# not even booting



## archwndas (Aug 13, 2010)

Hi all,
I tried to install FreeBSD on my machine and it doesn't boot at all. It stacks before the '/' start spinning. My machine is a dell OPTIPLEX with the following processor:


```
processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 15
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6850  @ 3.00GHz
```

and here is the output of lspci:


```
# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express MEI Controller (rev 02)
00:03.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express PT IDER Controller (rev 02)
00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 82Q35 Express Serial KT Controller (rev 02)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566DM-2 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 92)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801IO (ICH9DO) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IR/IO/IH (ICH9R/DO/DH) 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
```

How can I provide more useful information for you to drive through the debugging process ...


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## anomie (Aug 18, 2010)

Which FreeBSD version / arch did you try? 

Did you verify the sha256 hash of the ISO you downloaded and/or try burning new media?


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## archwndas (Aug 19, 2010)

> Which FreeBSD version / arch did you try? 

FreeBSD 8.1 Release x86_64.

> Did you verify the sha256 hash of the ISO you downloaded and/or try burning new media?
Yes and it boots fine on my laptop, but not on my desktop. I was also able to install it on VirtualBox.


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## anomie (Aug 19, 2010)

Just curious: how much RAM in the workstation? 

Try disabling ACPI as described here -- assuming you get to the bootloader, that is. 

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/install.html#BOOT-ACPI

(It's been a long time since I have run into install problems, but what you're describing is vaguely familiar.)


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## archwndas (Aug 21, 2010)

It has 4GB of RAM.


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## anomie (Aug 23, 2010)

In that case, give i386 a go.


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## da1 (Aug 23, 2010)

do you have any raid controller onboard ? I had this issue because I was using hardware raid1. Once the hardware raid was destroyed, I could boot, install and enjoy.

PS: try booting without any hdd/cdrom connected.


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## archwndas (Aug 29, 2010)

da1 said:
			
		

> do you have any raid controller onboard ? I had this issue because I was using hardware raid1. Once the hardware raid was destroyed, I could boot, install and enjoy.
> 
> PS: try booting without any hdd/cdrom connected.



Guys, this is not a solution. Even if it works. Why? A real operating system should not care about such stuff. It should boot anyway. Now Raid and stuff like that are common in recent hardware. Somebody should have already tested it there. So the problem is something else. Is there any other place I could post to get more help?


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## jb_fvwm2 (Aug 29, 2010)

Two or three recent such issues were solved by changing
something in the bios.  Here, a pccard was preventing a
new install from booting, all I had to do was partially
eject it. Another thread I think disabled esata...


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