 22, 2010)

SCSI_DELAY is only encountered after the kernel is loading. From your description, your problem is likely before the kernel boot. Not sure what it might be though.


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## wblock@ (Dec 22, 2010)

Hmm.  That motherboard has a Firewire port.  Try disabling that port in the BIOS and see if that fixes the pause.


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## francis (Jan 9, 2011)

Okey. It taken me more days. I did only one method to check if I have SCSI controller. I thought that it will be the best method, since FreeBSD support this command.

[CMD=""]# camcontrol devlist -v [/CMD]
	
	



```
scbus-1 on xpt0 bus 0:
<>                                 at scbus-1 target -1 lun -1 (xpt0)
```
I also turned off the option in BIOS which is responsible for the firewire, but no change.
I dont know if it is important, but I also run the ATA control utility

[CMD=""]# atacontrol list [/CMD]

```
ATA channel 2:
    Master:  ad4 <WDC WD3200AAJS-00L7A0/01.03E01> SATA revision 2.x
    Slave:       no device present
ATA channel 3:
    Master: acd0 <HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50/TN01> SATA revision 1.x
    Slave:       no device present
```
 On others channels: no device present.

I also read about FreeBSD boot stages. I think about Stage Three, which the loader read /boot/loader.rc. Like I mentioned, system freeze after moment  in which the loader issues a 10 (or 3, it depends on users preferences) second wait for key presses, and boots the kernel.

Chapter 12: Booting Process


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## wblock@ (Jan 9, 2011)

So you have good old SATA drives and no SCSI.  The delay could be anything, a pause waiting for a PS/2 keyboard, a serial console, some other piece of hardware to become ready.  Booting verbose (loader(8)) might help to see what happens before and after the pause.


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