Re: Booting CD #1 in OpenBSD 4.2 sets with old bios Hi,
We won't be sending out any CD#1's after all. The 4.2 CD#1 boot problem has been sufficiently well identified that we don't need anyone to test more CD #1's for us. It turns out that the 4.2 layout uncovered an old bios bug in some early machines. Probably you have already heard this, but if anyone didn't, here's the full scoop on working around it: The simplest work around for older bios'es with the bug that doesn't read past 64K while looking for the boot catalog, is to do a partial boot from CD #2 in the series. This is for the AMD 64, however it starts in a i386 compatibility mode. Watch carefully for the "boot" prompt and quickly stop the boot by typing "set" and then the ENTER key. You can then see the default boot setting. Then "set image /4.2/i386/bsd.rd" change back from CD#2 to CD#1 in the CD drive, and type "boot" With a little experimenting it becomes obvious how to do it with even less keystrokes. As only very few people will have the older bios with this bug in it, we will leave the CD sets as they are. Next release we will avoid the problem by putting the boot catalog below the 64K boundary. Austin Hook OpenBSD Distribution On Wed, 31 Oct 2007, Victor Camacho wrote: > Austin Hook wrote: > > I understand that some people have experienced boot problems with CD #1 in > > the new 4.2 release set, mainly with older machines. There are cases > > where the same CD works with a newer machine, but fails to boot with an > > older one. I presume this means the track alignment is marginal in some > > cases. > > > > I am not tracking misc@ > > > > We would like to send out replacement CD's for anyone with those problems > > so that we can see if the problem is with all CDs of the current release, > > or only with some of them. > > > > Please contact me if you have seen this problem. > > > > Austin Hook > > OpenBSD distribution > > Milk River, AB > > > > > > > > > I installed 4.2 on new system without any problems. > I tried to install 4.2 on an old p3-500 that currently has 4.1 installed. > The system was set to boot off CD first but it would not boot. It would > look at the CD and then boot off the hard drive. > I tried multiple times and confirmed the BIOS settings. > I wiped the drive and tried again. > I received errors similar to those listed below when trying to boot from > the CD. > (this was from a post when I was tracing the problem.) > I booted from a 4.2 current disk I had created a few weeks ago and then > put the 4.2 CD mailed to me in the drive when it came time to extract > the files and everything is working. > If you want me to get the exact error message or if you need any other > information, please let me know. > You do not need to send me a replacement CD, but if you would like me to > test a CD I will be happy to test it. > Order number 2007/10/17-15:22:15-30930 > > Thank you and the whole OpenBSD team for your work and dedication, > Victor Camacho > > > Errors when booting from 4.2 CD: > > open(hd0a:/etc/boot.conf): Invalid argument > boot> > booting hd0a:/bsd: open hd0a:/bsd: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /obsd > boot> > booting hd0a:/obsd: open hd0a:/obsd: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /bsd.old > boot> > booting hd0a:/bsd.old: open hd0a:/bsd.old: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /bsd > boot> > booting hd0a:/bsd: open hd0a:/bsd: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /obsd > boot> > booting hd0a:/obsd: open hd0a:/obsd: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /bsd.old > boot> > booting hd0a:/bsd.old: open hd0a:/bsd.old: Invalid argument > failed(22). will try /bsd > Turning timeout off > boot>
