xref: /freebsd/sbin/reboot/boot_i386.8 (revision 6e8394b8baa7d5d9153ab90de6824bcd19b3b4e1)
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7.\" Almost completely rewritten for FreeBSD 2.1 by Joerg Wunsch.
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9.\" Substantially revised for FreeBSD 3.1 by Robert Nordier.
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39.\"     @(#)boot_i386.8	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
40.\"
41.\" $Id: boot_i386.8,v 1.17 1999/03/16 13:16:11 rnordier Exp $
42.\"
43.Dd April 19, 1994
44.Dt BOOT 8 i386
45.Os
46.Sh NAME
47.Nm boot
48.Nd
49system bootstrapping procedures
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51.Sy Power fail and crash recovery.
52Normally, the system will reboot itself at power-up or after crashes.
53An automatic consistency check of the file systems will be performed,
54and unless this fails, the system will resume multi-user operations.
55.Pp
56.Sy Cold starts.
57Most i386 PCs attempt to boot first from floppy disk drive 0 (sometimes
58known as drive A:) and, failing that, from hard disk drive 0 (sometimes
59known as drive C:, or as drive 0x80 to the BIOS).  Some BIOSes allow
60you to change this default sequence, and may also include a CD-ROM
61drive as a boot device.
62.Pp
63By default, a three-stage bootstrap is employed, and control is
64automatically passed from the boot blocks (bootstrap stages one and
65two) to a separate third-stage bootstrap program,
66.Pa loader .
67This third stage provides more sophisticated control over the booting
68process than it is possible to achieve in the boot blocks, which are
69constrained by occupying limited fixed space on a given disk or slice.
70.Pp
71However, it is possible to dispense with the third stage altogether,
72either by specifying a kernel name in the boot block parameter
73file,
74.Pa /boot.config ,
75or by hitting a key during a brief pause (while one of the characters
76.Dv - ,
77.Dv \e ,
78.Dv \&| ,
79or
80.Dv /
81is displayed) before
82.Pa loader
83is invoked.  Booting will also be attempted at stage two, if the
84third stage cannot be loaded.
85.Pp
86The remainder of this subsection deals only with the boot blocks.  The
87.Pa loader
88program is documented separately.
89.Pp
90After the boot blocks have been loaded,
91you should see a prompt similar to the following:
92.Bd -literal
93>> FreeBSD/i386 BOOT
94Default: 0:wd(0,a)/kernel
95boot:
96.Ed
97.Pp
98The automatic boot will attempt to load
99.Pa /kernel
100from partition
101.Ql a
102of either the floppy or the hard disk.
103This boot may be aborted by typing any character on the keyboard
104at the
105.Ql boot:
106prompt.  At this time, the following input will be accepted:
107.Bl -tag -width 10x
108.It \&?
109Give a short listing of the files in the root directory of the default
110boot device, as a hint about available boot files.  (A
111.Dv \&?
112may also be specified as the last segment of a path, in which case
113the listing will be of the relevant subdirectory.)
114.Pp
115.It bios_drive:interface(unit,part) filename Op Fl aCcDdghPrsv
116Specify boot file and flags.
117.Bl -tag -width 10x -compact
118.It bios_drive
119The drive number as recognized by the BIOS.
1200 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
121.It interface
122The type of controller to boot from.  Note that the controller is required
123to have BIOS support since the BIOS services are used to load the
124boot file image.
125.Pp
126The supported interfaces are:
127.Bl -tag -width "wdXX" -compact
128.It wd
129ST506, IDE, ESDI, RLL disks on a WD100[2367] or lookalike
130controller
131.It fd
1325 1/4" or 3 1/2" High density floppies
133.It da
134SCSI disk on any supported SCSI controller
135.\".It cd
136.\"boot from CDROM
137.El
138.It unit
139The unit number of the drive on the interface being used.
1400 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
141.It part
142The partition letter inside the BSD portion of the disk.  See
143.Xr disklabel 8 .
144By convention, only partition
145.Ql a
146contains a bootable image.  If sliced disks are used
147.Pq Dq fdisk partitions ,
148any slice can be booted from, with the default being the active slice
149or, otherwise, the first FreeBSD slice.
150.It filename
151The pathname of the file to boot (relative to the root directory
152on the specified partition).  Defaults to
153.Pa /kernel .
154Symbolic links are not supported (hard links are).
