# FreeBSD 13-Stable Installer won't progress to the last stage (i.e. the installer proper)



## fahrenheit (Apr 29, 2021)

Hello,

I'm trying to migrate to FreeBSD and have managed to do so on one of two systems (Intel NUC DC3217IYE, Ivy Bridge, UEFI mode) where everything went fine, the installer boots and I'm able to complete the boot process. This was my test system and I'm generally happy with it. So much that I want to migrate my main work laptop to FreeBSD (HP Elitebook 840 G6, Core i7-8565U).

The problem is that no matter what I do the installer won't progress to the last stage, it always gets stuck after the EFI framebuffer information shows. And I'm out of ideas on what to do and what to try. For reference I've done the following:

Updated to the latest UEFI firmware (01.08.01 Rev.A, 2021-02-03)
Disabled Hyperthreading, turbo boost, VT-d, TPM, thunderbolt, any and all energy saving features and any non-necessary embedded hardware (i.e. basically almost all UEFI options)
Tried FreeBSD 12.2-Stable installer (same problem)
Tried FreeBSD 11.4-Stable installer (same problem)
Tried GhostBSD/FreeBSD 13 Stable installer (same problem, which I guess is to expect)
None of this worked. I've also created a VM in virtualbox where I've attached the pyshical disk with createrawvmdk, UEFI boot enabled and emulated hardware as close as possible to the laptop specifications and in VirtualBox everything works, so much that I have FreeBSD actually installed on my disk.

With this setup I've tried the following:

Using linux (my current main system is an Arch derivative), I've added a FreeBSD entry to the UEFI partition using efibootmgr and copying /boot/boot1.efi to EFI/FreeBSD/bootx64.efi (output of efibootmgr in notes), stage 1 to 3 work fine, last stage does not work
Copied /boot/boot1.efi to /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi (including a startup.nsh pointing to bootx64.efi), does not work, same as above
Added a grub2 FreeBSD entry chainloading the FreeBSD bootloader, does not work, same as above
Added a grub2 FreeBSD entry directly loading the FreeBSD kernel, does not work, black screen, no disk activity (which I guess is what is happening on the last stage)
Does anyone have any idea on how to boot the kernel?
As I can actually boot it in VirtualBox I can compile a custom kernel if it helps.

Thank you.



Spoiler: FDisk output





```
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk model: KXG60ZNV512G TOSHIBA                   
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: C4365470-1375-FE43-8275-FEF7007F5BD7

Device             Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1      4096     618495    614400   300M EFI System
/dev/nvme0n1p2    618496  210333695 209715200   100G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 928291318 1000206899  71915582  34.3G Linux swap
/dev/nvme0n1p4 210333696  718575615 508241920 242.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p5 718575616  718576639      1024   512K FreeBSD boot
/dev/nvme0n1p6 718576640  911514623 192937984    92G FreeBSD UFS
/dev/nvme0n1p7 911514624  928291317  16776694     8G FreeBSD swap
/dev/nvme0n1p8      2048       4095      2048     1M BIOS boot

Partition table entries are not in disk order.
```






Spoiler: efibootmgr output





```
# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0005
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0005,0007,0001,0004,0002,0000
Boot0000* KXG60ZNV512G TOSHIBA-79PA116VKRXN    BBS(HD,KXG60ZNV512G TOSHIBA-79PA116VKRXN,0x400)/PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1d,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/NVMe(0x1,8C-E3-8E-03-00-16-C5-1F)......ISPH
Boot0001  Expansion IPV4 Network     PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/IPv4(0.0.0.00.0.0.0,0,0)N.....YM....R,Y.....ISPH
Boot0002  USB:      BBS(65535,,0x0)/PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)......ISPH
Boot0003  USB:      PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x0)N.....YM....R,Y.....ISPH
Boot0004  Expansion IPV6 Network     PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/IPv6([::]:<->[::]:,0,0)N.....YM....R,Y.....ISPH
Boot0005* Artix    HD(1,GPT,7be2a107-9720-be4a-a189-a1e42ce72893,0x1000,0x96000)/File(\EFI\Artix\grubx64.efi)....ISPH
Boot0007* FreeBSD    HD(1,GPT,7be2a107-9720-be4a-a189-a1e42ce72893,0x1000,0x96000)/File(\EFI\freebsd\bootx64.efi)
```






