FreeBSD cannot be installed on a microSD card.

[mbzadegan]

Hi everybody,

I booted FreeBSD from my USB memstick without a problem.

Then, I wanted to install FreeBSD on a microSD card that I inserted into the microSD card reader of my laptop.

But there is no option to install on a microSD card when I go through the steps of installation. It just shows me my laptop's NVMe, which I don't want to install FreeBSD on for now.

How can I install FreeBSD on my microSD card?

Thank you.

 

[Alain De Vos]

FreeBSD does not care about drives. A drive is a drive , even if it is USB , SATA , NVME , SSD , Spinning-disk.
drop into single user mode and show output of "gpart show -p".

 

[Phishfry]

SD Drives might be the exception.
My Dell laptop has a media bay but the drives do not show up in the drive boot order in BIOS.

I would think it matters how the media bay is wired into the system. Either USB or SDIO

 

[Alain De Vos]

Well drives need to be detected by the bios. And the bios must be able to boot from that specific drive. That's a bios issue.

 

[mbzadegan]

I could install FreeBSD on my micro SD card but I dropped into this state when I booted from my laptop's micro SD card.

 

[Alain De Vos]

Is there valuable data on SD card ?
If not write .img to SD card.
Boot from SD card , install. If failure , boot from SD card and drop into single user mode.
camcontrol devlist
gpart show -p
zpool list -v
Export all zpools

 

[mbzadegan]

I wrote the .img file on my micro SD card with
dd
command.
Then I booted on micro SD card and select the single user mode.
I dropped into this state.

 

[LibreQuest]

I would try with a generic USB flash reader before using the internal. SDIO has problems.

 

[mbzadegan]

I would try with a generic USB flash reader before using the internal. SDIO has problems.

I have no problem using a USB card reader. But I need that USB port for my other tasks.

 

[ralphbsz]

The title of this thread is incorrect. It is perfectly possible to install FreeBSD on an SD card, and I've done that before (for example on a Raspberry Pi). Your computer might not be able to boot from an SD card. And as LibreQuest already said, the SD card block IO code might have problems on your hardware.

To help people debug it for you, it might be useful to tell us what model laptop you are using.

 

[covacat]

scroll back and see if there is something about sdhci
or boot from usb, enter shell and post pciconf -lv

 

[mbzadegan]

The title of this thread is incorrect. It is perfectly possible to install FreeBSD on an SD card, and I've done that before (for example on a Raspberry Pi). Your computer might not be able to boot from an SD card. And as LibreQuest already said, the SD card block IO code might have problems on your hardware.

To help people debug it for you, it might be useful to tell us what model laptop you are using.

Not makes sense.
I could boot to ArchLinux if I inserted my Arch Linux MicroSD card into my laptop port without any problem. I encountered with this problem only if I boot FreeBSD.

 

[Eric A. Borisch]

And which image did you use? -memstick or one of the ~cd-rom -based (-dvd1 -disk1) ones?

 

[mbzadegan]

And which image did you use? -memstick or one of the ~cd-rom -based (-dvd1 -disk1) ones?

I used both .img and DVD .iso files.

 

[LibreQuest]

Not makes sense.
I could boot to ArchLinux if I inserted my Arch Linux MicroSD card into my laptop port without any problem. I encountered with this problem only if I boot FreeBSD.

The Linux kernel may have better support for your SD card reader than exists in FreeBSD. That's why I was thinking you may need to use a USB SD card reader rather than using your internal reader. If you are able to boot using a USB SD card reader than you know that support for your internal is not fully supported with FreeBSD.

 

[T-Aoki]

I have no problem using a USB card reader. But I need that USB port for my other tasks.

Does the task force you "direct connection to dedicated USB port"?
If not, you can try USB hubs that incorporates SD card slot in it.

Quite wild guess so I could be wrong, but is your SD interface supported by FreeBSD? This kind of situations are often seen when attempting to boot from unsupported-by-the-OS interfaces.
You'll feel strange, but loaders (not limited with FreeBSD's ones) use BIOS calls and/or boottime services of UEFI firmwares, thus, don't need any drivers for OS'es. But once OS kernel takes over control, it needs its specific driver for specific hardwares.

 

[T-Aoki]

FYI: SD card slot in my old ThinkPad P52 was NOT supported by FreeBSD when I purchased it.
Afterwards, rtsx(4) driver was developed and supported the SD card slot, but living in ports / pkgs, not in base yet at the phase.
And afterwards, once the driver was considered stable enough, it was merged into base.

