# Failure to install with more than 1 core active



## Tomlawesome (Jan 13, 2021)

Hello, 

I'm new to FreeBSD and would really like to give it a go, but am having some major issues right from the off.

i5 2500k 
Zotac H67 mini-itx
16GB RAM

I think I've isolated the issue to the number of active cores. If I change this in BIOS to 1, then I can successfully boot and install. Obviously this is not ideal with a quad core CPU, as it's a waste. When enabling more than one core I get the error:

panic: AP# 1 (PHY# 2) failed!

Disabling ACPI does resolve the issue at all, whether selected from the 'menu' or set via "set hint.acpi.0.disabled=1"

Any help greatly appreciated, as I'm really at a loss here.
The machine runs Windows/Linux distros just fine.


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## Tomlawesome (Jan 14, 2021)

I think I have narrowed this down to an issue with SMP and FreeBSD.

DragonflyBSD - which has had extensive rewriting done with SMP in mind - runs perfectly, and Windows/Linux still install just fine. I have no more options to resolve this via the BIOS, because (Regrettably) Zotac dropped this board like a hot coal after releasing a single update, and then an Ivy Bridge compatibility update. I have zero confidence in them being willing to develop firmware for this old board, which is a shame, as they should've done it in the first place. 

FreeBSD 13 doesn't work either, so I guess it looks like this board is out in the weeds for the foreseeable future. 

For anyone in the future the net result after three days of spending all my free time looking into this, is that if you've got the same motherboard you're SOL. Nada. Get a new board or change your plans.


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## ralphbsz (Jan 14, 2021)

Many years ago (probably 2010, when I was still volunteering at an elementary school, our child is now in college), a friend handed me a Zotac all-in-one computer, because he couldn't get it to work. So I tried installing FreeBSD on it, and it didn't work either. So I threw it into the recycling bin. Your board must be about the same vintage. I think switching boards is the correct answer.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Jan 14, 2021)

FreeBSD definitely uses multi core without any configuration. I ran a 2 x 6 core Xeon workstation with FreeBSD and it used all 24 cores for package builds.  That’s too bad about your board.


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## SirDice (Jan 15, 2021)

I have a Zotac ID41 plus:

```
CPU: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU D2700   @ 2.13GHz (2128.05-MHz K8-class CPU)
  Origin="GenuineIntel"  Id=0x30661  Family=0x6  Model=0x36  Stepping=1
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x40e31d<SSE3,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,MOVBE>
  AMD Features=0x20100800<SYSCALL,NX,LM>
  AMD Features2=0x1<LAHF>
  TSC: P-state invariant, performance statistics
{..}
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 4 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
```
And a Zotac Giga ID72 plus:

```
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100T CPU @ 2.50GHz (2494.38-MHz K8-class CPU)
  Origin="GenuineIntel"  Id=0x206a7  Family=0x6  Model=0x2a  Stepping=7
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x1d9ae3bf<SSE3,PCLMULQDQ,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,PCID,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,POPCNT,TSCDLT,XSAVE,OSXSAVE,AVX>
  AMD Features=0x28100800<SYSCALL,NX,RDTSCP,LM>
  AMD Features2=0x1<LAHF>
  XSAVE Features=0x1<XSAVEOPT>
  VT-x: PAT,HLT,MTF,PAUSE,EPT,UG,VPID
  TSC: P-state invariant, performance statistics
{..}
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 4 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
```
Both have been running FreeBSD for a number of years without issues.



Sevendogsbsd said:


> FreeBSD definitely uses multi core without any configuration.


The GENERIC kernel has included SMP(4) for quite some years now. I want to say FreeBSD 7 but it may even be as early as 5.0.



Tomlawesome said:


> panic: AP# 1 (PHY# 2) failed!


Is APIC enabled in the BIOS?


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## Tomlawesome (Jan 18, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Is APIC enabled in the BIOS?


Yea, it is. Interesting to see other Zotac boards working, especially the Sandy Bridge i3.



ralphbsz said:


> Many years ago (probably 2010, when I was still volunteering at an elementary school, our child is now in college), a friend handed me a Zotac all-in-one computer, because he couldn't get it to work. So I tried installing FreeBSD on it, and it didn't work either. So I threw it into the recycling bin. Your board must be about the same vintage. I think switching boards is the correct answer.


The hardware is old, but it's still more than capable still in this day and age and retains plenty of useful functionality. It's actually also pretty hard to replace in a cost effective way for the feature set I want. My unit isn't an all-in-one, so fortunately I'll probably have to buy a replacment board, but it's a bit of a waste of otherwise perfectly good hardware.


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## diizzy (Jan 18, 2021)

Update bios to the newest version available? Disable UEFI and use CSM instead of that's an option


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