---
title: "FreeBSD/alpha 4.9-RELEASE Installation Instructions"
sidenav: download
---

++++


<h3 class="CORPAUTHOR">The FreeBSD Project</h3>

<p class="COPYRIGHT">Copyright &copy; 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 The FreeBSD Documentation
Project</p>

<hr />
</div>

<blockquote class="ABSTRACT">
<div class="ABSTRACT"><a id="AEN11" name="AEN11"></a>
<p>This article gives some brief instructions on installing FreeBSD/alpha 4.9-RELEASE,
with particular emphasis given to obtaining a FreeBSD distribution. Some notes on
troubleshooting and frequently-asked questions are also given.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="AEN13" name="AEN13">1 Installing FreeBSD</a></h2>

<p>This section documents the process of installing a new distribution of FreeBSD. These
instructions pay particular emphasis to the process of obtaining the FreeBSD 4.9-RELEASE
distribution and to beginning the installation procedure. The <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html"
target="_top">``Installing FreeBSD''</a> chapter of the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/" target="_top">FreeBSD
Handbook</a> provides more in-depth information about the installation program itself,
including a guided walkthrough with screenshots.</p>

<p>If you are upgrading from a previous release of FreeBSD, please see <a
href="#UPGRADING">Section 3</a> for instructions on upgrading.</p>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="GETTING-STARTED" name="GETTING-STARTED">1.1 Getting
Started</a></h3>

<p>Probably the most important pre-installation step that can be taken is that of reading
the various instruction documents provided with FreeBSD. A roadmap of documents
pertaining to this release of FreeBSD can be found in <tt
class="FILENAME">README.TXT</tt>, which can usually be found in the same location as this
file; most of these documents, such as the release notes and the hardware compatability
list, are also accessible in the Documentation menu of the installer.</p>

<p>Note that on-line versions of the FreeBSD <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/" target="_top">FAQ</a> and <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/"
target="_top">Handbook</a> are also available from the <a href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/"
target="_top">FreeBSD Project Web site</a>, if you have an Internet connection.</p>

<p>This collection of documents may seem daunting, but the time spent reading them will
likely be saved many times over. Being familiar with what resources are available can
also be helpful in the event of problems during installation.</p>

<p>The best laid plans sometimes go awry, so if you run into trouble take a look at <a
href="#TROUBLE">Section 4</a>, which contains valuable troubleshooting information. You
should also read an updated copy of <tt class="FILENAME">ERRATA.TXT</tt> before
installing, since this will alert you to any problems which have reported in the interim
for your particular release.</p>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> While FreeBSD does its best to safeguard against accidental loss of
data, it's still more than possible to <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">wipe
out your entire disk</i></span> with this installation if you make a mistake. Please do
not proceed to the final FreeBSD installation menu unless you've adequately backed up any
important data first.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN36" name="AEN36">1.2 Hardware Requirements</a></h3>

<p>FreeBSD for the Alpha/AXP supports the platforms described in <tt
class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>.</p>

<p>You will need a dedicated disk for FreeBSD/alpha. It is not possible to share a disk
with another operating system at this time. This disk will need to be attached to a SCSI
controller which is supported by the SRM firmware or an IDE disk assuming the SRM in your
machine supports booting from IDE disks.</p>

<p>Your root filesystem MUST be the first partition (partition <var
class="LITERAL">a</var>) on the disk to be bootable.</p>

<p>You will need the SRM console firmware for your platform. In some cases, it is
possible to switch between AlphaBIOS (or ARC) firmware and SRM. In others it will be
necessary to download new firmware from the vendor's Web site.</p>

<p>If you are not familiar with configuring hardware for FreeBSD, you should be sure to
read the <tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt> file; it contains important information
on what hardware is supported by FreeBSD.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="FLOPPIES" name="FLOPPIES">1.3 Floppy Disk Image
Instructions</a></h3>

<p>Depending on how you choose to install FreeBSD, you may need to create a set of floppy
disks (usually two) to begin the installation process. This section briefly describes how
to create these disks, either from a CDROM installation or from the Internet. Note that
in the common case of installing FreeBSD from CDROM, on a machine that supports bootable
CDROMs, the steps outlined in this section will not be needed and can be skipped.</p>

<p>For a normal CDROM or network installation, all you need to copy onto actual floppies
from the <tt class="FILENAME">floppies/</tt> directory are the <tt
class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> images (for
1.44MB floppies).</p>

<p>Getting these images over the network is easy. Simply fetch the <var
class="REPLACEABLE">release</var><tt class="FILENAME">/floppies/kern.flp</tt> and <var
class="REPLACEABLE">release</var><tt class="FILENAME">/floppies/mfsroot.flp</tt> files
from <a href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/" target="_top">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a> or one of
the many mirrors listed at <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mirrors-ftp.html"
target="_top">FTP Sites</a> section of the Handbook, or on the <a
href="http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/" target="_top">http://mirrorlist.FreeBSD.org/</a>
Web pages.</p>

<p>Get two blank, freshly formatted floppies and image copy <tt
class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> onto one and <tt class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> onto
the other. These images are <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> DOS
files. You cannot simply copy them to a DOS or UFS floppy as regular files, you need to
``image'' copy them to the floppy with <tt class="FILENAME">fdimage.exe</tt> under DOS
(see the <tt class="FILENAME">tools</tt> directory on your CDROM or FreeBSD FTP mirror)
or the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=dd&amp;sektion=1&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">dd</span>(1)</span></a> command in
UNIX.</p>

<p>For example, to create the kernel floppy image from DOS, you'd do something like
this:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">C&#62;</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">fdimage kern.flp a:</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Assuming that you'd copied <tt class="FILENAME">fdimage.exe</tt> and <tt
class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> into a directory somewhere. You would do the same for <tt
class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt>, of course.</p>

<p>If you're creating the boot floppy from a UNIX machine, you may find that:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">dd if=floppies/kern.flp of=/dev/rfd0</kbd>
</pre>

<p>or</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">dd if=floppies/kern.flp of=/dev/floppy</kbd>
</pre>

<p>work well, depending on your hardware and operating system environment (different
versions of UNIX have different names for the floppy drive).</p>

<p>If you're on an alpha machine that can network-boot its floppy images or you have a
2.88MB or LS-120 floppy capable of taking a 2.88MB image on an x86 machine, you may wish
to use the single (but twice as large) <tt class="FILENAME">boot.flp</tt> image. It
contains the contents of <tt class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> and <tt
class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> on a single floppy. This file should also be used as
the boot file for those mastering ``El Torito'' bootable CD images. See the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mkisofs&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+Ports">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">mkisofs</span>(8)</span></a>
command for more information.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="START-INSTALLATION" name="START-INSTALLATION">1.4 Installing
FreeBSD from CDROM or the Internet</a></h3>

<p>The easiest type of installation is from CDROM. If you have a supported CDROM drive
and a FreeBSD installation CDROM, you can boot FreeBSD directly from the CDROM. Insert
the CDROM into the drive and type the following command to start the installation
(substituting the name of the appropriate CDROM drive if necessary):</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
&gt;&gt;&gt;<kbd class="USERINPUT">boot dka0</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Alternatively you can boot the installation from floppy disk. You should start the
installation by building a set of FreeBSD boot floppies from the files <tt
class="FILENAME">floppies/kern.flp</tt> and <tt
class="FILENAME">floppies/mfsroot.flp</tt> using the instructions found in <a
href="#FLOPPIES">Section 1.3</a>. From the SRM console prompt (<var
class="LITERAL">&gt;&gt;&gt;</var>), just insert the <tt class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt>
floppy and type the following command to start the installation:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
&gt;&gt;&gt;<kbd class="USERINPUT">boot dva0</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Insert the <tt class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> floppy when prompted and you will end
up at the first screen of the install program.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN132" name="AEN132">1.5 Detail on various installation
types</a></h3>