 

[mbzadegan]

FYI: SD card slot in my old ThinkPad P52 was NOT supported by FreeBSD when I purchased it.
Afterwards, rtsx(4) driver was developed and supported the SD card slot, but living in ports / pkgs, not in base yet at the phase.
And afterwards, once the driver was considered stable enough, it was merged into base.

Considering rtsx(4) driver that was merged into base, do you mean that I should report this problem as a FreeBSD bug?

 

[T-Aoki]

Considering rtsx(4) driver that was merged into base, do you mean that I should report this problem as a FreeBSD bug?

No. rtsx is just an example in case ThinkPad P52 having Realtek RTS525A.
Different controller chip may require different driver. But I cannot find any outputs from SD related driver in your photo on #7 (but from NVMe driver, but I assume it's internal SSD, not SD card slot).

Need clarifying what controller chip is implemented. Otherwise no devs can help you even if you filed a FreeBSD bug.

 

[Alain De Vos]

I wrote the .img file on my micro SD card with
dd
command.
Then I booted on micro SD card and select the single user mode.
I dropped into this state.
View attachment 27743

No you can type i ?
This lists all partitions.

You can try booting...

Type :

ufs:/dev/ ..... one of those


zfs:my_known_zpool/ROOT/default
or
zfs:zroot/ROOT/default

 

[mbzadegan]

No you can type i ?
This lists all partitions.

You can try booting...

Type :

ufs:/dev/ ..... one of those


zfs:my_known_zpool/ROOT/default
or
zfs:zroot/ROOT/default

 

[Alain De Vos]

I don't see any freebsd partitions which are normal part of the Freebsd image. So the right driver ... if it exists ...

 

[Alain De Vos]

To have more info, you can boot linux and do

lsblk -d -o NAME,MAJ:MIN,RM,SIZE,RO,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS,PKNAME,TRAN
lsusb
lsmod

 

[mbzadegan]

To have more info, you can boot linux and do

lsblk -d -o NAME,MAJ:MIN,RM,SIZE,RO,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS,PKNAME,TRAN
lsusb
lsmod

[user@Fedora ~]$ lsblk -d -o NAME,MAJ:MIN,RM,SIZE,RO,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS,PKNAME,TRAN

