Thanks Jerry, We have determined that our problem is related to the god-awful mess known as ACPI.
With a single processor installed, it all boots fine, including finding PCI busses 1 and 2 .... and the raid on the aac driver is peachy! With 2 or more processors installed, and ACPI enabled, it panics with a madt error about id 38 is greater than the allowed max And with ACPI disabled, it boots, but doesnt find PCI busses 1 and 2, which is unfortunate as the RAID controller sits in PCI bus 1 .... and the bge inet interface seems to be on PCI bus 2 .... So at present we are on the FC6 path, which is obviously much softer on the vagaries of ACPI and is ignoring the crap data returns. mjt > -----Original Message----- > From: Jerry McAllister [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, 20 April 2007 12:40 AM > To: Murray Taylor > Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List; [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: IBM / FreeBSD Install problem > > On Thu, Apr 19, 2007 at 10:14:13AM +1000, Murray Taylor wrote: > > > Server: IBM X3850 (88633SM) > > CPU X 4: 40K2522 > > HDD X 6: 40K1051 > > IBM ServeRAID 8i: 39R8729 > > > > We are attempting to install FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE onto this > machine and > > are running into a problem getting the operating system to > recognise the > > RAID controller. As a result not finding any disks when it comes to > > installing the O/S. > > > > We have attempted various modifications to the boot > process, including > > the loading of an "aac" module, which according to the BSD website, > > should provide support for this type of controller. > > I have only installed on a couple of raids and so don't know about > them all or even this one. So, this might not apply to your > situation. > But, I found that I had to study DMESG very carefully to find > out what > device to use for them. The system seemed to put out a lot > of messages > that looked like other device names but in the end there was just one > little line that pointed to the correct one. The most > recent one was > a Dell Perc 3i or something like that and I had to run the fixit and > study the boot messages to figure it out. I don't have that one > available to look at what it turned out to be, but it was more simple > than I first thought from all the stuff it wrote out. After mucking > with fixit a bit, then sysinstall seemed to figure it out OK. I don't > remember actually changing anything - just fishing around a while. > I may have run fdisk under fixit to look at things and maybe delete > some slices. > > So, rather than trying to change things right off, I would suggest > looking carefully at stuff and trying to determine what it is already > doing. > > Anyway, good luck, > > ////jerry > > > > > When we attempt to boot to OS to install after making these above > > modifications, the boot loader advises that this module > already appears > > to be loaded, which contradicts what I believe. In any respect, it > > doesn't work either way (with or without the module > manually loaded). > > > > One side note (which i don't think is contributing) is that when I > > attempt to start the boot loader with ACPI enabled, it > freezes with the > > message "cpu id 38 too high". However if I boot the boot loader with > > ACPI disabled, this message dissapears. It _may_ be a > possibility that a > > bi-product of disabling the ACPI is causing the RAID > controller to have > > issues. This appears to be an issue because of the X4 CPU count ?? > > > > That's a quick summary of the problem we have, and the > path(s) we have > > been down to date to attempt to fix it. Any help you can > provide would > > be very much appreciated. We are at the position now where we are > > prepared to pay for consulting services to get it going. > > > > Dave Faulkner / Murray Taylor > > > > Bytecraft Systems > > > > > > -- > > > > "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It > > takes a > > touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite > > direction." > > --Albert Einstein > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > The information transmitted in this e-mail is for the exclusive > > use of the intended addressee and may contain confidential > > and/or privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, > > dissemination or other use of it, or the taking of any action > > in reliance upon this information by persons and/or entities > > other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you > > received this in error, please inform the sender and/or > > addressee immediately and delete the material. > > > > E-mails may not be secure, may contain computer viruses and > > may be corrupted in transmission. Please carefully check this > > e-mail (and any attachment) accordingly. No warranties are > > given and no liability is accepted for any loss or damage > > caused by such matters. > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > ### This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses by > Bytecraft ### > > _______________________________________________ > > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- The information transmitted in this e-mail is for the exclusive use of the intended addressee and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, dissemination or other use of it, or the taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons and/or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please inform the sender and/or addressee immediately and delete the material. E-mails may not be secure, may contain computer viruses and may be corrupted in transmission. Please carefully check this e-mail (and any attachment) accordingly. No warranties are given and no liability is accepted for any loss or damage caused by such matters. --------------------------------------------------------------- ### This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses by Bytecraft ### _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"