xref: /freebsd/sbin/reboot/boot_i386.8 (revision cd0d51baaa4509a1db83251a601d34404d20c990)
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35.\"     @(#)boot_i386.8	8.2 (Berkeley) 4/19/94
36.\"
37.\" $FreeBSD$
38.\"
39.Dd November 19, 2019
40.Dt BOOT 8 i386
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm boot
44.Nd system bootstrapping procedures
45.Sh DESCRIPTION
46.Sy Power fail and crash recovery .
47Normally, the system will reboot itself at power-up or after crashes.
48An automatic consistency check of the file systems will be performed,
49and unless this fails, the system will resume multi-user operations.
50.Pp
51.Sy Cold starts .
52Most i386 PCs attempt to boot first from floppy disk drive 0 (sometimes
53known as drive A:) and, failing that, from hard disk drive 0 (sometimes
54known as drive C:, or as drive 0x80 to the BIOS).
55Some BIOSes allow
56you to change this default sequence, and may also include a CD-ROM
57drive as a boot device.
58.Pp
59Some newer PCs boot using UEFI firmware, not BIOS.
60That process is described
61in
62.Xr uefi 8 .
63.Pp
64By default, a three-stage bootstrap is employed, and control is
65automatically passed from the boot blocks (bootstrap stages one and
66two) to a separate third-stage bootstrap program,
67.Xr loader 8 .
68This third stage provides more sophisticated control over the booting
69process than it is possible to achieve in the boot blocks, which are
70constrained by occupying limited fixed space on a given disk or slice.
71.Pp
72However, it is possible to dispense with the third stage altogether,
73either by specifying a kernel name in the boot block parameter
74file,
75.Pa /boot.config ,
76or, unless option
77.Fl n
78is set, by hitting a key during a brief pause (while one of the characters
79.Sy - ,
80.Sy \e ,
81.Sy \&| ,
82or
83.Sy /
84is displayed) before
85.Xr loader 8
86is invoked.
87Booting will also be attempted at stage two, if the
88third stage cannot be loaded.
89.Pp
90The remainder of this subsection deals only with the boot blocks.
91The
92.Xr loader 8
93program is documented separately.
94.Pp
95After the boot blocks have been loaded,
96you should see a prompt similar to the following:
97.Bd -literal
98>> FreeBSD/x86 BOOT
99Default: 0:ad(0,a)/boot/loader
100boot:
101.Ed
102.Pp
103The automatic boot will attempt to load
104.Pa /boot/loader
105from partition
106.Ql a
107of either the floppy or the hard disk.
108This boot may be aborted by typing any character on the keyboard
109at the
110.Ql boot:
111prompt.
112At this time, the following input will be accepted:
113.Bl -tag -width indent
114.It Ic \&?
115Give a short listing of the files in the root directory of the default
116boot device, as a hint about available boot files.
117(A
118.Ic ?\&
119may also be specified as the last segment of a path, in which case
120the listing will be of the relevant subdirectory.)
121.It Xo
122.Sm off
123.Ar bios_drive : interface ( unit , Oo Ar slice , Oc Ar part )
124.Ar filename
125.Sm on
126.Op Fl aCcDdghmnPprsv
127.Op Fl S Ns Ar speed
128.Xc
129Specify boot file and flags.
130.Bl -tag -width indent
131.It Ar bios_drive
132The drive number as recognized by the BIOS.
1330 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
134.It Ar interface
135The type of controller to boot from.
136Note that the controller is required
137to have BIOS support since the BIOS services are used to load the
138boot file image.
139.Pp
140The supported interfaces are:
141.Pp
142.Bl -tag -width "adXX" -compact
143.It ad
144ST506, IDE, ESDI, RLL disks on a WD100[2367] or lookalike
145controller
146.It fd
1475 1/4" or 3 1/2" High density floppies
148.It da
149SCSI disk on any supported SCSI controller
150.\".It cd
151.\"boot from CDROM
152.El
153.It Ar unit
154The unit number of the drive on the interface being used.
1550 for the first drive, 1 for the second drive, etc.
156.It Oo Ar slice , Oc Ns Ar part
157The partition letter inside the
158.Bx
159portion of the disk.
160See
161.Xr bsdlabel 8 .
162By convention, only partition
163.Ql a
164contains a bootable image.
165If sliced disks are used
166.Pq Dq fdisk partitions ,
167any
168.Ar slice
169(1 for the first slice, 2 for the second slice, etc.\&)
170can be booted from, with the default (if not specified) being the active slice
171or, otherwise, the first
172.Fx
173slice.
174If
175.Ar slice
176is specified as 0, the first
177.Fx
178slice (also known as
179.Dq compatibility
180slice) is booted from.
181.It Ar filename
182The pathname of the file to boot (relative to the root directory
183on the specified partition).
184Defaults to
185.Pa /boot/kernel/kernel .
186Symbolic links are not supported (hard links are).
187.It Xo Op Fl aCcDdghmnPpqrsv
188.Op Fl S Ns Ar speed
189.Xc
190Boot flags:
191.Pp
192.Bl -tag -width "-CXX" -compact
193.It Fl a
194during kernel initialization,
195ask for the device to mount as the root file system.
