Re: FreeBSD 5.2.1-RC2 available

Scott Long wrote:

> All,
> 
> FreeBSD 5.2.1-RC2 is now available for downloading.  Changes since the
> RC1 include more bug fixes for ATA, working kernel modules on the
> install floppies, and numerous security fixes to the src and XFree86
> packages.  Note that the sparc64 XFree86-4-Server package in this set
> does not have the latest updates.  This will be fixed in the final
> release.
> 
> Please test this and let us know of any new problems.  There are a
> couple of minor changes in our queue that will be committed soon,
> after which we expect to do the final release.  Thanks!  Attached
> are the MD5 sums for the CD images.
> 
> Scott

I'm having great difficulty with 5.2.1-RC2. I installed from an ISO just
this afternoon. Getting the installer running wasn't easy. I tried all of
the usual tricks that have worked for me in the past under 5.1-RELEASE and
5.2-RELEASE:

   - set hw.pci.allow_unsupported_io_range=1
   - disabling ACPI

But none of that helped. Without ACPI, my kernel would panic before starting
sysinstall's device detection (somewhere before the keyboard probe). And WITH
ACPI it would get further - to the sysinstall device detection screen, but
promptly panic. Finally, I got it to install 5.2.1-RC2 by selecting "safe mode"
from the loader menu.

However, once the install completed I simply can't get the machine to boot
without panicing - even if I choose "safe mode" from the loader menu.

I never had these issues with 5.1-RELEASE or 5.2-RELEASE. I'm writing this
on my old 5.2-RELEASE kernel.

Also, before the prompt I noticed that the kernel was printing 'no interrupt'
for ata-slave1, which would be my DVD-ROM. I've never seen that before, and
I don't think it happened during the one successfull boot I made.

I've taken a look at beastie.4th and I think I understand what "Safe Mode"
is doing. But is it possible that it isn't properly overriding my custom
defaults in /boot/loader.conf?

acpi_load="NO"
apm_load="YES"
snd_ich_load="YES"
hw.ata.atapi_dma=1

Perhaps my hw.ata.atapi_dma line is breaking things? I'll try playing with
things at the boot prompt a bit to see if I can narrow things down. This
release is definately less robust for me though - at least in the boot
stages. Please note that I didn't get a chance to try 5.2.1-RC1, so I can't
comment on any possible regression between RC versions. This is definately
a regression from 5.2-RELEASE though.

Thanks!

-- 
Jesse Guardiani, Systems Administrator
WingNET Internet Services,
P.O. Box 2605 // Cleveland, TN 37320-2605
423-559-LINK (v)  423-559-5145 (f)
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