155.It Fl acCdDghPrsv
156Boot flags:
157.Bl -tag -width "-CXX" -compact
158.It Fl a
159during kernel initialization,
160ask for the device to mount as as the root file system.
161.It Fl C
162boot from CDROM.
163.It Fl c
164run UserConfig to modify hardware parameters for the loaded
165kernel.  If the kernel was built with the USERCONFIG_BOOT option,
166remain in UserConfig regardless of any
167.Ic quit
168commands present in the script.
169.It Fl D
170toggle single and dual console configurations.  In the single
171configuration the console will be either the internal display
172or the serial port, depending on the state of the
173.Fl h
174option below.  In the dual console configuration,
175both the internal display and the serial port will become the console
176at the same time, regardless of the state of the
177.Fl h
178option.  However, the dual console configuration takes effect only during
179the boot prompt.  Once the kernel is loaded, the console specified
180by the
181.Fl h
182option becomes the only console.
183.It Fl d
184enter the DDB kernel debugger
185.Pq see Xr ddb 4
186as early as possible in kernel initialization.
187.It Fl g
188use the GDB remote debugging protocol.
189.It Fl h
190toggle internal and serial consoles.  You can use this to switch
191console devices.  For instance, if you boot from the internal console,
192you can use the
193.Fl h
194option to force the kernel to use the serial port as its
195console device.  Alternatively, if you boot from the serial port,
196you can use this option to force the kernel to use the internal display
197as the console instead.  This option has no effect if the kernel was
198compiled with
199.Em options COMCONSOLE .
200.It Fl P
201probe the keyboard.  If no keyboard is found, the
202.Fl D
203and
204.Fl h
205options are automatically set.
206.It Fl r
207use the statically configured default for the device containing the
208root file system
209.Pq see Xr config 8 .
210Normally, the root file system is on the device
211that the kernel was loaded from.
212.It Fl s
213boot into single-user mode; if the console is marked as
214.Dq insecure
215.Pq see Xr ttys 5 ,
216the root password must be entered.
217.It Fl v
218be verbose during device probing (and later).
219.El
220.El
221.El
222.Pp
223You may put a BIOS drive number, a controller type, a unit number,
224a partition, a kernel file name, and any valid option in
225.Pa /boot.config
226to set defaults.  Enter them in one line just as you type at the
227.Ql boot:
228prompt.
229.Sh FILES
230.Bl -tag -width /kernel.old.config -compact
231.It Pa /boot.config
232parameters for the boot blocks (optional)
233.It Pa /boot/boot1
234first stage bootstrap file
235.It Pa /boot/boot2
236second stage bootstrap file
237.It Pa /boot/loader
238third stage bootstrap
239.It Pa /kernel
240default kernel
241.It Pa /kernel.old
242typical non-default kernel (optional)
243.El
244.Sh SEE ALSO
245.Xr ddb 4 ,
246.Xr ttys 5 ,
247.Xr btxld 8 ,
248.Xr config 8 ,
249.Xr disklabel 8 ,
250.Xr halt 8 ,
251.Xr loader 8 ,
252.Xr reboot 8 ,
253.Xr shutdown 8
254.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
255When disk-related errors occur, these are reported by the second-stage
256bootstrap using the same error codes returned by the BIOS, for example
257``Disk error 0x1 (lba=0x12345678)''.  Here is a partial list of these
258error codes:
259.Bl -tag -width "0x80" -compat
260.It 0x1
261Invalid argument
262.It 0x2
263Address mark not found
264.It 0x4
265Sector not found
266.It 0x8
267DMA overrun
268.It 0x9
269DMA attempt across 64K boundary
270.It 0xc
271Invalid media
272.It 0x10
273Uncorrectable CRC/ECC error
274.It 0x20
275Controller failure
276.It 0x40
277Seek failed
278.It 0x80
279Timeout
280.El
281.Pp
282IMPORTANT NOTE: Because of limitations imposed by the conventional
283disk interface provided by the BIOS, all boot-related files and
284structures (including the kernel) that need to be accessed during the
285boot phase must reside on the disk at or below cylinder 1023 (as the
286BIOS understands the geometry).  When a
287.Dq Disk error 0x1
288is reported by the second-stage bootstrap, it generally means that this
289requirement has not been adhered to.
290.Sh BUGS
291The disklabel format used by this version of
292.Bx
293is quite
294different from that of other architectures.
295.Pp
296Some features are not yet documented.
297