196.It Fl C
197try to mount root file system from a CD-ROM.
198.It Fl c
199this flag is currently a no-op.
200.It Fl D
201boot with the dual console configuration.
202In the single
203configuration, the console will be either the internal display
204or the serial port, depending on the state of the
205.Fl h
206option below.
207In the dual console configuration,
208both the internal display and the serial port will become the console
209at the same time, regardless of the state of the
210.Fl h
211option.
212.It Fl d
213enter the DDB kernel debugger
214(see
215.Xr ddb 4 )
216as early as possible in kernel initialization.
217.It Fl g
218use the GDB remote debugging protocol.
219.It Fl h
220force the serial console.
221For instance, if you boot from the internal console,
222you can use the
223.Fl h
224option to force the kernel to use the serial port as its
225console device.
226.It Fl m
227mute the console to suppress all kernel console input and output during the
228boot.
229.It Fl n
230ignore key press to interrupt boot before
231.Xr loader 8
232is invoked.
233.It Fl P
234probe the keyboard.
235If no keyboard is found, the
236.Fl D
237and
238.Fl h
239options are automatically set.
240.It Fl p
241pause after each attached device during the device probing phase.
242.It Fl q
243be quiet,
244do not write anything to the console unless automatic boot fails or
245is disabled.
246This option only affects second-stage bootstrap,
247to prevent next stages from writing to the console use in
248combination with the
249.Fl m
250option.
251.It Fl r
252use the statically configured default for the device containing the
253root file system
254(see
255.Xr config 8 ) .
256Normally, the root file system is on the device
257that the kernel was loaded from.
258.It Fl s
259boot into single-user mode; if the console is marked as
260.Dq insecure
261(see
262.Xr ttys 5 ) ,
263the root password must be entered.
264.It Fl S Ns Ar speed
265set the speed of the serial console to
266.Ar speed .
267The default is 9600 unless it has been overridden by setting
268.Va BOOT_COMCONSOLE_SPEED
269in
270.Xr make.conf 5
271and recompiling and reinstalling the boot blocks.
272.It Fl v
273be verbose during device probing (and later).
274.El
275.El
276.El
277.Pp
278Use the
279.Pa /boot.config
280file to set the default configuration options for the boot block code.
281See
282.Xr boot.config 5
283for more information about the
284.Pa /boot.config
285file.
286.Sh FILES
287.Bl -tag -width /boot/loader -compact
288.It Pa /boot.config
289parameters for the boot blocks (optional)
290.It Pa /boot/boot1
291first stage bootstrap file
292.It Pa /boot/boot2
293second stage bootstrap file
294.It Pa /boot/loader
295third stage bootstrap
296.It Pa /boot/kernel/kernel
297default kernel
298.It Pa /boot/kernel.old/kernel
299typical non-default kernel (optional)
300.El
301.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
302When disk-related errors occur, these are reported by the second-stage
303bootstrap using the same error codes returned by the BIOS, for example
304.Dq Disk error 0x1 (lba=0x12345678) .
305Here is a partial list of these error codes:
306.Pp
307.Bl -tag -width "0x80" -compact
308.It 0x1
309Invalid argument
310.It 0x2
311Address mark not found
312.It 0x4
313Sector not found
314.It 0x8
315DMA overrun
316.It 0x9
317DMA attempt across 64K boundary
318.It 0xc
319Invalid media
320.It 0x10
321Uncorrectable CRC/ECC error
322.It 0x20
323Controller failure
324.It 0x40
325Seek failed
326.It 0x80
327Timeout
328.El
329.Pp
330.Sy "NOTE" :
331On older machines, or otherwise where EDD support (disk packet
332interface support) is not available, all boot-related files and
333structures (including the kernel) that need to be accessed during the
334boot phase must reside on the disk at or below cylinder 1023 (as the
335BIOS understands the geometry).
336When a
337.Dq Disk error 0x1
338is reported by the second-stage bootstrap, it generally means that this
339requirement has not been adhered to.
340.Sh SEE ALSO
341.Xr ddb 4 ,
342.Xr boot.config 5 ,
343.Xr make.conf 5 ,
344.Xr mount.conf 5 ,
345.Xr ttys 5 ,
346.Xr boot0cfg 8 ,
347.Xr btxld 8 ,
348.Xr config 8 ,
349.Xr gpart 8 ,
350.Xr gptboot 8 ,
351.Xr halt 8 ,
352.Xr loader 8 ,
353.Xr nextboot 8 ,
354.Xr reboot 8 ,
355.Xr shutdown 8 ,
356.Xr uefi 8
357.Sh BUGS
358The bsdlabel format used by this version of
359.Bx
360is quite
361different from that of other architectures.
362.Pp
363Due to space constraints, the keyboard probe initiated by the
364.Fl P
365option is simply a test that the BIOS has detected an
366.Dq extended
367keyboard.
368If an
369.Dq XT/AT
370keyboard (with no F11 and F12 keys, etc.) is attached, the probe will
371fail.
372