# Upgrade to 10.0 problem can't load kernel



## zzatskl (Feb 13, 2014)

I'm trying to upgrade from a FreeBSD 8.3 server to 10.0-RELEASE, using freebsd-update. The server hard disks are two Maxtor SCSI disks setup as a GEOM RAID1 (da0 and da1) which I configured way back in Oct 2009 (so can't remember what I did). The upgrade seemed to go well, until I rebooted and I see this message on the console:



> Can't work out which disk we are booting from. Guessed BIOS device 0xfffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to disk0:
> can't load 'kernel'
> Type '?' for a list of commands,



I have booted from a usb memstick installation and selected the Live CD option for recovery tasks. I have been able to:

```
#ls /dev
#mount -w /dev/da0s1 /var/tmp
#ls /var/tmp/boot/kernel
```
the output shows a kernel file dated at the time of the upgrade. I did note section 2.2 from: 

http://www.freebsd.org/releases/10.0R/installation.html

but did not think this was a concern. I now suspect I should have altered a configuration file. I have checked on the mounted hard drive:

```
#more boot/loader.conf
goem_mirror_load="YES"
```
I notice the file /boot/loader.rc has been updated (or the old one over written) and a new file /boot/loader.4th has been added during the upgrade. Perhaps there should be a GEOM line in the loader.rc? 

I'm now at a loss as what to do. This is a production server and I need to get my skates on quick to fix it. 

Help Please.

Cheers.


----------



## SirDice (Feb 13, 2014)

Bad idea to use a .0 version on production machines but maybe that's just me 

There have been quite lot of changes regarding gmirror(8) between 8 and 9 due to the move to CAM. That may have something to do with it. I would probably try and break the mirror and try to boot from a single drive. Once that's working and FreeBSD 10 boots properly you can re-mirror it.


----------



## zzatskl (Feb 13, 2014)

Thanks for quick reply, I realise now, but I just had one of those mad 'happy' moments. I'll remove geom_mirror_load from loader.conf and see what happens.


----------



## SirDice (Feb 13, 2014)

Also have a quick look in the release notes for 9.0-RELEASE and perhaps 9.1 and 9.2 too. There may be some addition information you could use. You're basically skipping those steps and I think the 10.0 upgrade instructions assume you're coming from a 9 version.


----------



## wblock@ (Feb 13, 2014)

There is some information here, but I don't know if it will help: https://wiki.freebsd.org/BugBusting...s#Bootstraps_.28BTX.2C_boot2.2C_and_loader.29


----------



## zzatskl (Feb 21, 2014)

A quick update. Rather than try to fix the problem I decided to do a complete new install as I had all the data backed up. 

Interestingly, I transferred all my production websites to a Zoctac miniPC running in my office:

https://forums.freebsd.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=43592

which is connected to a newly installed FTTC fibre line with 8MB upload. The performance is so good for my small business websites that I'm thinking of cancelling my rack hosting contract.


----------



## SirDice (Feb 21, 2014)

zzatskl said:
			
		

> The performance is so good for my small business websites that I'm thinking of cancelling my rack hosting contract.


With fiber I can only imagine  P 

Instead of a rack hosting you may want to look for a VPS provider. There are several good ones providing support for FreeBSD on their VPS. It's usually quite a lot cheaper than renting rack space or renting a full server. The added benefit of a VPS provider is that they'll take care of hardware and network management. If something breaks at their side it's usually fixed without any downtime on your production websites. And because it's a VPS you have full control over your server, with a good provider even with console access. You can still take full advantage of your local connection for backup purposes of course, backups will be quick and can be stored off-site.


----------