<p>Once you've gotten yourself to the initial installation screen somehow, you should be
able to follow the various menu prompts and go from there. If you've never used the
FreeBSD installation before, you are also encouraged to read some of the documentation in
the Documentation submenu as well as the general ``Usage'' instructions on the first
menu.</p>

<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> If you get stuck at a screen, press the <b class="KEYCAP">F1</b> key for
online documentation relevant to that specific section.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<p>If you've never installed FreeBSD before, or even if you have, the ``Standard''
installation mode is the most recommended since it makes sure that you'll visit all the
various important checklist items along the way. If you're much more comfortable with the
FreeBSD installation process and know <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">exactly</i></span> what you want to do, use the ``Express'' or
``Custom'' installation options. If you're upgrading an existing system, use the
``Upgrade'' option.</p>

<p>The FreeBSD installer supports the direct use of floppy, DOS, tape, CDROM, FTP, NFS
and UFS partitions as installation media; further tips on installing from each type of
media are listed below.</p>

<p>Once the install procedure has finished, you will be able to start FreeBSD/alpha by
typing something like this to the SRM prompt:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
&gt;&gt;&gt;<kbd class="USERINPUT">boot dkc0</kbd>
</pre>

<p>This instructs the firmware to boot the specified disk. To find the SRM names of disks
in your machine, use the <var class="LITERAL">show device</var> command:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
&gt;&gt;&gt;<kbd class="USERINPUT">show device</kbd>
dka0.0.0.4.0               DKA0           TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-57  3476
dkc0.0.0.1009.0            DKC0                       RZ1BB-BS  0658
dkc100.1.0.1009.0          DKC100             SEAGATE ST34501W  0015
dva0.0.0.0.1               DVA0
ewa0.0.0.3.0               EWA0              00-00-F8-75-6D-01
pkc0.7.0.1009.0            PKC0                  SCSI Bus ID 7  5.27
pqa0.0.0.4.0               PQA0                       PCI EIDE
pqb0.0.1.4.0               PQB0                       PCI EIDE
</pre>

<p>This example is from a Digital Personal Workstation 433au and shows three disks
attached to the machine. The first is a CDROM called <tt class="DEVICENAME">dka0</tt> and
the other two are disks and are called <tt class="DEVICENAME">dkc0</tt> and <tt
class="DEVICENAME">dkc100</tt> repectively.</p>

<p>You can specify which kernel file to load and what boot options to use with the <var
class="OPTION">-file</var> and <var class="OPTION">-flags</var> options, for example:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">&gt;&gt;&gt;</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">boot -file kernel.old -flags s</kbd>
</pre>

<p>To make FreeBSD/alpha boot automatically, use these commands:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">&gt;&gt;&gt;</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">set boot_osflags a</kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">&gt;&gt;&gt;</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">set bootdef_dev dkc0</kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">&gt;&gt;&gt;</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">set auto_action BOOT</kbd>
</pre>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN171" name="AEN171">1.5.1 Installing from a Network
CDROM</a></h4>

<p>If you simply wish to install from a local CDROM drive then see <a
href="#START-INSTALLATION">Section 1.4</a>. If you don't have a CDROM drive on your
system and wish to use a FreeBSD distribution CD in the CDROM drive of another system to
which you have network connectivity, there are also several ways of going about it:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p>If you would be able to FTP install FreeBSD directly from the CDROM drive in some
FreeBSD machine, it's quite easy: You simply add the following line to the password file
(using the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=vipw&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">vipw</span>(8)</span></a>
command):</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
ftp:*:99:99::0:0:FTP:/cdrom:/sbin/nologin
</pre>

<p>On the machine on which you are running the install, go to the Options menu and set
Release Name to <var class="LITERAL">any</var>. You may then choose a Media type of <var
class="LITERAL">FTP</var> and type in <tt class="FILENAME">ftp://<var
class="REPLACEABLE">machine</var></tt> after picking ``URL'' in the ftp sites menu.</p>

<div class="WARNING">
<blockquote class="WARNING">
<p><b>Warning:</b> This may allow anyone on the local network (or Internet) to make
``anonymous FTP'' connections to this machine, which may not be desirable.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</li>

<li>
<p>If you would rather use NFS to export the CDROM directly to the machine(s) you'll be
installing from, you need to first add an entry to the <tt
class="FILENAME">/etc/exports</tt> file (on the machine with the CDROM drive). The
example below allows the machine <tt class="HOSTID">ziggy.foo.com</tt> to mount the CDROM
directly via NFS during installation:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
/cdrom          -ro             ziggy.foo.com
</pre>

<p>The machine with the CDROM must also be configured as an NFS server, of course, and if
you're not sure how to do that then an NFS installation is probably not the best choice
for you unless you're willing to read up on <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=rc.conf&amp;sektion=5&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">rc.conf</span>(5)</span></a> and
configure things appropriately. Assuming that this part goes smoothly, you should be able
to enter: <tt class="FILENAME"><var class="REPLACEABLE">cdrom-host</var>:/cdrom</tt> as
the path for an NFS installation when the target machine is installed, e.g. <tt
class="FILENAME">wiggy:/cdrom</tt>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN203" name="AEN203">1.5.2 Installing from Floppies</a></h4>

<p>If you must install from floppy disks, either due to unsupported hardware or just
because you enjoy doing things the hard way, you must first prepare some floppies for the
install.</p>

<p>First, make your boot floppies as described in <a href="#FLOPPIES">Section
1.3</a>.</p>

<p>Second, peruse <a href="#LAYOUT">Section 2</a> and pay special attention to the
``Distribution Format'' section since it describes which files you're going to need to
put onto floppy and which you can safely skip.</p>

<p>Next you will need, at minimum, as many 1.44MB floppies as it takes to hold all files
in the <tt class="FILENAME">bin</tt> (binary distribution) directory. If you're preparing
these floppies under DOS, then these floppies <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> be formatted using the MS-DOS <tt
class="FILENAME">FORMAT</tt> command. If you're using Windows, use the Windows File
Manager format command.</p>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> Frequently, floppy disks come ``factory preformatted''. While
convenient, many problems reported by users in the past have resulted from the use of
improperly formatted media. Re-format them yourself, just to make sure.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<p>If you're creating the floppies from another FreeBSD machine, a format is still not a
bad idea though you don't need to put a DOS filesystem on each floppy. You can use the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=disklabel&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">disklabel</span>(8)</span></a> and
<a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=newfs&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">newfs</span>(8)</span></a>
commands to put a UFS filesystem on a floppy, as the following sequence of commands
illustrates:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">fdformat -f 1440 fd0.1440</kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">disklabel -w -r fd0.1440 floppy3</kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd
class="USERINPUT">newfs -t 2 -u 18 -l 1 -i 65536 /dev/fd0</kbd>
</pre>

