NetBSD Installation on an HP Pavillion dv9000 Laptop

[Stlyx]

Recently, I was looking for an old computer system to install NetBSD on. I found an old HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop and decided I would give it a try. After booting from the installation media, the boot process seems to freeze within a few seconds. Not that I know what it truly means, but I tried booting without ACPI, but the same problem occurs. The system doesn't give any error messages, and I have no idea of how to troubleshoot at that stage or how to get any logged information assuming that something can be logged at that point. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

[LeFrettchen]

Welcome Stlyx

I'm not a NetBSD user but what does the NetBSD install exactly do ?
Any display on screen would help...

And you should start checking the hardware, just in case...

1. Check your BIOS settings, see if you need to upgrade it.
   
2. It should be possible to check HD & RAM with the BIOS.
   Start the PC & hold F10 to access BIOS.
   Acces the ‘ Diagnostic ‘ tab.
   You should find here HD test & RAM test.
   Please report any error.

[Stlyx]

Thank you for replying. I didn't think I would get one so quickly. I'm not currently at home to test it, but I will try to get some information perhaps by tomorrow.

What I can tell you right now though is that it never reaches the installation; it stops mid-boot after just a few seconds. I later tried to install FreeBSD as a comparison, and surprisingly, it booted just fine.

As for the HD and RAM test, I will run it as soon as I have a chance.

[LeFrettchen]

Originally Posted by Stlyx

I later tried to install FreeBSD as a comparison, and surprisingly, it booted just fine.

It's a good start...

Edit : now we know your machine can boot.
You should re-download the install file, just to check it was not corrupted, and restart the entire install process.

Oh, and it would also be useful to have further informations...
Is it your first install of NetBSD or are you a long-experienced user ?
Or do you use any other BSDs ?

[Stlyx]

That's a good idea. I'm not sure why I didn't think of re-downloading the install image.

I'm fairly new to the BSDs. I've only installed FreeBSD on VirtualBox and NetBSD on a Raspberry Pi, and actually that's why I wanted to install NetBSD on a more traditional system, so to speak. I just really enjoyed it. I have just a little experience with Linux systems as well if that helps you in any way but it hasn't been anything too technical.

I'll report back tomorrow with the info and a fresh install image attempt.

[shep]

Recent versions of FreeBSD install a gpt boot loader in the 1st two sectors of the hard drive. When NetBSD installs a mbr boot loader in just the 1st sector of a prior FreeBSD install, it results in a damaged table.

Try gdisk to "zap" the GPT/MBR and start with a clean disk.

[bsd-keith]

When downloading O/S images, there should always be a checksum with the various versions so that you can verify that you got a good download image.

(Of course, most of us don't bother unless we have trouble. )

[Stlyx]

Sorry for taking so long. Something came up yesterday, and I didn't have time to mess around with my laptop.

Originally Posted by LeFrettchen

It's a good start...

You should re-download the install file, just to check it was not corrupted, and restart the entire install process.

So, I re-downloaded the install image, but it gave me the same problem:



I noticed that two IRQs are considered invalid and that the QLBD is not configured, but I'm not sure if they could even cause something like this because I don't know what they are or what they do.

Originally Posted by shep

Recent versions of FreeBSD install a gpt boot loader in the 1st two sectors of the hard drive. When NetBSD installs a mbr boot loader in just the 1st sector of a prior FreeBSD install, it results in a damaged table.

Thank you for the heads up. If I get the installer to boot, then I'll have to use gdisk.

Originally Posted by bsd-keith

When downloading O/S images, there should always be a checksum with the various versions so that you can verify that you got a good download image.

(Of course, most of us don't bother unless we have trouble. )

You're right. I probably should have looked for it, but I always feel like it's such a hassle hahaha...

[LeFrettchen]

AFAIK, IRQs 10 & 11 are free, this should not be a problem.

On another hand, this is a BIOS related issue and could be the visible part only.
Maybe your BIOS needs to be updated...

About QLBD :

hpqlb0 at acpi0 (QLBD, HPQ0006): HP Quick Launch Buttons

source : Daemonforums.org - Getting Xfce4...

[Stlyx]

Thank you LeFrettchen. I'll see if I can update the BIOS then

[Stlyx]

So, the good news is that the BIOS was out of date. Unfortunately, the problem still persists.

