I'm sorry we continue to have problems communicating. At least I have now learned you are using the RAMDISK kernel. But that is almost all I have learned.
My best guess, from the information you have been able to provide:
your mount command is not successful.
If my guess is correct:
- The mount fails, so there is nothing in the /mnt directory.
- When you issue
# dmesg > /mnt/my.dmesg instead of writing a file in the filesystem, it writes the file into the /mnt directory in RAM.
Here is a test you can make yourself, to confirm if my guess is correct:
After booting bsd.rd and selecting the shell, insert your USB device. If the device is recognized, you will see kernel messages when the device is inserted. Look for a umass(4) driver message and the assignment of an sd(4) device number for the inserted drive. It might be sd0, but it may also be sd1, or sd2, or sd3 ... If it is a device number OTHER than sd0, that will explain why your mount fails.
The RAMDISK kernel does not have a complete set of device nodes in /dev, due to resource restrictions. If the device is OTHER than sd0, you will need to create its device node with MAKEDEV(8). For example, if the device is assigned to sd3, you would need to issue:
Code:
# cd /dev
# sh MAKEDEV sd3
You will next want to learn if there is a FAT filesystem at virtual disklabel partition "i" on that assigned device number. If the device is sd4, you would do this with
# disklabel sd4 - and then look to see if there is an MS_DOS filesystem at partition "i". If not, the USB device does not have an MBR or GPT partition table with a FAT partition defined.
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I have a second guess, but that involves having a different sd0 drive with a mountable "i" partition. If that is the situation, then you have been ignoring the device number messages the kernel provides to you when you insert the USB device. And you have not issued ls(1) commands to confirm the correct filesystem is mounted.
Unfortunately, I have no idea which of my two guesses is correct. They might both be wrong, but I can only work with the limited information you have provided.
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I have asked several questions that you have been unable to answer. I will ask them again.
- Which version of the kernel page fault message you posted is correct? a) The one in this thread? b) The one in the installation thread? c) Neither of them? d) The kernel page fault message was broken in a different way each time you booted and crashed?
- What change did you make that changed the repeatable crash into a hanging system?