<p>After you've formatted the floppies for DOS or UFS, you'll need to copy the files onto
them. The distribution files are split into chunks conveniently sized so that 5 of them
will fit on a conventional 1.44MB floppy. Go through all your floppies, packing as many
files as will fit on each one, until you've got all the distributions you want packed up
in this fashion. Each distribution should go into its own subdirectory on the floppy,
e.g.: <tt class="FILENAME">a:\bin\bin.inf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">a:\bin\bin.aa</tt>,
<tt class="FILENAME">a:\bin\bin.ab</tt>, ...</p>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> The <tt class="FILENAME">bin.inf</tt> file also needs to go on the
first floppy of the <tt class="FILENAME">bin</tt> set since it is read by the
installation program in order to figure out how many additional pieces to look for when
fetching and concatenating the distribution. When putting distributions onto floppies,
the <tt class="FILENAME">distname.inf</tt> file <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> occupy the first floppy of each distribution set. This
is also covered in <tt class="FILENAME">README.TXT</tt>.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<p>Once you come to the Media screen of the install, select ``Floppy'' and you'll be
prompted for the rest.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN262" name="AEN262">1.5.4 Installing from QIC/SCSI
Tape</a></h4>

<p>When installing from tape, the installation program expects the files to be simply
tar'ed onto it, so after fetching all of the files for the distributions you're
interested in, simply use <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=tar&amp;sektion=1&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">tar</span>(1)</span></a> to get
them onto the tape with a command something like this:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">cd <var
class="REPLACEABLE">/where/you/have/your/dists</var></kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">tar cvf /dev/rsa0 <var
class="REPLACEABLE">dist1</var> .. <var class="REPLACEABLE">dist2</var></kbd>
</pre>

<p>When you go to do the installation, you should also make sure that you leave enough
room in some temporary directory (which you'll be allowed to choose) to accommodate the
<span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">full</i></span> contents of the tape you've
created. Due to the non-random access nature of tapes, this method of installation
requires quite a bit of temporary storage. You should expect to require as much temporary
storage as you have stuff written on tape.</p>

<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> When going to do the installation, the tape must be in the drive <span
class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">before</i></span> booting from the boot floppies.
The installation ``probe'' may otherwise fail to find it.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<p>Now create a boot floppy as described in <a href="#FLOPPIES">Section 1.3</a> and
proceed with the installation.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="FTPNFS" name="FTPNFS">1.5.5 Installing over a Network using FTP
or NFS</a></h4>

<p>After making the boot floppies as described in the first section, you can load the
rest of the installation over a network using one of 3 types of connections: serial port,
parallel port, or Ethernet.</p>

<div class="SECT4">
<hr />
<h5 class="SECT4"><a id="AEN287" name="AEN287">1.5.5.1 Serial Port</a></h5>

<p>SLIP support is rather primitive, and is limited primarily to hard-wired links, such
as a serial cable running between two computers. The link must be hard-wired because the
SLIP installation doesn't currently offer a dialing capability. If you need to dial out
with a modem or otherwise dialog with the link before connecting to it, then I recommend
that the PPP utility be used instead.</p>

<p>If you're using PPP, make sure that you have your Internet Service Provider's IP
address and DNS information handy as you'll need to know it fairly early in the
installation process. You may also need to know your own IP address, though PPP supports
dynamic address negotiation and may be able to pick up this information directly from
your ISP if they support it.</p>

<p>You will also need to know how to use the various ``AT commands'' for dialing out with
your particular brand of modem as the PPP dialer provides only a very simple terminal
emulator.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT4">
<hr />
<h5 class="SECT4"><a id="AEN293" name="AEN293">1.5.5.2 Parallel Port</a></h5>

<p>If a hard-wired connection to another FreeBSD or Linux machine is available, you might
also consider installing over a ``laplink'' style parallel port cable. The data rate over
the parallel port is much higher than what is typically possible over a serial line (up
to 50k/sec), thus resulting in a quicker installation. It's not typically necessary to
use ``real'' IP addresses when using a point-to-point parallel cable in this way and you
can generally just use RFC 1918 style addresses for the ends of the link (e.g. <tt
class="HOSTID">10.0.0.1</tt>, <tt class="HOSTID">10.0.0.2</tt>, etc).</p>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> If you use a Linux machine rather than a FreeBSD machine as your
PLIP peer, you will also have to specify <var class="OPTION">link0</var> in the TCP/IP
setup screen's ``extra options for ifconfig'' field in order to be compatible with
Linux's slightly different PLIP protocol.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT4">
<hr />
<h5 class="SECT4"><a id="AEN304" name="AEN304">1.5.5.3 Ethernet</a></h5>

<p>FreeBSD supports many common Ethernet cards; a table of supported cards is provided as
part of the FreeBSD Hardware Notes (see <tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt> in the
Documentation menu on the boot floppy or the top level directory of the CDROM). If you
are using one of the supported PCMCIA Ethernet cards, also be sure that it's plugged in
<span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">before</i></span> the laptop is powered on.
FreeBSD does not, unfortunately, currently support ``hot insertion'' of PCMCIA cards
during installation.</p>

<p>You will also need to know your IP address on the network, the <var
class="OPTION">netmask</var> value for your subnet and the name of your machine. Your
system administrator can tell you which values are appropriate to your particular network
setup. If you will be referring to other hosts by name rather than IP address, you'll
also need a name server and possibly the address of a gateway (if you're using PPP, it's
your provider's IP address) to use in talking to it. If you want to install by FTP via an
HTTP proxy (see below), you will also need the proxy's address.</p>

<p>If you do not know the answers to these questions then you should really probably talk
to your system administrator <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">first</i></span>
before trying this type of installation. Using a randomly chosen IP address or netmask on
a live network is almost guaranteed not to work, and will probably result in a lecture
from said system administrator.</p>

<p>Once you have a network connection of some sort working, the installation can continue
over NFS or FTP.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT4">
<hr />
<h5 class="SECT4"><a id="AEN315" name="AEN315">1.5.5.4 NFS installation tips</a></h5>

<p>NFS installation is fairly straight-forward: Simply copy the FreeBSD distribution
files you want onto a server somewhere and then point the NFS media selection at it.</p>

<p>If this server supports only ``privileged port'' access (this is generally the default
for Sun and Linux workstations), you will need to set this option in the Options menu
before installation can proceed.</p>

<p>If you have a poor quality Ethernet card which suffers from very slow transfer rates,
you may also wish to toggle the appropriate Options flag.</p>

<p>In order for NFS installation to work, the server must also support ``subdir mounts'',
e.g. if your FreeBSD distribution directory lives on <tt
class="FILENAME">wiggy:/usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD</tt>, then <tt
class="HOSTID">wiggy</tt> will have to allow the direct mounting of <tt
class="FILENAME">/usr/archive/stuff/FreeBSD</tt>, not just <tt class="FILENAME">/usr</tt>
or <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/archive/stuff</tt>.</p>

<p>In FreeBSD's <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/exports</tt> file this is controlled by the
<var class="OPTION">-alldirs</var> option. Other NFS servers may have different
conventions. If you are getting <var class="LITERAL">Permission Denied</var> messages
from the server then it's likely that you don't have this properly enabled.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT4">
<hr />
<h5 class="SECT4"><a id="AEN332" name="AEN332">1.5.5.5 FTP Installation tips</a></h5>

<p>FTP installation may be done from any mirror site containing a reasonably up-to-date
version of FreeBSD. A full menu of reasonable choices for almost any location in the
world is provided in the FTP site menu during installation.</p>

<p>If you are installing from some other FTP site not listed in this menu, or you are
having troubles getting your name server configured properly, you can also specify your
own URL by selecting the ``URL'' choice in that menu. A URL can contain a hostname or an
IP address, so something like the following would work in the absence of a name
server:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
ftp://216.66.64.162/pub/FreeBSD/releases/alpha/4.2-RELEASE
</pre>

