FreeBSD installer dosen't work on an i386 PC

Ok, thanks for trying. It might be worth trying different USB key, preferably the "dummy" one. I had some USB keys that had "something" in them messing up the boot. Note my quotes to stress how vague my point is. :)

You have interesting boot issue, I like troubleshooting those. I tried to find your computer on ebay/amazon and local portal but was out of luck.
 
how are you burring the iso to the stick ? maybe this has something to do with it
This page contains information about the FreeBSD/i386 platform. FreeBSD/i386 should support any CPU compatible with the Intel(T) 80486 or better in 32-bit mode, although almost every recent AMD(T) and Intel(T) CPU will also be capable of running in 64-bit mode using the FreeBSD/amd64 port.
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80486 or better in 32-bit mode is supported but what about the 386?? humm

The i386 platform is a Tier 1 FreeBSD platform through FreeBSD 12.x. It is a Tier 2 platform in FreeBSD 13.0 and later.

www.freebsd.org

FreeBSD/i386 Project

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org
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Andreas-T said:
Oh, I definitely try an other USB Stick!
Thanks for the tip!
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Have you tried with an i386 12.4-RELEASE CD or USB?

If that works, you'll have a supported version until the end of this year (if the EOL date doesn't move again), giving you time to update.
 
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smithi said:
Have you tried with an i386 12.4-RELEASE CD or USB?

If that works, you'll have a supported version until the end of this year (if the EOL date doesn't move again), giving you time to update.
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OP says he tried (post 22). At least with usb-stick.
 
I have now tried with a different USB-Stick, but it dosen't show up in the boot menu. The BIOS Version is P01-A0 with the release date of 05/14/2009. I burned the iso with balenaEtcher to the Stick. The exact same stick works just fine on another Notebook with an 32-Bit CPU.
 
Just to be sure can you show what did you download and how did you copy it to the usb ? You just need to dd image such as this one: FreeBSD-13.1-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img to usb key and you are set.
I was able to find some older 32b box with Intel Atom in it ( Asus eee EB1501U), as expected, it boots just fine.
I'll ask my friends whether somebody has a board with this BIOS; long shot, but still..
 

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You have few files there but if you did dd those memstick.img images straight to the USB (without any 3rd party programs) you should be ok.
 
I now tried, using dd but it is still the same issue, BTX halted and it cannot find '/boot/entropy' and '/etc/hostid'. (With ACPI off, and Legacy USB on), without legacy USB support the stick dosen't show up in the boot menu.
 
As it was mentioned above you can ignore those entropy/hostid messages, they are irrelevant here.

I still think your BIOS is messing up BTX somehow.
 
Yeah, but these are the last messages the installer send's before freezing. I will try using an CD these days. I cannot understand why debian Linux is booting fine.
 
Andreas-T said:
I cannot understand why debian Linux is booting fine.
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One of the possibilities is that grub2 is switching to protected mode and bypassing BIOS for this. You could test this with something that uses grub (e.g. RedHat 7.x or some older debians).

Of course it can still be something else but that's impossible to tell like this.
 
_martin said:
BTX halted on int 6, UD - invalid opcode. That would be consistent with the memory full of 0xff where loader jumped.
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'full of 0xff' could very well smell like bad RAM, and it could be bad just in one section.

Andreas-T, have you run memtest86 on this beast?

Going back through the thread, I noticed this and checked specs. It comes with 1 GiB RAM in a single slot but can take 2G. E.g:


only want AU$14.22 for 2G, €8.84, maybe less in Berlin?

Worth a try maybe. 2G would be more usable anyway.
 
smithi said:
'full of 0xff' could very well smell like bad RAM, and it could be bad just in one section.
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Bad RAM doesn't have one particular pattern. This could be anything, really. From stale info in RAM to bad read and anything in between.

While it never hurts to check RAM I think this is sw issue, not hw one.
He's able to boot Linux successfully on that machine too.
 
_martin said:
Bad RAM doesn't have one particular pattern. This could be anything, really. From stale info in RAM to bad read and anything in between.
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True. I was just looking for a straw that hadn't already been clutched ...

_martin said:
While it never hurts to check RAM I think this is sw issue, not hw one.
He's able to boot Linux successfully on that machine too.
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Maybe, but it's s strange one. If software I'd have thought it would have rung a bell for someone by now. Must still be a few people here running i386 versions?

Likely worth a PR, the Right People might get to see it?
 
smithi said:
Maybe, but it's s strange one
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It's a nice one. I like these. :) It makes it even more interesting issue if legacy grub boots there just fine.

It is worth a PR ; but I would not hold my breath somebody is going to look at it (it's just my general, very subjective, disappointment with PRs last year).

If I could debug this I would start around read functions (interrupts), so around BIOS read. I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my gut feeling.
If I read the specs correctly (just glanced at them) it doesn't have rs232 port though. That makes it more painful to debug (printf-like debugging is the next best bet).

I would be willing to have a look but I don't have the HW. And it seems nobody around has anything with that BIOS around.
 
i remember i had btx errors trying to pxe boot various boxes
usually worked with older loaders or ipxe
you can try to pxe boot the asus and see if it bombs in a similar way (might not be the same root cause)
 
The PC has already has 2GB Ram. I will try installing an older Linux Version with grub, not grub 2 and then report here…
Where can I get best an older loader?
if that is all not working I‘ll try using an CD Rom
 
may I ask: what do you want to accomplish with that hardware? Do not get me wrong, I am the last person to throw away hardware as long as it can be used. However, you get a used notebook with dual core cpu and 4 GB ram for €50 in Berlin, so unless you have fun tinkering around with i386 imho it is not worth the hassle, especially if you look at future support of software.
 
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