Spoiler: lspci output





```
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Coffee Lake HOST and DRAM Controller (rev 0c)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IOMMU group 0
    Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=10 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620 (Whiskey Lake) (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    DeviceName: Onboard IGD
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 136, IOMMU group 1
    Memory at e7000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
    Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
    I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
    Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [virtual] [disabled] [size=128K]
    Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
    Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [100] Process Address Space ID (PASID)
    Capabilities: [200] Address Translation Service (ATS)
    Capabilities: [300] Page Request Interface (PRI)
    Kernel driver in use: i915
    Kernel modules: i915

00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 0c)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 2
    Memory at 4022100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
    Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
    Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
    Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device

00:12.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Thermal Controller (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 3
    Memory at 4022111000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
    Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP USB 3.1 xHCI Controller (rev 11) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 137, IOMMU group 4
    Memory at e8120000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
    Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
    Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
    Kernel modules: xhci_pci

00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Shared SRAM (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: fast devsel, IOMMU group 4
    Memory at e8134000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=8K]
    Memory at 4022110000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3

00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0034
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 5
    Memory at e8130000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [40] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [80] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=16 Masked-
    Capabilities: [100] Null
    Capabilities: [14c] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Capabilities: [164] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0010 Rev=0 Len=014 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
    Kernel modules: iwlwifi

00:15.0 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 6
    Memory at 402210e000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [virtual] [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
    Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci

00:15.1 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17, IOMMU group 6
    Memory at 402210f000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [virtual] [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
    Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP MEI Controller #1 (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 157, IOMMU group 7
    Memory at 402210d000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [8c] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [a4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
    Kernel driver in use: mei_me
    Kernel modules: mei_me

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 122, IOMMU group 8
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=39, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00005fff [size=8K]
    Memory behind bridge: d0000000-e60fffff [size=353M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000004000000000-0000004021ffffff [size=544M]
    Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [140] Access Control Services
    Capabilities: [150] Precision Time Measurement
    Capabilities: [220] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [250] Downstream Port Containment
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #13 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 123, IOMMU group 9
    Bus: primary=00, secondary=3a, subordinate=3a, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: [disabled]
    Memory behind bridge: e8000000-e80fffff [size=1M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled]
    Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
    Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [140] Access Control Services
    Capabilities: [150] Precision Time Measurement
    Capabilities: [200] L1 PM Substates
    Capabilities: [220] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [250] Downstream Port Containment
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IOMMU group 10

00:1f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 164, IOMMU group 10
    Memory at 4022108000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Memory at 4022000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
    Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [80] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
    Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
    Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_skl, snd_sof_pci

00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 10
    Memory at 402210c000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
    I/O ports at efa0 [size=32]
    Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
    Kernel modules: i2c_i801

00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP SPI Controller (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: fast devsel, IOMMU group 10
    Memory at fe010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (6) I219-V (rev 11)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 156, IOMMU group 10
    Memory at e8100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
    Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Kernel driver in use: e1000e
    Kernel modules: e1000e

01:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Physical Slot: 4
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 11
    Bus: primary=01, secondary=02, subordinate=39, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff [size=4K]
    Memory behind bridge: d0000000-e60fffff [size=353M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000004000000000-0000004021ffffff [size=544M]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [ac] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Upstream Port, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [50] Capability ID 0x15 [0000]
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=8086 Rev=2 Len=04c <?>
    Capabilities: [700] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [800] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Capabilities: [a00] L1 PM Substates
    Capabilities: [b00] Precision Time Measurement
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

02:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 124, IOMMU group 12
    Bus: primary=02, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: [disabled]
    Memory behind bridge: e6000000-e60fffff [size=1M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [ac] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Downstream Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [50] Capability ID 0x15 [0000]
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=8086 Rev=2 Len=04c <?>
    Capabilities: [700] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [900] Access Control Services
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

02:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 125, IOMMU group 13
    Bus: primary=02, secondary=04, subordinate=38, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff [size=4K]
    Memory behind bridge: d0000000-e5efffff [size=351M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000004000000000-0000004021ffffff [size=544M]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [ac] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Downstream Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [50] Capability ID 0x15 [0000]
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=8086 Rev=2 Len=04c <?>
    Capabilities: [700] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [900] Access Control Services
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

02:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 126, IOMMU group 14
    Bus: primary=02, secondary=39, subordinate=39, sec-latency=0
    I/O behind bridge: [disabled]
    Memory behind bridge: e5f00000-e5ffffff [size=1M]
    Prefetchable memory behind bridge: [disabled]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [ac] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Downstream Port (Slot+), MSI 00
    Capabilities: [50] Capability ID 0x15 [0000]
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=8086 Rev=2 Len=04c <?>
    Capabilities: [700] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [900] Access Control Services
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport

03:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 NHI [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, IOMMU group 15
    Memory at e6000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
    Memory at e6040000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [a0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=16 Masked-
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Kernel driver in use: thunderbolt
    Kernel modules: thunderbolt

39:00.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation JHL7540 Thunderbolt 3 USB Controller [Titan Ridge 2C 2018] (rev 06) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8549
    Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 138, IOMMU group 16
    Memory at e5f00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [88] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [c0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [100] Device Serial Number 10-e8-cd-70-c3-00-aa-00
    Capabilities: [200] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [400] Power Budgeting <?>
    Capabilities: [500] Vendor Specific Information: ID=1234 Rev=1 Len=100 <?>
    Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=8086 Rev=2 Len=04c <?>
    Capabilities: [700] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [800] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
    Kernel modules: xhci_pci

3a:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Toshiba Corporation XG6 NVMe SSD Controller (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
    Subsystem: Toshiba Corporation Device 0001
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16, NUMA node 0, IOMMU group 17
    Memory at e8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [40] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable+ 64bit+
    Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=33 Masked-
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [260] Latency Tolerance Reporting
    Capabilities: [300] Secondary PCI Express
    Capabilities: [400] L1 PM Substates
    Kernel driver in use: nvme
```