<p>There are three FTP installation modes you can use:</p>

<ul>
<li>
<p>FTP: This method uses the standard ``Active'' mode for transfers, in which the server
initiates a connection to the client. This will not work through most firewalls but will
often work best with older FTP servers that do not support passive mode. If your
connection hangs with passive mode, try this one.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>FTP Passive: This sets the FTP "Passive" mode which prevents the server from opening
connections to the client. This option is best for users to pass through firewalls that
do not allow incoming connections on random port addresses.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>FTP via an HTTP proxy: This option instructs FreeBSD to use HTTP to connect to a proxy
for all FTP operations. The proxy will translate the requests and send them to the FTP
server. This allows the user to pass through firewalls that do not allow FTP at all, but
offer an HTTP proxy. You must specify the hostname of the proxy in addition to the FTP
server.</p>

<p>In the rare case that you have an FTP proxy that does not go through HTTP, you can
specify the URL as something like:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">ftp://foo.bar.com:<var
class="REPLACEABLE">port</var>/pub/FreeBSD</kbd>
</pre>

<p>In the URL above, <var class="REPLACEABLE">port</var> is the port number of the proxy
FTP server.</p>
</li>
</ul>

<br />
<br />
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN353" name="AEN353">1.5.6 Tips for Serial Console
Users</a></h4>

<p>If you'd like to install FreeBSD on a machine using just a serial port (e.g. you don't
have or wish to use a VGA card), please follow these steps:</p>

<div class="PROCEDURE">
<ol type="1">
<li>
<p>Connect some sort of ANSI (vt100) compatible terminal or terminal emulation program to
the <tt class="DEVICENAME">COM1</tt> port of the PC you are installing FreeBSD onto.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>Unplug the keyboard (yes, that's correct!) and then try to boot from floppy or the
installation CDROM, depending on the type of installation media you have, with the
keyboard unplugged.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>If you don't get any output on your serial console, plug the keyboard in again and
wait for some beeps. If you are booting from the CDROM, proceed to <a
href="#HITSPACE">step 5</a> as soon as you hear the beep.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>For a floppy boot, the first beep means to remove the <tt
class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> floppy and insert the <tt
class="FILENAME">mfsroot.flp</tt> floppy, after which you should press <b
class="KEYCAP">Enter</b> and wait for another beep.</p>
</li>

<li><a id="HITSPACE" name="HITSPACE"></a>
<p>Hit the space bar, then enter</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">boot -h</kbd>
</pre>

<p>and you should now definitely be seeing everything on the serial port. If that still
doesn't work, check your serial cabling as well as the settings on your terminal
emulation program or actual terminal device. It should be set for 9600 baud, 8 bits, no
parity.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN375" name="AEN375">1.6 Question and Answer Section for
Alpha/AXP Architecture Users</a></h3>

<div class="QANDASET">
<dl>
<dt>1.6.1. <a href="#Q1.6.1.">Can I boot from the ARC or Alpha BIOS Console?</a></dt>

<dt>1.6.2. <a href="#Q1.6.2.">Help! I have no space! Do I need to delete everything
first?</a></dt>

<dt>1.6.3. <a href="#Q1.6.3.">Can I mount my Compaq Tru64 or VMS extended
partitions?</a></dt>

<dt>1.6.4. <a href="#Q1.6.4.">What about support for Compaq Tru64 (OSF/1)
binaries?</a></dt>

<dt>1.6.5. <a href="#Q1.6.5.">What about support for Linux binaries?</a></dt>

<dt>1.6.6. <a href="#Q1.6.6.">What about support for NT Alpha binaries?</a></dt>
</dl>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.1." name="Q1.6.1."></a><b>1.6.1.</b> Can I boot from the ARC or Alpha BIOS
Console?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>No. FreeBSD, like Compaq Tru64 and VMS, will only boot from the SRM
console.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.2." name="Q1.6.2."></a><b>1.6.2.</b> Help! I have no space! Do I need to
delete everything first?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Unfortunately, yes.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.3." name="Q1.6.3."></a><b>1.6.3.</b> Can I mount my Compaq Tru64 or VMS
extended partitions?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>No, not at this time.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.4." name="Q1.6.4."></a><b>1.6.4.</b> What about support for Compaq Tru64
(OSF/1) binaries?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>FreeBSD can run Tru64 applications very well using the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/url.cgi?ports/emulators/osf1_base/pkg-descr"><tt
class="FILENAME">emulators/osf1_base</tt></a> port/package.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.5." name="Q1.6.5."></a><b>1.6.5.</b> What about support for Linux
binaries?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>FreeBSD can run AlphaLinux binaries with the assistance of the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/url.cgi?ports/emulators/linux_base/pkg-descr"><tt
class="FILENAME">emulators/linux_base</tt></a> port/package.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q1.6.6." name="Q1.6.6."></a><b>1.6.6.</b> What about support for NT Alpha
binaries?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>FreeBSD is not able to run NT applications natively, although it has the
ability to mount NT partitions.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="LAYOUT" name="LAYOUT">2 Distribution Format</a></h2>

<p>A typical FreeBSD distribution directory looks something like this:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
ERRATA.HTM      README.TXT      compat1x        dict            kernel
ERRATA.TXT      RELNOTES.HTM    compat20        doc             manpages
HARDWARE.HTM    RELNOTES.TXT    compat21        docbook.css     packages
HARDWARE.TXT    bin             compat22        filename.txt    ports
INSTALL.HTM     boot            compat3x        floppies        proflibs
INSTALL.TXT     catpages        compat4x        games           src
README.HTM      cdrom.inf       crypto          info            tools
</pre>

<p>If you want to do a CDROM, FTP or NFS installation from this distribution directory,
all you need to do is make the 1.44MB boot floppies from the floppies directory (see <a
href="#FLOPPIES">Section 1.3</a> for instructions on how to do this), boot them and
follow the instructions. The rest of the data needed during the installation will be
obtained automatically based on your selections. If you've never installed FreeBSD
before, you also want to read the entirety of this document (the installation
instructions) file.</p>

<p>If you're trying to do some other type of installation or are merely curious about how
a distribution is organized, what follows is a more thorough description of some of these
items in more detail:</p>

<ol type="1">
<li>
<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">*.TXT</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">*.HTM</tt> files contain
documentation (for example, this document is contained in both <tt
class="FILENAME">INSTALL.TXT</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">INSTALL.HTM</tt>) and should
be read before starting an installation. The <tt class="FILENAME">*.TXT</tt> files are
plain text, while the <tt class="FILENAME">*.HTM</tt> files are HTML files that can be
read by almost any Web browser. Some distributions may contain documentation in other
formats as well, such as PDF or PostScript.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p><tt class="FILENAME">docbook.css</tt> is a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file used by
some Web browsers for formatting the HTML documentation.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">bin</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">catpages</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">crypto</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">dict</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">doc</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">games</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">info</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">manpages</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">proflibs</tt>, and <tt class="FILENAME">src</tt> directories contain the
primary distribution components of FreeBSD itself and are split into smaller files for
easy packing onto floppies (should that be necessary).</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">compat1x</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">compat20</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">compat21</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">compat22</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">compat3x</tt>, and <tt class="FILENAME">compat4x</tt> directories
contain distributions for compatibility with older releases and are distributed as single
gzip'd tar files - they can be installed during release time or later by running their
<tt class="FILENAME">install.sh</tt> scripts.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">floppies/</tt> subdirectory contains the floppy installation
images; further information on using them can be found in <a href="#FLOPPIES">Section
1.3</a>.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">packages</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">ports</tt> directories
contain the FreeBSD Packages and Ports Collections. Packages may be installed from the
packages directory by running the command:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp><kbd
class="USERINPUT">/stand/sysinstall configPackages</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Packages can also be installed by feeding individual filenames in <tt
class="FILENAME">packages</tt>/ to the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=pkg_add&amp;sektion=1&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">pkg_add</span>(1)</span></a>
command.</p>

