# FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE doesn't boot from CD



## vlast (Jul 12, 2013)

Hey,

After failing to get FreeBSD working with my ASUS F70SL Notebook I tried to get it to work on a Toshiba Tecra A10-M14. I downloaded the FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-disc1.iso from the official FreeBSD homepage and burnt it with Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013.  Now, if I select "Boot from CD-ROM" in my notebook's BIOS it detects the CD, starts to boot from it, but only for about one second. After this the screen blackens, the notebook reboots and boots normally from HDD (even though I still have the CD inserted and the CD-ROM drive is still the first boot device). This happens so fast I don't even have a chance to get a picture of the error that might occur. Any ideas about BIOS settings I may change?

I burnt the CD twice by the way, with different burning software, to avoid damaged or incomplete discs.

Thanks in advance!


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## wblock@ (Jul 12, 2013)

Which architecture did you download?


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## vlast (Jul 12, 2013)

i386 architecture.


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## fonz (Jul 12, 2013)

If I'm not mistaken your notebook has a 64-bit CPU, in which case you'll want the amd64 architecture. Note that, despite the perhaps somewhat misleading name, amd64 is not just for AMD processors, it essentially means x64.


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## wblock@ (Jul 12, 2013)

i386 will work, but amd64 provides access to more memory.

The unknown CD burning software could also be a problem.  Look at the contents of the CD.  Does it have several files, or just one .iso?


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## vlast (Jul 12, 2013)

What do you mean by saying 'unknown burning software'? Which would you suggest to use?


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## wblock@ (Jul 12, 2013)

It would depend on the platform.  But first, what about the contents of the CD?


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## vlast (Jul 12, 2013)

The contents are:

BIN
BOOT
DEV
ETC
LIB
LIBEXEC
MEDIA
MINT
PROC
RESCUE
ROOT
RR_MOVED
SBIN
TMP
USR
VAR
.CSHRC
.PROFILE
COPYRIGHT
DOCBOOK.CSS
ERRATA.HTM
ERRATA.TXT
HARDWARE.HTM
HARDWARE.TXT
README.HTM
README.TXT
RELNOTES.HTM
RELNOTES.TXT
SYS


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## wblock@ (Jul 12, 2013)

Okay, that's good.  What version of Windows is on the machine that burns the CDs?


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## vlast (Jul 12, 2013)

One was burned with Windows 7 32-bit and the other one was burned with Windows Vista 32-bit.


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## wblock@ (Jul 13, 2013)

Those two systems should be different enough to not share the same problem.  Worth trying a memory stick, anyway. http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.IS...nstall-pre.html#bsdinstall-installation-media


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## vlast (Jul 13, 2013)

Okay, I created a stick like it is said in the handbook but if I boot from it the screen goes black for a second and shows

-

while the lower line is the blinking cursor. But then nothing happens, the screen stays like that the whole time.

To mention: the notebook has Windows Vista OS installed. May I need to format the HDD before? Someone told me Windows might interfere with the FreeBSD booting.


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## wblock@ (Jul 13, 2013)

If the system is booting from the memory stick, then what is on the hard disk never runs and should not matter.  If you don't plan on keeping those Windows installations, it would not do any harm to erase them before attempting a FreeBSD install.  But make a full backup first, you may want it later.


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## vlast (Jul 13, 2013)

No need to keep the files. It is just a clean Windows Vista partition. Is there any bootable tool for a USB stick, to totally erase all files on the HDD?

Any suggestions why the bootable USB stick behaves like it does?


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## wblock@ (Jul 13, 2013)

Unless you have a Windows reinstall DVD (not "recover", which just copies a hard drive partition), a full backup is still handy.  Someday you may want to sell that system or pass it on to someone else.

There are numerous utilities for CD and memory stick.  I would personally use an mfsBSD USB stick.  Boot it, log in as root with password mfsroot, then use gpart(8) to erase the partition information:
`# gpart destroy -F ada0`

To completely erase the drive (optional, and will take half an hour or more):
`# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada0 bs=64k`

That also gives a chance to see if mfsBSD, which is FreeBSD-based, can boot on one or both of those systems.


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## vlast (Jul 14, 2013)

Would it -alternatively- work, if I put the HDD of my notebook in the one of my girlfriend, install FreeBSD there and put the HDD back to mine?


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## vlast (Jul 14, 2013)

Again, sorry for doublepost.

Additionally, is there any way to reset the BIOS? Maybe this will help. I assume the problem lies there (in BIOS).


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## wblock@ (Jul 14, 2013)

vlast said:
			
		

> Would it -alternatively- work, if I put the HDD of my notebook in the one of my girlfriend, install FreeBSD there and put the HDD back to mine?



That will work to get FreeBSD installed on the disk.  It still may not boot when replaced in the problem system.  It depends on what the actual problem is.


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## vlast (Jul 14, 2013)

So any other suggestions that may help?


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## vlast (Jul 14, 2013)

I tried to install the FreeBSD-8.4-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso. The error that occurs is:

```
CD Loader 1.2

Building the boot loader arguments
Looking up /BOOT/LOADER File not found
Looking up /boot/loader File not found
Boot failed
```

I just downloaded the .iso from the official FreeBSD FTP server and burned it with Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013.

Is there (by the way) any option to install a third party bootmanager from USB and then boot the FreeBSD DVD manually with it?


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## wblock@ (Jul 14, 2013)

Please try different burning software, that is the only thing that has not changed.  Windows 7 has a command-line application that can burn ISOs, and I think I've used Roxio to burn ISOs on Vista.  The PC-BSD documentation has a good section on various Windows CD burning applications: ftp://ftp.pcbsd.org/pub/handbook/9.1/handbook_en_ver9.1.html#Burning_the_Installation_Media.


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## vlast (Jul 17, 2013)

I tried a different burning software which didn't work as well. Even a BIOS update didn't make the DVD bootable for me nor the USB stick.

Finally I managed to boot the FreeBSD-RELEASE-9.1-amd64-memstick.img from USB trough plop and the installation worked for me! Thanks for all your help!


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