# Installing fails on External USB with "Unable to find device node"



## CFB483 (Jun 27, 2010)

Hey,

So I am new to FreeBSD, old to Linux.

I am trying to test out FreeBSD o my external USB drive but the install fails o start, giving me the error:


```
Unable to find device node for /dev/da0s1b  in /dev!
```
It looks like it is having an issue with the swap partition.

I tried several of the dd write fixes from the FixIt menu but no luck.

Ideas?


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## CFB483 (Jun 27, 2010)

I am wondering if wiping the drive with:
[CMD="dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda"]dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0[/CMD]
would work?

Not near my drive right now or I would tell you. :^)


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## HADES (Jun 27, 2010)

I think freebsd can't be booted from USB flash. I tried this my self, but it failed and it dropped me in cmd mode, when I do manual mount and it continues to boot. It was some topic on the freebsd mailing lists, and it was some bug in freebsd that caused some race condition, and that's why freebsd can't auto-boot from USB flash.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jun 27, 2010)

I cannot answer fully but can give a hint.
You may fix it with:
In sysinstall, dropping to a shell somehow and
making sure all of the v8 usb ko's (device drivers)
are loaded.  (I'm pretty sure at least some are new
to v8, see the official Release Notes.)
OTOH, it could be not the usb drivers, but the
geom drivers (see other threads)
geom_bsd.ko, geom_mbr.ko, geom_label.ko which
caused (here) /dev devices to appear.
So to thoroughly test:

1... write down those three ko above and all the
usb drivers
2... find out how to load ko's in sysinstall (not
used to it so I don't quite remember, or you can
do it at a loader prompt with the install iso cd)
3... load all the usb and geom_ above before 
setting the partitions etc in sysinstall.
...
Or even do the partitioning with a v7 sysinstall
then switch to a v8 sysinstall for the 
install...  

Others would answer maybe if you gave a more
thoroughly 
detailed description of how you tried to install


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## CFB483 (Jun 28, 2010)

HA, you guys are silly. Yes, it seems that if you format your drive with a gparted it writes stuff at the beginning AND THE END of the disk that the FreeBSD 8 installer does not like. 

After I wiped the hard drive with:

`sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=2048`

and the install went right through.

I know there is a way to dd only the beginning and end of the drive using "seek" but I wanted to make sure I got it all.

That issue, and the fact that no one knew the simple fix, is a deal breaker for me and FreeBSD. 

But thanks all.

Back to Debian....


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jun 28, 2010)

It might have been answered at the
freebsd-questions list (recently)
(footnote 1).  Sorry the
forum did not know soon enough.

...
1...  I have a vague recollection of the answer there.


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