<p>The Ports Collection may be installed like any other distribution and requires about
100MB unpacked. More information on the ports collection may be obtained from <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/" target="_top">http://www.FreeBSD.org/ports/</a> or
locally from <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/share/doc/handbook</tt> if you've installed the
<tt class="FILENAME">doc</tt> distribution.</p>
</li>

<li>
<p>Last of all, the <tt class="FILENAME">tools</tt> directory contains various DOS tools
for discovering disk geometries, installing boot managers and the like. It is purely
optional and provided only for user convenience.</p>
</li>
</ol>

<br />
<br />
<p>A typical distribution directory (for example, the <tt class="FILENAME">info</tt>
distribution) looks like this internally:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
CHECKSUM.MD5    info.ab         info.ad         info.inf        install.sh
info.aa         info.ac         info.ae         info.mtree
</pre>

<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">CHECKSUM.MD5</tt> file contains MD5 signatures for each file,
should data corruption be suspected, and is purely for reference. It is not used by the
actual installation and does not need to be copied with the rest of the distribution
files. The <tt class="FILENAME">info.a*</tt> files are split, gzip'd tar files, the
contents of which can be viewed by doing:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">cat info.a* | tar tvzf -</kbd>
</pre>

<p>During installation, they are automatically concatenated and extracted by the
installation procedure.</p>

<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">info.inf</tt> file is also necessary since it is read by the
installation program in order to figure out how many pieces to look for when fetching and
concatenating the distribution. When putting distributions onto floppies, the <tt
class="FILENAME">.inf</tt> file <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> occupy the first floppy of each distribution set!</p>

<p>The <tt class="FILENAME">info.mtree</tt> file is another non-essential file which is
provided for user reference. It contains the MD5 signatures of the <span
class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">unpacked</i></span> distribution files and can be
later used with the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mtree&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">mtree</span>(8)</span></a> program
to verify the installation permissions and checksums against any possible modifications
to the file. When used with the <tt class="FILENAME">bin</tt> distribution, this can be
an excellent way of detecting trojan horse attacks on your system.</p>

<p>Finally, the <tt class="FILENAME">install.sh</tt> file is for use by those who want to
install the distribution after installation time. To install the info distribution from
CDROM after a system was installed, for example, you'd do:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">cd /cdrom/info</kbd>
<samp class="PROMPT">#</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">sh install.sh</kbd>
</pre>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="UPGRADING" name="UPGRADING">3 Upgrading FreeBSD</a></h2>

<p>These instructions describe a procedure for doing a binary upgrade from an older
version of FreeBSD.</p>

<div class="WARNING">
<blockquote class="WARNING">
<p><b>Warning:</b> While the FreeBSD upgrade procedure does its best to safeguard against
accidental loss of data, it is still more than possible to <span class="emphasis"><i
class="EMPHASIS">wipe out your entire disk</i></span> with this installation! Please do
not accept the final confirmation request unless you have adequately backed up any
important data files.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="IMPORTANT">
<blockquote class="IMPORTANT">
<p><b>Important:</b> These notes assume that you are using the version of <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
supplied with the version of FreeBSD to which you intend to upgrade. Using a mismatched
version of <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> is
almost guaranteed to cause problems and has been known to leave systems in an unusable
state. The most commonly made mistake in this regard is the use of an old copy of <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
from an existing installation to upgrade to a newer version of FreeBSD. This is <span
class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">not</i></span> recommended.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN571" name="AEN571">3.1 Introduction</a></h3>

<p>The upgrade procedure replaces distributions selected by the user with those
corresponding to the new FreeBSD release. It preserves standard system configuration
data, as well as user data, installed packages and other software.</p>

<p>Administrators contemplating an upgrade are encouraged to study this section in its
entirety before commencing an upgrade. Failure to do so may result in a failed upgrade or
loss of data.</p>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN575" name="AEN575">3.1.1 Upgrade Overview</a></h4>

<p>Upgrading of a distribution is performed by extracting the new version of the
component over the top of the previous version. Files belonging to the old distribution
are not deleted.</p>

<p>System configuration is preserved by retaining and restoring the previous version of
the following files:</p>

<p><tt class="FILENAME">Xaccel.ini</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">XF86Config</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">adduser.conf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">aliases</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">aliases.db</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">amd.map</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">crontab</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">csh.cshrc</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">csh.login</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">csh.logout</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">cvsupfile</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">dhclient.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">disktab</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">dm.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">dumpdates</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">exports</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">fbtab</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">fstab</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">ftpusers</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">gettytab</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">gnats</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">group</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">hosts</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">host.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">hosts.allow</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">hosts.equiv</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">hosts.lpd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">inetd.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">kerberosIV</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">localtime</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">login.access</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">login.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">mail</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">mail.rc</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">make.conf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">manpath.config</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">master.passwd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">modems</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">motd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">namedb</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">networks</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">newsyslog.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">nsmb.conf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">pam.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">passwd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">periodic</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">ppp</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">printcap</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">profile</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">pwd.db</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">rc.conf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">rc.conf.local</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">rc.firewall</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">rc.local</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">remote</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">resolv.conf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">rmt</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">sendmail.cf</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">sendmail.cw</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">services</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">shells</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">skeykeys</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">spwd.db</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">ssh</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">syslog.conf</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">ttys</tt>, <tt
class="FILENAME">uucp</tt></p>

<p>The versions of these files which correspond to the new version are moved to <tt
class="FILENAME">/etc/upgrade/</tt>. The system administrator may peruse these new
versions and merge components as desired. Note that many of these files are
interdependent, and the best merge procedure is to copy all site-specific data from the
current files into the new.</p>

<p>During the upgrade procedure, the administrator is prompted for a location into which
all files from <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/</tt> are saved. In the event that local
modifications have been made to other files, they may be subsequently retrieved from this
location.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN651" name="AEN651">3.2 Procedure</a></h3>

<p>This section details the upgrade procedure. Particular attention is given to items
which substantially differ from a normal installation.</p>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN654" name="AEN654">3.2.1 Backup</a></h4>

<p>User data and system configuration should be backed up before upgrading. While the
upgrade procedure does its best to prevent accidental mistakes, it is possible to
partially or completely destroy data and configuration information.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN657" name="AEN657">3.2.2 Mount Filesystems</a></h4>

<p>The disklabel editor is entered with the nominated disk's filesystem devices listed.
Prior to commencing the upgrade, the administrator should make a note of the device names
and corresponding mountpoints. These mountpoints should be entered here. <span
class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Do not</i></span>set the ``newfs flag'' for any
filesystems, as this will cause data loss.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="AEN662" name="AEN662">3.2.3 Select Distributions</a></h4>

<p>When selecting distributions, there are no constraints on which must be selected. As a
general rule, the <var class="LITERAL">bin</var> distribution should be selected for an
update, and the <var class="LITERAL">man</var> distribution if manpages are already
installed. Other distributions may be selected beyond those originally installed if the
administrator wishes to add additional functionality.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT3">
<hr />
<h4 class="SECT3"><a id="FSTAB" name="FSTAB">3.2.4 After Installation</a></h4>

