# "Probing devices, please wait (this can take a while)... " forever



## SeaHag (Jul 17, 2009)

This is very frustrating. I'm trying to boot on the 7.2 or 8.0 CD to install and it just hangs on;

"Probing devices, please wait (this can take a while)... "

Or forever they forgot to mention just like Windows. This is the kind of thing I came to FreeBSD to get away from. Now what am I supposed to do?

MSI P965 Neo mbd.
Intel core 2 Duo E7200
2G RAM


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## SeaHag (Jul 17, 2009)

I've narrowed it down to my HDD. I disconnected it and it got beyond the probe. I attached a different drive and it's working. It should time out and say it can't talk to drive ad0 or something more useful than just hang. The drive causing the problem was part of one of those stupid "fakeraids". That dumb thing did something to my drive to cause BSD to hang at install. 
I even put it back in the old raid and deleted the raid to get rid of metadata but there's still something wrong with it that causes BSD to hang. I'll try and wipe it out after I get FreeBSD installed on the good drive.


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## SeaHag (Jul 18, 2009)

Now it's doing it again. Grrrrrrr. This is really pissing me off. I've been trying to install FreeBSD on 2 PCs for 2 weeks and it's nothing but grief.


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## SeaHag (Jul 18, 2009)

*No FreeBSD for me*

This is pathetic. I've installed windows 7 and linux on other partitions on these machines and FreeBSd won't even install on either one.


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## adamk (Jul 18, 2009)

Do you have any more luck if you disable acpi?

Don't forget to submit a problem report or ask on the appropriate mailing list.

Adam


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## SeaHag (Jul 18, 2009)

No it doesn't help at all. I find it very embarassing that Windows and Gentoo Linux can boot and install fine without a hitch and FreeBSD won't even boot up. One thing I can't stand is a system that hangs. I expect more from FreeBSD. Not spending days and weeks struggling and posting in forums and googling for answers to problems. It shouldn't be this difficult.




> Don't forget to submit a problem report or ask on the appropriate mailing list.



I don't know how to do that. I'm a newb. I've setup 3 FreeBSD systems before now I'v got two new ones that won't do anything but waste my time.

How do I submit a problem report or ask on a mailing list?


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## adamk (Jul 18, 2009)

Yes, yes, we get it.  It's pathetic, embarassing, frustrating, and really pissing you off.  I doubt that any of those emotions are going to resolve the problem, and complaining that way just turns people off from wanting to help you.  There are millions of possible computer setups out there in the world, and the freebsd developers can't test every single one.

Google is your friend.  "freebsd mailing list" returns this as the top result:

http://lists.freebsd.org/

Subscribe to the appropriate list depending on which version you want to install (freebsd-current might be the best).

And the top result from "Freebsd problem report":

http://www.freebsd.org/send-pr.html

Adam


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

*Can't install FreeBSD*

Ok same thing happening again. Can boot on every CD I can find except the FreeBSD ones. Last time I was told to go join a mailing list so I did but no help there either. Can anyone please help me to get FreeBSD to install? The 4.6 live CD can boot without hanging but the 7.2, 8.0 and 9.0 Current hangs at that point. What is wrong with this and how can I get it to install?


AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core 2.20 GHz
2G RAM

Motherboard Foxconn Digitalife A79A-S

Drive:
Seagate ST31000333AS


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

adamk said:
			
		

> Yes, yes, we get it.  It's pathetic, embarassing, frustrating, and really pissing you off.  I doubt that any of those emotions are going to resolve the problem, and complaining that way just turns people off from wanting to help you.  There are millions of possible computer setups out there in the world, and the freebsd developers can't test every single one.
> 
> Google is your friend.  "freebsd mailing list" returns this as the top result:
> 
> ...






			
				adamk said:
			
		

> There are millions of possible computer setups out there in the world, and the freebsd developers can't test every single one.



I don't expect them to test on every single type of computer but I do expect them to be able to deal with drives of unknown history or that have old RAID metedata on them. Everyone else can do it.


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## Beastie (Jul 21, 2010)

SeaHag said:
			
		

> The 4.6 live CD can boot without hanging but the 7.2, 8.0 and 9.0 Current hangs at that point.


Very well then. When livefs has finished booting (i.e. sysinstall kicks in), eject it, insert the newer disc1 and proceed with the setup normally. And if this doesn't work, try booting a newer livefs and doing the same.


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## SirDice (Jul 21, 2010)

Updating the BIOS might help too.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Jul 21, 2010)

I had 8.1-RC2 not boot at the HD detected.
(actually just past it...)
A verbose boot option (menu) showed that a 
pccard was causing an IRQ conflict hang right
after it.


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## FrogLS (Jul 21, 2010)

Try enabling AHCI Mode in the Bios setting.

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/Product/Motherboard/Digitallife08/index_A79A-S.htm

The Foxconn's A79A-S SATA controller AMD SB 750 (based on SB700
Southbridge) need to be forced in AHCI mode.

http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base?view=revision&revision=191568

Also a BIOS update as SirDice suggested could be helpfull.
http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?p=61636


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

Beastie said:
			
		

> Very well then. When livefs has finished booting (i.e. sysinstall kicks in), eject it, insert the newer disc1 and proceed with the setup normally. And if this doesn't work, try booting a newer livefs and doing the same.



Yes, if only things were that easy:

1. It won't let me eject the CD.
2. fdisk: cannot open any disk: Device not configured
3. sysinstall: command not found

Any other ideas?


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

jb_fvwm2 said:
			
		

> I had 8.1-RC2 not boot at the HD detected.
> (actually just past it...)
> A verbose boot option (menu) showed that a
> pccard was causing an IRQ conflict hang right
> after it.



Disconnecting both drives lets it boot. There's no other card causing it to hang. Again, every other OS CD boots.


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

FrogLS said:
			
		

> Try enabling AHCI Mode in the Bios setting.
> 
> Makes no difference. Well, actually it does. It causes my Windows installation on the first partition to not boot.
> 
> ...


So are you saying FreeBSD forces AHCI mode whether I disable it or not? Then what difference does it make to change the setting in the BIOS?



			
				FrogLS said:
			
		

> http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base?view=revision&revision=191568
> 
> Also a BIOS update as SirDice suggested could be helpfull.
> http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?p=61636



My BIOS date is 3/06/09.I don't see anything newer. Again, every other OS CD can boot up except FreeBSD.


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## adamk (Jul 21, 2010)

Did you ever open up that problem report?

Adam


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## SeaHag (Jul 21, 2010)

Yes I'm dealing with them now. So far they only asked mo for my hardware info. Hopefully they'll get back to me soon.


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