NAME    MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS PKNAME TRAN
mmcblk0 179:0    0   29G  0 disk                    mmc
zram0   251:0    0    8G  0 disk [SWAP]             
nvme0n1 259:0    0  1.8T  0 disk                    nvme
[user@Fedora ~]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp. Bluetooth wireless interface
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f3:2336 Elan Microelectronics Corp. Touchscreen
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0bda:5768 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Integrated_Webcam_HD
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0a5c:5832 Broadcom Corp. BCM5880 Secure Applications Processor Smartcard reader
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 413c:81b6 Dell Computer Corp. DW5811e Snapdragon™ X7 LTE
[user@Fedora ~]$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
overlay               262144  0
uinput                 28672  0
rfcomm                122880  16
snd_seq_dummy          16384  0
snd_hrtimer            16384  1
vboxnetadp             32768  0
vboxnetflt             49152  0
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns    12288  1
nf_conntrack_broadcast    12288  1 nf_conntrack_netbios_ns
nft_fib_inet           12288  1
nft_fib_ipv4           12288  1 nft_fib_inet
nft_fib_ipv6           12288  1 nft_fib_inet
nft_fib                12288  3 nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4,nft_fib_inet
nft_reject_inet        12288  10
nf_reject_ipv4         16384  1 nft_reject_inet
nf_reject_ipv6         24576  1 nft_reject_inet
nft_reject             12288  1 nft_reject_inet
nft_ct                 32768  9
nft_chain_nat          12288  3
nf_nat                 65536  1 nft_chain_nat
nf_conntrack          221184  4 nf_nat,nft_ct,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_conntrack_broadcast
nf_defrag_ipv6         24576  1 nf_conntrack
nf_defrag_ipv4         12288  1 nf_conntrack
vboxdrv               774144  2 vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
nf_tables             434176  309 nft_ct,nft_reject_inet,nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4,nft_chain_nat,nft_reject,nft_fib,nft_fib_inet
qrtr                   57344  2
bnep                   36864  2
snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi    28672  1
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     69632  1 snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi
sunrpc                974848  1
snd_hda_codec_alc269   159744  1
snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib    69632  1 snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_hda_scodec_component    20480  1 snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_hda_codec_generic   139264  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_hda_codec_alc269
snd_hda_intel          73728  2
snd_sof_pci_intel_skl    32768  0
snd_sof_intel_hda_generic    45056  1 snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
soundwire_intel       102400  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt    24576  1 soundwire_intel
snd_sof_intel_hda_common   229376  3 snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_soc_hdac_hda       24576  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_common
snd_sof_intel_hda_mlink    45056  4 snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt,soundwire_intel,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
snd_sof_intel_hda      24576  2 snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
soundwire_cadence      65536  1 soundwire_intel
snd_sof_pci            24576  2 snd_sof_intel_hda_generic,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_sof_xtensa_dsp     16384  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
snd_sof               552960  6 snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt,snd_sof_pci,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic,snd_sof_intel_hda,snd_sof_pci_in
tel_skl
snd_sof_utils          16384  1 snd_sof
snd_soc_acpi_intel_match   151552  2 snd_sof_intel_hda_generic,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl
snd_soc_acpi_intel_sdca_quirks    12288  1 snd_soc_acpi_intel_match
soundwire_generic_allocation    24576  1 soundwire_intel
snd_soc_sdw_utils     172032  1 snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
snd_soc_acpi           16384  2 snd_soc_acpi_intel_match,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
intel_rapl_msr         24576  0
crc8                   12288  1 soundwire_cadence
soundwire_bus        1216512  4 soundwire_intel,snd_soc_sdw_utils,soundwire_generic_allocation,soundwire_cadence
intel_tcc_cooling      12288  0
x86_pkg_temp_thermal    20480  0
intel_powerclamp       28672  0
snd_soc_sdca          167936  2 snd_soc_acpi_intel_sdca_quirks,soundwire_bus
iwlmvm                872448  0
snd_soc_avs           286720  0
coretemp               24576  0
snd_soc_hda_codec      28672  1 snd_soc_avs
snd_hda_ext_core       40960  7 snd_sof_intel_hda_sdw_bpt,snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_sof_intel_hda_mlink
,snd_sof_intel_hda
snd_hda_codec         241664  10 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_soc_h
dac_hda,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_sof_intel_hda,snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi
cdc_mbim               20480  0
cdc_wdm                36864  2 cdc_mbim
mac80211             2084864  1 iwlmvm
mei_wdt                16384  0
snd_hda_core          163840  13 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_ext_core,snd_hda_codec,snd_
sof_intel_hda_common,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_sof_intel_hda,snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi
mei_pxp                20480  0
snd_intel_dspcfg       49152  5 snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_intel,snd_sof,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
mei_hdcp               28672  0
iTCO_wdt               16384  0
snd_intel_sdw_acpi     16384  2 snd_intel_dspcfg,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic
cdc_ncm                53248  1 cdc_mbim
snd_ctl_led            28672  0
kvm_intel             557056  0
snd_hwdep              24576  1 snd_hda_codec
intel_pmc_bxt          16384  1 iTCO_wdt
dell_laptop            45056  0