<p>Once the installation procedure has completed, the administrator is prompted to
examine the new configuration files. At this point, checks should be made to ensure that
the system configuration is valid. In particular, the <tt
class="FILENAME">/etc/rc.conf</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/fstab</tt> files should
be checked.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN672" name="AEN672">3.3 Upgrading from Source Code</a></h3>

<p>Those interested in an upgrade method that allows more flexibility and sophistication
should take a look at <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge.html"
target="_top">The Cutting Edge</a> in the FreeBSD Handbook. This procedure involves
rebuilding all of FreeBSD from source code. It requires reliable network connectivity,
extra disk space, and time, but has advantages for networks and other more complex
installations. This is roughly the same procedure as is used for track the -STABLE or
-CURRENT development branches.</p>

<p><tt class="FILENAME">/usr/src/UPDATING</tt> contains important information on updating
a FreeBSD system from source code. It lists various issues resulting from changes in
FreeBSD that may affect an upgrade.</p>

<p></p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT1">
<hr />
<h2 class="SECT1"><a id="TROUBLE" name="TROUBLE">4 Troubleshooting</a></h2>

<div class="SECT2">
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="REPAIRING" name="REPAIRING">4.1 Repairing an Existing FreeBSD
Installation</a></h3>

<p>FreeBSD features a ``Fixit'' option in the top menu of the boot floppy. To use it, you
will also need either a <tt class="FILENAME">fixit.flp</tt> image floppy, generated in
the same fashion as the boot floppy, or the ``live filesystem'' CDROM; typically the
second CDROM in a multi-disc FreeBSD distribution.</p>

<p>To invoke fixit, simply boot the <tt class="FILENAME">kern.flp</tt> floppy, choose the
``Fixit'' item and insert the fixit floppy or CDROM when asked. You will then be placed
into a shell with a wide variety of commands available (in the <tt
class="FILENAME">/stand</tt> and <tt class="FILENAME">/mnt2/stand</tt> directories) for
checking, repairing and examining file systems and their contents. Some UNIX
administration experience <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">is</i></span>
required to use the fixit option.</p>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN693" name="AEN693">4.2 Common Installation Problems,
Q&amp;A</a></h3>

<div class="QANDASET">
<dl>
<dt>4.2.1. <a href="#Q4.2.1.">I go to boot from the hard disk for the first time after
installing FreeBSD, the kernel loads and probes my hardware, but stops with messages
like:</a></dt>

<dt>4.2.2. <a href="#Q4.2.2.">I go to boot from the hard disk for the first time after
installing FreeBSD, but the Boot Manager prompt just prints <var class="LITERAL">F?</var>
at the boot menu each time but the boot won't go any further.</a></dt>
</dl>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.2.1." name="Q4.2.1."></a><b>4.2.1.</b> I go to boot from the hard disk for
the first time after installing FreeBSD, the kernel loads and probes my hardware, but
stops with messages like:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
changing root device to wd1s1a panic: cannot mount root
</pre>

<p>What is wrong? What can I do?</p>

<p>What is this <var
class="LITERAL">bios_drive:interface(unit,partition)kernel_name</var> thing that is
displayed with the boot help?</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There is a longstanding problem in the case where the boot disk is not the
first disk in the system. The BIOS uses a different numbering scheme to FreeBSD, and
working out which numbers correspond to which is difficult to get right.</p>

<p>In the case where the boot disk is not the first disk in the system, FreeBSD can need
some help finding it. There are two common situations here, and in both of these cases,
you need to tell FreeBSD where the root filesystem is. You do this by specifying the BIOS
disk number, the disk type and the FreeBSD disk number for that type.</p>

<p>The first situation is where you have two IDE disks, each configured as the master on
their respective IDE busses, and wish to boot FreeBSD from the second disk. The BIOS sees
these as disk 0 and disk 1, while FreeBSD sees them as <tt class="DEVICENAME">wd0</tt>
and <tt class="DEVICENAME">wd2</tt>.</p>

<p>FreeBSD is on BIOS disk 1, of type <var class="LITERAL">wd</var> and the FreeBSD disk
number is 2, so you would say:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">1:wd(2,a)kernel</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Note that if you have a slave on the primary bus, the above is not necessary (and is
effectively wrong).</p>

<p>The second situation involves booting from a SCSI disk when you have one or more IDE
disks in the system. In this case, the FreeBSD disk number is lower than the BIOS disk
number. If you have two IDE disks as well as the SCSI disk, the SCSI disk is BIOS disk 2,
type <var class="LITERAL">da</var> and FreeBSD disk number 0, so you would say:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">2:da(0,a)kernel</kbd>
</pre>

<p>To tell FreeBSD that you want to boot from BIOS disk 2, which is the first SCSI disk
in the system. If you only had one IDE disk, you would use '1:' instead.</p>

<p>Once you have determined the correct values to use, you can put the command exactly as
you would have typed it in the <tt class="FILENAME">/boot.config</tt> file using a
standard text editor. Unless instructed otherwise, FreeBSD will use the contents of this
file as the default response to the <var class="LITERAL">boot:</var> prompt.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.2.2." name="Q4.2.2."></a><b>4.2.2.</b> I go to boot from the hard disk for
the first time after installing FreeBSD, but the Boot Manager prompt just prints <var
class="LITERAL">F?</var> at the boot menu each time but the boot won't go any
further.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>The hard disk geometry was set incorrectly in the Partition editor when you
installed FreeBSD. Go back into the partition editor and specify the actual geometry of
your hard disk. You must reinstall FreeBSD again from the beginning with the correct
geometry.</p>

<p>If you are failing entirely in figuring out the correct geometry for your machine,
here's a tip: Install a small DOS partition at the beginning of the disk and install
FreeBSD after that. The install program will see the DOS partition and try to infer the
correct geometry from it, which usually works.</p>

<p>The following tip is no longer recommended, but is left here for reference:</p>

<a id="AEN730" name="AEN730"></a>
<blockquote class="BLOCKQUOTE">
<p>If you are setting up a truly dedicated FreeBSD server or workstation where you don't
care for (future) compatibility with DOS, Linux or another operating system, you've also
got the option to use the entire disk (`A' in the partition editor), selecting the
non-standard option where FreeBSD occupies the entire disk from the very first to the
very last sector. This will leave all geometry considerations aside, but is somewhat
limiting unless you're never going to run anything other than FreeBSD on a disk.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="SECT2">
<hr />
<h3 class="SECT2"><a id="AEN732" name="AEN732">4.3 Known Hardware Problems,
Q&amp;A</a></h3>