[LeFrettchen]

Originally Posted by Stlyx

So, the good news is that the BIOS was out of date.

One step forward, at least

Originally Posted by Stlyx

Unfortunately, the problem still persists.

Does the boot always freezes at the same point ?

On the picture you posted, the last line is some ACPI WMI related features.
WMI is Windows Management Instrumentation, maybe not really NetBSD friendly.
(but since I don't use NetBSD, I really don't know, it's just an idea).

So if WMI is the cause of the trouble, it should be possible to deactivate it in the BIOS, in the Power Management section.
Or it should be possible to deactivate the entire ACPI features.

Would be worth trying...

[bsd-keith]

Maybe someone changed settings in the BIOS, usually you can reset them to factory settings, might let it boot up - no guarantees.

(I once had an old laptop that didn't like FreeBSD acpi & had to turn it off to get it to boot up.)

[shep]

There are some current problems with WMI on NetBSD
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/source-...msg009678.html

[Stlyx]

Hello everyone,

I apologize for being gone for so long. I had a few things to take care of, but yes, once I disabled acpiwmi kernel option, the install media finished booting the laptop. I wasn't aware of the BIOS option, and I think I'll have a look at it in a few moments. I also didn't know how to disable the acpiwmi option from the boot prompt or if it was even possible for that matter. So, I installed and ran NetBSD from VirtualBox and compiled a new installation kernel without WMI support, and then replaced the kernel in the installation media with the custom one. Later, I found out that by dropping to the boot prompt, the system could be booted by specifying:

boot -c

Then, as it begins to boot, it pauses at some "prompt" (I'm not really sure what it is) where one can disable or modify built-in kernel options. So, at that "prompt", it allowed me to disable the WMI by entering:

disable acpiwmi
quit

I'm not sure how that information can be passed without having to drop to that "prompt", so I just compiled another kernel but with acpiwmi commented out.

Anyway, I really appreciate all the help because it's working

[LeFrettchen]

Great !
Glad we were able to help

Edit :

Originally Posted by Stlyx

I wasn't aware of the BIOS option, and I think I'll have a look at it in a few moments.

The BIOS settings would be the easiest solution, IMHO

[IdOp]

Originally Posted by Stlyx

I'm not sure how that information can be passed without having to drop to that "prompt", ...

Have a look at the boot.conf(5) man page. I think you should be able to use the userconf keyword to pass a userconf(4) disable command to the kernel automatically at boot.

[Stlyx]

I apologize yet again for taking long to respond. I got a little too involved with adding stuff to NetBSD and those "few moments" turned into hours and hours.

Originally Posted by LeFrettchen

One step forward, at least

On the picture you posted, the last line is some ACPI WMI related features.
WMI is Windows Management Instrumentation, maybe not really NetBSD friendly.
(but since I don't use NetBSD, I really don't know, it's just an idea).

So if WMI is the cause of the trouble, it should be possible to deactivate it in the BIOS, in the Power Management section.
Or it should be possible to deactivate the entire ACPI features.

Would be worth trying...

Originally Posted by LeFrettchen

The BIOS settings would be the easiest solution, IMHO

So, I took a look at the BIOS settings, but it didn't include any Power Management section, or some other section for that matter, where WMI or all ACPI features could be deactivated unfortunately, or at least, I couldn't find any. It's running some version of Phoenix BIOS. I may be able to get the version if it's important to anyone. Also, I've tried the default boot option where kernel support for ACPI is disabled but that ends up freezing mid-boot.

Originally Posted by IdOp

Have a look at the boot.conf(5) man page. I think you should be able to use the userconf keyword to pass a userconf(4) disable command to the kernel automatically at boot.

I tested your idea, and I think it would be the easiest option. I'll post a copy of a working boot.cfg file that boots a generic netbsd kernel on an HP Pavillion laptop just for the sake of completeness:

/boot.cfg

menu=Boot normally:rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;boot netbsd
menu=Boot single user:rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;boot netbsd -s
menu=Disable ACPI:rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;boot netbsd -2
menu=Disable ACPI and SMP:rndseed /var/db/entropy-file;boot netbsd  -12
menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
default=1
timeout=5
clear=1
userconf=disable acpiwmi

[IdOp]

I'm glad it worked. This thread also reminded me to try userconf for a different problem I'm having.