snd_soc_core          516096  8 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,snd_sof_intel_hda_common,snd_soc_sdw_utils,snd_soc_hda
c_hda
cdc_ether              28672  1 cdc_ncm
usbnet                 65536  3 cdc_mbim,cdc_ncm,cdc_ether
vfat                   24576  1
dell_smm_hwmon         28672  0
fat                   126976  1 vfat
uvcvideo              200704  1
mii                    20480  1 usbnet
libarc4                12288  1 mac80211
snd_compress           36864  2 snd_soc_avs,snd_soc_core
uvc                    12288  1 uvcvideo
kvm                  1568768  1 kvm_intel
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
ac97_bus               12288  1 snd_soc_core
dell_wmi               32768  1 dell_laptop
btusb                  90112  0
videobuf2_memops       16384  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
snd_pcm_dmaengine      20480  1 snd_soc_core
btmtk                  40960  1 btusb
dell_smbios            36864  2 dell_wmi,dell_laptop
videobuf2_v4l2         45056  1 uvcvideo
qcserial               24576  1
btrtl                  40960  1 btusb
dcdbas                 24576  1 dell_smbios
usb_wwan               28672  1 qcserial
videobuf2_common      106496  4 videobuf2_vmalloc,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_memops
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm
btbcm                  24576  1 btusb
iwlwifi               589824  1 iwlmvm
rapl                   20480  0
btintel                86016  1 btusb
snd_seq               143360  7 snd_seq_dummy
videodev              450560  2 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo
intel_cstate           20480  0
mmc_block              73728  0
intel_uncore          299008  0
dell_wmi_descriptor    20480  2 dell_wmi,dell_smbios
intel_wmi_thunderbolt    12288  0
snd_seq_device         16384  1 snd_seq
sparse_keymap          12288  1 dell_wmi
pcspkr                 12288  0
wmi_bmof               12288  0
bluetooth            1212416  44 btrtl,btmtk,btintel,btbcm,bnep,btusb,rfcomm
snd_pcm               221184  15 snd_soc_avs,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,snd_sof_intel_hda_common
,snd_compress,snd_sof_intel_hda_generic,snd_soc_core,snd_sof_utils,snd_hda_core,snd_sof_pci_intel_skl,snd_pcm_dmaengine
mc                     98304  5 videodev,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
cfg80211             1691648  3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211
snd_timer              57344  3 snd_seq,snd_hrtimer,snd_pcm
snd                   159744  25 snd_ctl_led,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_soc_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,sn
d_hda_codec,snd_sof,snd_soc_sdca,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_realtek_lib,snd_compress,snd_soc_sdw_utils,snd_soc_hdac_hda,snd_hda_codec_alc269,snd_soc_core,sn
d_pcm
rpmb_core              20480  1 mmc_block
soundcore              12288  2 snd_ctl_led,snd
i2c_i801               40960  0
i2c_smbus              20480  1 i2c_i801
processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy    12288  0
processor_thermal_device    28672  1 processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
processor_thermal_wt_hint    16384  1 processor_thermal_device
platform_temperature_control    20480  1 processor_thermal_device
mei_me                 65536  3
processor_thermal_soc_slider    16384  1 processor_thermal_device
processor_thermal_rfim    49152  1 processor_thermal_device
mei                   221184  7 mei_wdt,mei_hdcp,mei_pxp,mei_me
processor_thermal_rapl    20480  1 processor_thermal_device
intel_rapl_common      53248  2 intel_rapl_msr,processor_thermal_rapl
intel_pch_thermal      20480  0
processor_thermal_wt_req    12288  1 processor_thermal_device
processor_thermal_power_floor    12288  1 processor_thermal_device
processor_thermal_mbox    12288  4 processor_thermal_power_floor,processor_thermal_wt_req,processor_thermal_rfim,processor_thermal_wt_hint
intel_soc_dts_iosf     16384  1 processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
intel_xhci_usb_role_switch    12288  0
int3403_thermal        16384  0
dell_rbtn              20480  0
intel_pmc_core        196608  0
pmt_telemetry          16384  1 intel_pmc_core
pmt_discovery          24576  1 pmt_telemetry
pmt_class              20480  2 pmt_telemetry,pmt_discovery
acpi_pad              184320  0
intel_pmc_ssram_telemetry    20480  1 intel_pmc_core
rfkill                 45056  11 iwlmvm,bluetooth,dell_laptop,dell_rbtn,cfg80211
intel_pmc_pwrm_telemetry    12288  1 intel_pmc_ssram_telemetry
int3402_thermal        12288  0
int3400_thermal        24576  0
int340x_thermal_zone    16384  3 int3403_thermal,int3402_thermal,processor_thermal_device
intel_vsec             28672  3 intel_pmc_ssram_telemetry,intel_pmc_pwrm_telemetry,pmt_telemetry
acpi_thermal_rel       24576  1 int3400_thermal
joydev                 32768  0
zram                   77824  1
lz4hc_compress         20480  1 zram
i915                 5623808  49
rtsx_pci_sdmmc         40960  0
mmc_core              327680  2 rtsx_pci_sdmmc,mmc_block
nvme                   81920  3
drm_buddy              12288  1 i915
nvme_core             299008  4 nvme
nvme_keyring           20480  1 nvme_core
rtsx_pci              147456  1 rtsx_pci_sdmmc
nvme_auth              36864  1 nvme_core
i2c_algo_bit           24576  1 i915
video                  81920  3 dell_wmi,dell_laptop,i915
ttm                   167936  1 i915
drm_display_helper    368640  1 i915
intel_oc_wdt           12288  0
cec                   110592  2 drm_display_helper,i915
wmi                    40960  7 video,intel_wmi_thunderbolt,dell_wmi,wmi_bmof,dell_smm_hwmon,dell_smbios,dell_wmi_descriptor
hid_multitouch         45056  0
serio_raw              20480  0
fuse                  315392  3
i2c_dev                28672  0
[user@Fedora ~]$

 

[MG]

It looks like /etc/fstab referring to the wrong device number.
Is it not because the cardbus is a separate da? device that adds another da? device that's the real storage device after that? Like da0 is USB drive, da1 is cardbus "hub" and da2 is the sd card, and da1 only appears if a sd card is inserted and da2 when a partition table is recognized...
A default FreeBSD install might be trying da1 which is no storage volume in case the bootdevice is an sd card.