<div class="NOTE">
<blockquote class="NOTE">
<p><b>Note:</b> Please send hardware tips for this section to Jordan K. Hubbard <code
class="EMAIL">&#60;<a href="mailto:jkh@FreeBSD.org">jkh@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;</code>.</p>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="QANDASET">
<dl>
<dt>4.3.1. <a href="#Q4.3.1.">The <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">mcd</span>(4)</span> driver keeps thinking that it has found a
device and this stops my Intel EtherExpress card from working.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.2. <a href="#Q4.3.2.">FreeBSD claims to support the 3Com PCMCIA card, but my card
isn't recognized when it's plugged into my laptop.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.3. <a href="#Q4.3.3.">FreeBSD finds my PCMCIA network card, but no packets appear
to be sent even though it claims to be working.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.4. <a href="#Q4.3.4.">The system finds my <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">ed</span>(4)</span> network card, but I keep getting device timeout
errors.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.5. <a href="#Q4.3.5.">I booted the install floppy on my IBM ThinkPad (tm) laptop,
and the keyboard is all messed up.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.6. <a href="#Q4.3.6.">When I try to boot the install floppy, I see the following
message and nothing seems to be happening. I cannot enter anything from the keyboard
either.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.7. <a href="#Q4.3.7.">I have a Matsushita/Panasonic CR-522, a
Matsushita/Panasonic CR-523 or a TEAC CD55a drive, but it is not recognized even when the
correct I/O port is set.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.8. <a href="#Q4.3.8.">I'm trying to install from a tape drive but all I get is
something like this on the screen:</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.9. <a href="#Q4.3.9.">I've installed FreeBSD onto my system, but it hangs when
booting from the hard drive with the message:</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.10. <a href="#Q4.3.10.">My system can not find my Intel EtherExpress 16
card.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.11. <a href="#Q4.3.11.">When installing on an EISA HP Netserver, my on-board
AIC-7xxx SCSI controller isn't detected.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.12. <a href="#Q4.3.12.">I have a Panasonic AL-N1 or Rios Chandler Pentium machine
and I find that the system hangs before ever getting into the installation now.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.13. <a href="#Q4.3.13.">I have this CMD640 IDE controller that is said to be
broken.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.14. <a href="#Q4.3.14.">On a Compaq Aero notebook, I get the message ``No floppy
devices found! Please check ...'' when trying to install from floppy.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.15. <a href="#Q4.3.15.">When I go to boot my Intel AL440LX (``Atlanta'') -based
system from the hard disk the first time, it stops with a <var class="LITERAL">Read
Error</var> message.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.16. <a href="#Q4.3.16.">When installing on an Dell Poweredge XE, Dell proprietary
RAID controller DSA (Dell SCSI Array) isn't recognized.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.17. <a href="#Q4.3.17.">My Ethernet adapter is detected as an AMD PCnet-FAST (or
similar) but it doesn't work. (Eg. onboard Ethernet on IBM Netfinity 5xxx or
7xxx)</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.18. <a href="#Q4.3.18.">I have an IBM EtherJet PCI card, it is detected by the
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">fxp</span>(4)</span> driver
correctly, but the lights on the card don't come on and it doesn't connect to the
network.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.19. <a href="#Q4.3.19.">When I configure the network during installation on an
IBM Netfinity 3500, the system freezes.</a></dt>

<dt>4.3.20. <a href="#Q4.3.20.">When I install onto a drive managed by a Mylex PCI RAID
controller, the system fails to boot (eg. with a <var class="LITERAL">read error</var>
message).</a></dt>
</dl>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.1." name="Q4.3.1."></a><b>4.3.1.</b> The <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">mcd</span>(4)</span> driver keeps thinking that it has found a
device and this stops my Intel EtherExpress card from working.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Use the UserConfig utility (see <tt class="FILENAME">HARDWARE.TXT</tt>) and
disable the probing of the <tt class="DEVICENAME">mcd0</tt> and <tt
class="DEVICENAME">mcd1</tt> devices. Generally speaking, you should only leave the
devices that you will be using enabled in your kernel.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.2." name="Q4.3.2."></a><b>4.3.2.</b> FreeBSD claims to support the 3Com
PCMCIA card, but my card isn't recognized when it's plugged into my laptop.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There are a couple of possible problems. First of all, FreeBSD does not support
multi-function cards, so if you have a combo Ethernet/modem card (such as the 3C562), it
won't work. The default driver for the 3C589 card was written just like all of the other
drivers in FreeBSD, and depend on the card's own configuration data stored in NVRAM to
work. You must correctly configure FreeBSD's driver to match the IRQ, port, and IOMEM
stored in NVRAM.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the only program capable of reading them is the 3COM supplied DOS
program. This program must be run on a absolutely clean system (no other drivers must be
running), and the program will whine about CARD-Services not being found, but it will
continue. This is necessary to read the NVRAM values. You want to know the IRQ, port, and
IOMEM values (the latter is called the CIS tuple by 3COM). The first two can be set in
the program, the third is un-settable, and can only be read. Once you have these values,
set them in UserConfig and your card will be recognized.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.3." name="Q4.3.3."></a><b>4.3.3.</b> FreeBSD finds my PCMCIA network card,
but no packets appear to be sent even though it claims to be working.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Many PCMCIA cards have the ability to use either the 10-Base2 (BNC) or 10-BaseT
connectors for connecting to the network. The driver is unable to ``auto-select'' the
correct connector, so you must tell it which connector to use. In order to switch between
the two connectors, the link flags must be set. Depending on the model of the card, <var
class="OPTION">-link0 link1</var> or <var class="OPTION">-link0 -link1</var> will choose
the correct network connector. You can set these in <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> by
using the <var class="LITERAL">Extra options to ifconfig:</var> field in the network
setup screen.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.4." name="Q4.3.4."></a><b>4.3.4.</b> The system finds my <span
class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">ed</span>(4)</span> network card, but I
keep getting device timeout errors.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Your card is probably on a different IRQ from what is specified in the kernel
configuration. The ed driver does not use the `soft' configuration by default (values
entered using EZSETUP in DOS), but it will use the software configuration if you specify
<var class="LITERAL">?</var> in the IRQ field of your kernel config file.</p>

<p>Either move the jumper on the card to a hard configuration setting (altering the
kernel settings if necessary), or specify the IRQ as <var class="LITERAL">-1</var> in
UserConfig or <var class="LITERAL">?</var> in your kernel config file. This will tell the
kernel to use the soft configuration.</p>

<p>Another possibility is that your card is at IRQ 9, which is shared by IRQ 2 and
frequently a cause of problems (especially when you have a VGA card using IRQ 2!). You
should not use IRQ 2 or 9 if at all possible.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.5." name="Q4.3.5."></a><b>4.3.5.</b> I booted the install floppy on my IBM
ThinkPad (tm) laptop, and the keyboard is all messed up.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Older IBM laptops use a non-standard keyboard controller, so you must tell the
keyboard driver (atkbd0) to go into a special mode which works on the ThinkPads. Change
the atkbd0 'Flags' to 0x4 in UserConfig and it should work fine. (Look in the Input Menu
for 'Keyboard'.)</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.6." name="Q4.3.6."></a><b>4.3.6.</b> When I try to boot the install
floppy, I see the following message and nothing seems to be happening. I cannot enter
anything from the keyboard either.</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
Keyboard: no
</pre>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Due to lack of space, full support for old XT/AT (84-key) keyboards is no
longer available in the bootblocks. Some notebook computers may also have this type of
keyboard. If you are still using this kind of hardware, you will see the above message
appears when you boot from the CD-ROM or an install floppy.</p>

<p>As soon as you see this message, hit the space bar, and you will see the prompt:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
&#62;&#62; FreeBSD/i386 BOOT
Default: x:xx(x,x)/boot/loader 
boot:
</pre>

<p>Then enter <kbd class="USERINPUT">-Dh</kbd>, and things should proceed normally.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.7." name="Q4.3.7."></a><b>4.3.7.</b> I have a Matsushita/Panasonic CR-522,
a Matsushita/Panasonic CR-523 or a TEAC CD55a drive, but it is not recognized even when
the correct I/O port is set.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>These CD-ROM drives are currently not supported by FreeBSD. The command sets
for these drives are not compatible with the double-speed CR-562 and CR-563 drives.</p>

