error message when trying to boot PC-BSD

roelof

Active Member
hello,

I use Easybcd 2.0 to multiboot Win7 and PC-BSD.
When I try to boot PC-BSD I only see a message Boot error and nothing happens.

Anyone a idea how to solve this ?

Roelof
 
I dont see any V9 for PC-BSD. The last stable release of PC-BSD is Version 8.2 as per their website. So using Beta software is not something that we can control if issues arise. They could have easily made changes to the software to cause this. Only they can answer such questions.

EasyBCD only adds entries to the boot menu for the various OS's out there. Other than that it has nothing at all to do with how the OS or system operates. This is an issue with PC-BSD and has to be taken up with them.

If EasyBCD was to blame you would get the error "OS not found press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" and you would then get brought back to the boot menu. Since you are only getting a boot error message this can only be the result of PC-BSD.

Did you have a stable and working install of PC-BSD 9 before you restarted and added it via EasyBCD? I never used version 7 either. I only used Version 8.1 of PC-BSD.
 
When I disable the disk with Windows PC-BSD wil boot
I have contacted the developers of PC-BSD but they say they don't have any idea what this causes so Im looking further for answers

Roelof
 
So your using multiple drives and not just multiple partitions. That is kinda need to know information. Not something you want to omit.

Have you tried the latest build? Version 2.1 was just released today and it allows you to select PC-BSD as well as the drive/partition that you have it installed to.

Along with this did you install the PC-BSD Boot Loader to the MBR or did you install it to the drive that it is installed upon?
 
Oke,

I apolize for that.
I will try version 2.1 and hope that will work,
I install pc-bsd bootloader to the MBR as far as I know.

Roelof
 
Alright that could be the issue then. You might have to redo the install of PC-BSD and have it not write the boot loader to the MBR but to that drive. Then add an entry for PC-BSD using EasyBCD.

The issue is 2 fold. PC-BSD doesnt use a standard boot loader. For the longest time they used the BTX loader which wasnt supported by anyone or anything let alone PC-BSD. We contacted them a long time ago to try and get support for their OS to use with EasyBCD for as far back as i remember.

Now they switched to what I can only assume is the FreeBSD loader. I still dont know, nor can confirm my suspicion on this with them cause my question has gone unanswered for the longest time. To make matters worse, they have now removed the EasyBCD guide from their Wiki. Showing that they dont want to have their OS installed along side of any others.

If we could talk to one of the Dev's and find out what boot loader they are using and how it operates I am sure that Mahmoud could code EasyBCD to work properly with PC-BSD. Until then not installing the loader and just creating a FreeBSD entry is all we can suggest for a fix.
 
Hello,

I left a message for the developers to talk to you or another person of your company.
Hopefully we get this sorted out quickly.

Roelof
 
The way we are doing installs on PC-BSD is to use the "MBR" loader only if the user clicks to install it from the GUI. This loads the standard freebsd /boot/boot0 MBR loader with the following command:

# gpart bootcode -b /boot/boot0 /dev/ada0

The only other time we do something like this is if you select GPT as the disk-scheme, in which case we load the protective MBR:

# gpart bootcode -b /boot/pmbr /dev/ada0

Do you remember when you did the install if you chose to use the GPT scheme? That would make a huge difference here I'm sure.

Also, we do still have the EasyBCD section in our handbook:

Dual Booting - PC-BSD Wiki
 
hello,

I did not use the GPT mode. I only checked the install boot loader.
For me it's install in /dev/ada1 because I use two disk and pc-bsd is installed in the second disk.

Roelof
 
That option must have change. I remember I had to specifically check the box to UNdo the use of the MBR and have it install to the drive itself. Now you say that they have to check the box? So that has definately changed since I installed 8.1 not long ago.

The reason why I say EasyBCD was removed, is cause the only other entry I seen for it was deleted:

http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/Dual_Boot_with_Windows_Using_EasyBCD

No forwarding or anything. Just the page was deleted. How are we supposed to know it was added into another Wiki Page?

Hopefully something can be figured out. Cause I am at a loss. It worked perfectly for me with the steps I outlined in the first link I posted.
 
Some users were experiencing problems with GPT so we changed the default back to MBR for 9.0. We've had other users successfully dual-boot on two separate drives and have a mailing list thread started by roelof:

http://lists.pcbsd.org/pipermail/testing/2011-June/005385.html

Is it possible for someone on the EasyBCD side to try to recreate this using 9.0 and report back? If so, testing snapshots are available from:

ftp://ftp.pcbsd.org/pub/snapshots/

and Sections 3 and 4 of the 9.0 Guide are available at:

PC-BSD 9 Handbook - PC-BSD Wiki

Like 9.0, they are a work in progress but the installation section is fairly up-to-date with 9.0's current features.

If it is a FreeBSD bug, we'd like to get it sorted before 9.0 is released.
 
Hi Dru,

I'll be more than happy to test this for you, but just so we're on the same page here - PC-BSD *can* install its bootloader to the bootsector of a partition instead of the MBR, correct?
 
Hello,

I also tried to install it with GTP enabled but no sucess.
I saw 5 partitions.
the first one did reboot the system
When I choose the others the only thing I saw was a blinking cursor.

Roelof
 
Hi Dru,

I'll be more than happy to test this for you, but just so we're on the same page here - PC-BSD *can* install its bootloader to the bootsector of a partition instead of the MBR, correct?

Correct. As long as you dont select to install the mbr loader, the partition is bootable.
 
OK, I'll download a 9.0 snapshot now and test in a dual-boot environment with Windows 7.

Cheers.
 
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