FreeBSD 32bit on USB boots on 64bit, but not on a 32bit cpu

[JibJabM]

I successfully installed FreeBSD 12.1 i386 on a bootable USB. It works perfectly on an Intel i7 box.

I then plug it into an Intel Celeron M 423 (32bit architecture) but it hangs in bootup...

1. The VGA 640x480 flickers, with the bottom 1/8th extending off bottom of screen, and showing overlapping existing text at top of screen. (as a note, if I boot this box into its native Windows xp, it has a native resolution of 1280x1024 at 32 bit color).
2. it hangs in bootup after saying:
   module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff83477000, 0) error 19
   Due to the funky VGA overlap, I can't read it... but there seems to be one or two lines after this error before it hangs.
   Note that vt(4) hasn't loaded yet, so even if I try to set kern.vt.fb.default_mode=”1280x1024” in /boot/loader.conf, it doesn't get to even load vt(4). Maybe it's crashing trying to load vt(4)?

I compiled and installed /usr/ports/graphics/drm-fbsd12.0-kmod in order to support the i7 Intel HD Graphics, as kld_list="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko" in /etc/rc.conf... Maybe this has to change for the Celeron... But is there a way to dynamically switch .ko modules based on the system the USB is plugged into?

What if I decide to run that USB on a completely different machine down the road? I'm hoping to have this as a portable OS for kiosk scenerios, and am loving FreeBSD for the simplicity, ZFS and all!

 

[meine]

Have you tried using sc instead of the default vt console?

/boot/loader
# VESA display settings -- only sc console
kern.vty=sc
# vesa_load="YES" --> note that this line can have positive or negative workings on your system!

/etc/rc.conf
# vty=sc in /boot/loader.conf requires
# `vidcontrol -i mode' --
# Modes -- 282: 1280x1024x16, 279: 1024x768x16, 277: 800x600x32
allscreens_flags="MODE_277"
font8x16="iso-thin-8x16.fnt"

My experience is that going upward from the most basic display setting works best -- just add lines to the basic config and comment them in/out in finding the best working.

Could it be that your Intel Celeron M 423 (32bit architecture) doesn't have an Intel graphics card? AFAIK the i915kms.ko is only for Intel cards and have no use on different brands. Use # pciconf -lv to find out what brands are aboard.