Spoiler: efivar





```
efivar -p -n 8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c-Boot0007
GUID: 8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c
Name: "Boot0007"
Attributes:
    Non-Volatile
    Boot Service Access
    Runtime Service Access
Value:
00000000  01 00 00 00 64 00 46 00  72 00 65 00 65 00 42 00  |....d.F.r.e.e.B.|
00000010  53 00 44 00 00 00 04 01  2a 00 01 00 00 00 00 10  |S.D.....*.......|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 60  09 00 00 00 00 00 07 a1  |.......`........|
00000030  e2 7b 20 97 4a be a1 89  a1 e4 2c e7 28 93 02 02  |.{ .J.....,.(...|
00000040  04 04 36 00 5c 00 45 00  46 00 49 00 5c 00 66 00  |..6.\.E.F.I.\.f.|
00000050  72 00 65 00 65 00 62 00  73 00 64 00 5c 00 62 00  |r.e.e.b.s.d.\.b.|
00000060  6f 00 6f 00 74 00 78 00  36 00 34 00 2e 00 65 00  |o.o.t.x.6.4...e.|
00000070  66 00 69 00 00 00 7f ff  04 00                                 |f.i.......      |
```






Spoiler: grub2 entry





```
menuentry 'FreeBSD' --class freebsd --class bsd --class os {
    insmod ufs2
    insmod bsd
    set root='(hd0,gpt6)'
    kfreebsd /boot/kernel/kernel
    kfreebsd_loadenv /boot/device.hints
    set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/nvd0p6
    set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom.options=rw
}
```


----------



## SirDice (Apr 30, 2021)

fahrenheit said:


> I'm trying to migrate to FreeBSD


Good. Now use a -RELEASE version. The "stable" in -STABLE doesn't mean what you think it does. It's a _development_ version.









