Can not get IBM p5-520 to boot from 9.2 or 10.0-RELEASE

Simba7

Simba7

I have been trying and trying to get it to boot, but it keeps saying "can't load 'kernel'". I've checked the discs, checked the DVD-ROM drive, etc.. but it will not read the disc after the Open Firmware loader executes.

Is there another way to boot this system up?
 
Something may be wrong with the download. Try reburning and checking the hash/des/md5 sum.
 
Ya, I've tried that. Even downloaded the latest JPSNAP, and it still doesn't work.

Any ideas?
 
Have you had an earlier version of FreeBSD running on this system?

I got that same message trying to install FreeBSD-9.2-RELEASE on my 2008 iMac using GPT partitioning. I had to partition the drive using MBR to get my iMac to boot FreeBSD-9.2-RELEASE.

Don't know if this is an option for you or not on your PPC system.
 
Well, the p5-520 is a POWER5 machine and a few weeks ago basic support went into -CURRENT, now part of the upcoming 10.0.
So if you want to try, fetch an ALHPA snapshot from 10.0 for powerpc64.
Most probably it will not work but the basic bits are there. We continue to make it work. But not on 9.x
Andreas
 
I will try the latest 9.2-CURRENT and 10.0-BETA1.

I saved these 4 systems from being destroyed. I realized what they were and kept them minus the HDDs (security reasons). I went and grabbed some 146GB drives and installed them. The systems will boot Debian just fine, but I prefer FreeBSD.

If anyone wants to dev on one, I'd be glad to allow full access to one of them. I was quite impressed that the Power5+ 2.1GHz processor has 36MB of L3 Cache, unheard of on regular systems. They also have 4GB of memory each, which I plan on upgrading.
 
Re: Can not get IBM p5-520 to boot from 9.2-RELEASE

k. I've tried to install FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE and the problem still exists.

For some reason, there is not a single block device available and the only available device is NET0:. I can still get it to boot the latest Debian, so I'm really stumped on what the problem could be.

I really hope I don't have to run Linux on these systems, but I just might have to.
 
Again, try talking to the mailing list.
There is a lot more going on with FreeBSD than most people are aware of.
Depending on where, what, who, and other factors, you may be able to exchange ideas in person. I have done this with a few people from different colleges and universities.
 
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