<p>The single-speed CR-522 and CR-523 drives can be identified by their use of a
CD-caddy.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.8." name="Q4.3.8."></a><b>4.3.8.</b> I'm trying to install from a tape
drive but all I get is something like this on the screen:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
sa0(aha0:1:0) NOT READY csi 40,0,0,0
</pre>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There's a limitation in the current <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a>
that the tape <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">must</i></span> be in the drive
while <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sysinstall&amp;sektion=8&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">sysinstall</span>(8)</span></a> is
started or it won't be detected. Try again with the tape in the drive the whole time.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.9." name="Q4.3.9."></a><b>4.3.9.</b> I've installed FreeBSD onto my
system, but it hangs when booting from the hard drive with the message:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
Changing root to /dev/da0a
</pre>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>his problem may occur in a system with a 3com 3c509 Ethernet adapter. The <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ep&amp;sektion=4&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">ep</span>(4)</span></a> device
driver appears to be sensitive to probes for other devices that also use address 0x300.
Boot your FreeBSD system by power cycling the machine (turn off and on). At the <var
class="LITERAL">Boot:</var> prompt specify the <var class="OPTION">-c</var>. This will
invoke UserConfig (see <a href="#REPAIRING">Section 4.1</a> above). Use the <var
class="LITERAL">disable</var> command to disable the device probes for all devices at
address 0x300 except the ep0 driver. On exit, your machine should successfully boot
FreeBSD.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.10." name="Q4.3.10."></a><b>4.3.10.</b> My system can not find my Intel
EtherExpress 16 card.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>You must set your Intel EtherExpress 16 card to be memory mapped at address
0xD0000, and set the amount of mapped memory to 32K using the Intel supplied <tt
class="FILENAME">softset.exe</tt> program.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.11." name="Q4.3.11."></a><b>4.3.11.</b> When installing on an EISA HP
Netserver, my on-board AIC-7xxx SCSI controller isn't detected.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>This is a known problem, and will hopefully be fixed in the future. In order to
get your system installed at all, boot with the <var class="OPTION">-c</var> option into
UserConfig, but <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">don't</i></span> use the
pretty visual mode but the plain old CLI mode. Type:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">eisa 12</kbd>
<kbd class="USERINPUT">quit</kbd>
</pre>

<p>at the prompt. (Instead of `quit', you might also type `visual', and continue the rest
of the configuration session in visual mode.) While it's recommended to compile a custom
kernel, dset now also understands to save this value.</p>

<p>Refer to the FAQ topic 3.16 for an explanation of the problem, and for how to
continue. Remember that you can find the FAQ on your local system in /usr/share/doc/FAQ,
provided you have installed the `doc' distribution.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.12." name="Q4.3.12."></a><b>4.3.12.</b> I have a Panasonic AL-N1 or Rios
Chandler Pentium machine and I find that the system hangs before ever getting into the
installation now.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Your machine doesn't like the new <var class="LITERAL">i586_copyout</var> and
<var class="LITERAL">i586_copyin</var> code for some reason. To disable this, boot the
installation boot floppy and when it comes to the very first menu (the choice to drop
into kernel UserConfig mode or not) choose the command-line interface (``expert mode'')
version and type the following at it:</p>

<pre class="SCREEN">
<kbd class="USERINPUT">flags npx0 1</kbd>
</pre>

<p>Then proceed normally to boot. This will be saved into your kernel, so you only need
to do it once.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.13." name="Q4.3.13."></a><b>4.3.13.</b> I have this CMD640 IDE controller
that is said to be broken.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Yes, it is. FreeBSD does not support this controller except through the legacy
wdc driver.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.14." name="Q4.3.14."></a><b>4.3.14.</b> On a Compaq Aero notebook, I get
the message ``No floppy devices found! Please check ...'' when trying to install from
floppy.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>With Compaq being always a little different from other systems, they do not
announce their floppy drive in the CMOS RAM of an Aero notebook. Therefore, the floppy
disk driver assumes there is no drive configured. Go to the UserConfig screen, and set
the Flags value of the fdc0 device to 0x1. This pretends the existence of the first
floppy drive (as a 1.44 MB drive) to the driver without asking the CMOS at all.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.15." name="Q4.3.15."></a><b>4.3.15.</b> When I go to boot my Intel AL440LX
(``Atlanta'') -based system from the hard disk the first time, it stops with a <var
class="LITERAL">Read Error</var> message.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There appears to be a bug in the BIOS on at least some of these boards, this
bug results in the FreeBSD bootloader thinking that it is booting from a floppy disk.
This is only a problem if you are not using the BootEasy boot manager. Slice the disk in
``compatible''mode and install BootEasy during the FreeBSD installation to avoid the bug,
or upgrade the BIOS (see Intel's website for details).</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.16." name="Q4.3.16."></a><b>4.3.16.</b> When installing on an Dell
Poweredge XE, Dell proprietary RAID controller DSA (Dell SCSI Array) isn't
recognized.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>Configure the DSA to use AHA-1540 emulation using EISA configuration utility.
After that FreeBSD detects the DSA as an Adaptec AHA-1540 SCSI controller, with irq 11
and port 340. Under emulation mode system will use DSA RAID disks, but you cannot use
DSA-specific features such as watching RAID health.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.17." name="Q4.3.17."></a><b>4.3.17.</b> My Ethernet adapter is detected as
an AMD PCnet-FAST (or similar) but it doesn't work. (Eg. onboard Ethernet on IBM
Netfinity 5xxx or 7xxx)</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>The <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=lnc&amp;sektion=4&amp;manpath=FreeBSD+4.9-RELEASE">
<span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span class="REFENTRYTITLE">lnc</span>(4)</span></a> driver is
currently faulty, and will often not work correctly with the PCnet-FAST and PCnet-FAST+.
You need to install a different Ethernet adapter.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.18." name="Q4.3.18."></a><b>4.3.18.</b> I have an IBM EtherJet PCI card,
it is detected by the <span class="CITEREFENTRY"><span
class="REFENTRYTITLE">fxp</span>(4)</span> driver correctly, but the lights on the card
don't come on and it doesn't connect to the network.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>We don't understand why this happens. Neither do IBM (we asked them). The card
is a standard Intel EtherExpress Pro/100 with an IBM label on it, and these cards
normally work just fine. You may see these symptoms only in some IBM Netfinity servers.
The only solution is to install a different Ethernet adapter.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.19." name="Q4.3.19."></a><b>4.3.19.</b> When I configure the network
during installation on an IBM Netfinity 3500, the system freezes.</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There is a problem with the onboard Ethernet in the Netfinity 3500 which we
have not been able to identify at this time. It may be related to the SMP features of the
system being misconfigured. You will have to install another Ethernet adapter and avoid
attempting to configure the onboard adapter at any time.</p>
</div>
</div>

<div class="QANDAENTRY">
<div class="QUESTION">
<p><a id="Q4.3.20." name="Q4.3.20."></a><b>4.3.20.</b> When I install onto a drive
managed by a Mylex PCI RAID controller, the system fails to boot (eg. with a <var
class="LITERAL">read error</var> message).</p>
</div>

<div class="ANSWER">
<p><b></b>There is a bug in the Mylex driver which results in it ignoring the ``8GB''
geometry mode setting in the BIOS. Use the 2GB mode instead.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<hr />
<p align="center"><small>This file, and other release-related documents, can be
downloaded from <a href="ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/">ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/</a>.</small></p>

<p align="center"><small>For questions about FreeBSD, read the <a
href="http://www.FreeBSD.org/docs.html">documentation</a> before contacting &#60;<a
href="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">questions@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</small></p>

<p align="center"><small>For questions about this documentation, e-mail &#60;<a
href="mailto:doc@FreeBSD.org">doc@FreeBSD.org</a>&#62;.</small></p>

<br />
<br />
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