						LTS support and version clarifications
					

Hello everybody, I have read the documentation for a while but have not been able to clarify my doubts. I will try to be as short as possible. At present according to this table: https://www.freebsd.org/security/#sup the latest LTS version is Stable 12. So if I wanted to have a long support I...




					forums.freebsd.org


----------



## fahrenheit (Apr 30, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Good. Now use a -RELEASE version. The "stable" in -STABLE doesn't mean what you think it does. It's a _development_ version.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply,

You are correct, I'm not yet up to speed with the naming of the FreeBSD branches, my bad.

I should have made it clear which installers I tried:

https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re.../13.0/FreeBSD-13.0-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re.../12.2/FreeBSD-12.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/re.../11.4/FreeBSD-11.4-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img
Also this is the non-bootable FreeBSD on the Elitebook but bootable on the NUC, installed from the same USB disk with the FreeBSD-13.0-RELEASE memstick above. They both show the boot loader allowing me to select Multi User, Single User (etc), bot only the NUC can actually boot. On the Elitebook it does not boot (either in Single User, with ACPI disabled and/or Safe Mode).
I should also point out that secure boot is disabled and that booting in Legacy/CSM mode makes no difference other than the boot loader resolution. The result is the same. The kernel does not boot.


```
# uname -a
FreeBSD MARS 13.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE #0 releng/13.0-n244733-ea31abc261f: Fri Apr 9 04:24:09 UTC 2021 root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/src/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC amd64
```

This is the md5 of the boot1.efi on disk:

```
$ md5sum /mnt/freebsd-root/boot/boot1.efi 
4f58f00f875d92e53032f5d4ea1c7059  /mnt/freebsd-root/boot/boot1.efi
```

And this the md5 of the bootx64.efi on the ESP partition.

```
md5sum /boot/efi/EFI/freebsd/bootx64.efi
4f58f00f875d92e53032f5d4ea1c7059  /boot/efi/EFI/freebsd/bootx64.efi
```

I can try switching to the 14-CURRENT branch if you think that will help.

Thank you


----------



## SirDice (Apr 30, 2021)

fahrenheit said:


> On the Elitebook it does not boot (either in Single User, with ACPI disabled and/or Safe Mode).


What's shown on screen? If there's anything shown at all.


----------



## covacat (Apr 30, 2021)

what if you boot -v ? (escape to  loader prompt and boot -v) or boot a MINIMAL kernel (or even an i386 one)


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## fahrenheit (Apr 30, 2021)

SirDice said:


> What's shown on screen? If there's anything shown at all.


After showing the EFI framebuffer vars, nothing it just stays there.





This is from the 13.0 Installer (just pressing enter/Multi User)





This what happens when doing boot -v covacat 





And this is the result of booting the MINIMAL kernel (sorry for the delay, had to compile first).


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## covacat (Apr 30, 2021)

try an i386 kernel (if it works probably init will bomb).
you can extract one from the 13-R i386 bootonly.iso


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## SirDice (Apr 30, 2021)

Something runs, even if there's no output. That hostid for example is generated by /etc/rc.d/hostid. That entropy file is generated by /etc/rc.d/random. The first time those don't exist and on the second try they do. That means those boot scripts have been running at some point.


----------



## covacat (Apr 30, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Something runs, even if there's no output. That hostid for example is generated by /etc/rc.d/hostid. That entropy file is generated by /etc/rc.d/random. The first time those don't exist and on the second try they do. That means those boot scripts have been running at some point.


good catch. but it could be cause he booted the from that partition from virtualbox
anyway he can always check the logs or even to ssh in (assuming it boots with no display output)


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## fahrenheit (Apr 30, 2021)

SirDice said:


> Something runs, even if there's no output. That hostid for example is generated by /etc/rc.d/hostid. That entropy file is generated by /etc/rc.d/random. The first time those don't exist and on the second try they do. That means those boot scripts have been running at some point.


The first two images are from booting the installer image. It is expected those files do not exist. On the third image, like covacat said, I had already booted it via VirtualBox.

covacat, thank you for the suggestions. I don't think it does anything on the background, I've checked /var/run/dmesg.boot and it only shows my VirtualBox attempts, /var/log is the same. SSH access also did not work.

Regarding using the i386 kernel didn't work, even enabling CSM mode no boot was possible.


----------



## fahrenheit (May 1, 2021)

Some more tests that did not work:

setting dumpdev to log early kernel panics didn't not generate any crash log
Latest FreeBSD-14 installer image also did not work
As far as I can tell the problem is not on the loader but on the kernel, but I have no idea what can stop a freebsd kernel on the very early stages.

Any ideas?


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## covacat (May 2, 2021)

i solved this by adding lots of debug prints on each function entry/exit. but then the kernel was evenualy booting albeit after 1 minute delay after the loader was finished.
i was using pxe booting for easier testing





						144956 – [boot] Early minute-plus delay in boot on Intel Nehalem system
					






					bugs.freebsd.org


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## fahrenheit (May 3, 2021)

covacat said:


> i solved this by adding lots of debug prints on each function entry/exit. but then the kernel was evenualy booting albeit after 1 minute delay after the loader was finished.
> i was using pxe booting for easier testing
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for the PR information, I'll let it sit for a few minutes to see if I'm having the same issue. The PXE boot idea was also a nice idea.

One thing that worries me is that the PR is from 2010 and is still marked as Open. Did you manage to track down the issue? One minute delays on server grade hardware is a pain but doable due to the low number of restarts. For consumer hardware not so much.
I'll post back as soon as I have a restart window.


----------



## covacat (May 3, 2021)

fahrenheit said:


> Thanks for the PR information, I'll let it sit for a few minutes to see if I'm having the same issue. The PXE boot idea was also a nice idea.
> 
> One thing that worries me is that the PR is from 2010 and is still marked as Open. Did you manage to track down the issue? One minute delays on server grade hardware is a pain but doable due to the low number of restarts. For consumer hardware not so much.
> I'll post back as soon as I have a restart window.


that bug had an easy workaround by disabling the keybord controller in the hints file. also the mainboards were probably not very popular so only few people experienced the bug.
but the idea is to add debug messages to see in which function it hangs and find a workaround


----------



## fahrenheit (May 4, 2021)

No luck. It does not seem to be a timeout. No progress and no disk writes.

I'll try removing modules from the MINIMAL kernel and see if that helps.


----------



## covacat (May 4, 2021)

```
#
# Verbose SYSINIT
#
# Make the SYSINIT process performed by mi_startup() verbose.  This is very
# useful when porting to a new architecture.  If DDB is also enabled, this
# will print function names instead of addresses.  If defined with a value
# of zero, the verbose code is compiled-in but disabled by default, and can
# be enabled with the debug.verbose_sysinit=1 tunable.
options         VERBOSE_SYSINIT

#####################################################################
```
try building a kernel with this option and maybe DDB


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## fahrenheit (May 10, 2021)

covacat said:


> ```
> #
> # Verbose SYSINIT
> #
> ...


Well, after some more tests with that option and with other options, still no luck.

As I've been trying stuff since the start of april, I thank you for the help with booting the FreeBSD kernel but sadly it seems to be impossible to boot FreeBSD on my laptop. I'll try again on future point releases.


----------



## astyle (May 14, 2021)

Have you tried getting into the BIOS of the EliteBook? Sometimes you need to do that, I happen to know firsthand that HP's Elitebook line has a rather finicky BIOS that needs some fiddling before those machines can boot anything but Windows. You may need to revert to the Windows bootloader, and then install FreeBSD bootloader. Best option if you want to dedicate the laptop to FreeBSD. 

This one is awfully new, though, so don't expect Bluetooth\wifi to work out of the box.


----------



## fahrenheit (May 14, 2021)

astyle said:


> Have you tried getting into the BIOS of the EliteBook? Sometimes you need to do that, I happen to know firsthand that HP's Elitebook line has a rather finicky BIOS that needs some fiddling before those machines can boot anything but Windows. You may need to revert to the Windows bootloader, and then install FreeBSD bootloader. Best option if you want to dedicate the laptop to FreeBSD.
> 
> This one is awfully new, though, so don't expect Bluetooth\wifi to work out of the box.


Hello astyle, yes, see initial post and first reply to SirDice about what I tried doing within the HP "BIOS".

Also, I have no issues with the FreeBSD bootloader, it's properly installed to the UEFI partition, works fine, detects the disk and everything, lists files and what not. What does not work is actually loading the FreeBSD kernel.


----------



## astyle (May 14, 2021)

fahrenheit said:


> Hello astyle, yes, see initial post and first reply to SirDice about what I tried doing within the HP "BIOS".
> 
> Also, I have no issues with the FreeBSD bootloader, it's properly installed to the UEFI partition, works fine, detects the disk and everything, lists files and what not. What does not work is actually loading the FreeBSD kernel.


Yeah, I did see that you disabled ACPI, which had to be done in the BIOS. I can tell that you did a few other things... but what was done:



fahrenheit said:


> Disabled Hyperthreading, turbo boost, VT-d, TPM, thunderbolt, any and all energy saving features and any non-necessary embedded hardware (i.e. basically almost all UEFI options)


That laptop's BIOS has a truckload of other options to play with, like booting an encrypted partition, booting UEFI vs. non-UEFI partition, requiring a password (or not) to boot a specific partition...
I don't think disabling hyperthreading, turbo boost, and VT-d was necessary.



fahrenheit said:


> With this setup I've tried the following:
> 
> Using linux (my current main system is an Arch derivative), I've added a FreeBSD entry to the UEFI partition using efibootmgr and copying /boot/boot1.efi to EFI/FreeBSD/bootx64.efi (output of efibootmgr in notes), stage 1 to 3 work fine, last stage does not work
> Copied /boot/boot1.efi to /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi (including a startup.nsh pointing to bootx64.efi), does not work, same as above
> ...


Based on above, I can tell you're using grub2 to boot. I'd suggest getting rid of grub2, replace it with the Windows bootloader, and then boot the freebsd installer stick, and then let it install the freebsd bootloader. Have a clean start.


----------



## andrzej4bsd (May 14, 2021)

If you like to experiment you could try ZFS instead of UFS. 

Motivation:
Maybe those "can't find /boot..." messages are related to being unable to read from the UFS file system.
I must admit that I have met an issue when installing 13.0 with UFS on qemu. After switching to ZFS installer passed and I have forgotten about the issue. Currently I haven't much time, but maybe one day I could try to reproduce.

I'm not experienced in Unix yet, therefore treat the above just as a guess or investigation idea not a valid advice.


----------



## astyle (May 14, 2021)

andrzej4bsd said:


> If you like to experiment you could try ZFS instead of UFS.
> 
> Motivation:
> Maybe those "can't find /boot..." messages are related to being unable to read from the UFS file system.
> ...


nope, there's no filesystem in there yet. The kernel needs to boot to RAM first, and then find the hard disk to do the install to. When the kernel is not loading even into RAM off the boot stick, ZFS is not the issue.


----------

