Solved Trying to install FreeBSD 13.0 on HP ZBook 15 G6

huginn

huginn

Hi,
I am trying to install Free BSD on HP ZBook 15 G6 following handbook. I didn't get very far because my computer freezes after BOOT Menu and printing
Code: 
masks 0x00ff0000 0x0000ff00 0xff000000
.
I did try "safe mode" but nothing changed.
I am pretty intrigued by the fact that FreeBSD 14.0 boots without any problems.

As far as I understand 14.0 is Work In Progress version and shouldn't be used as a "daily driver".

I found few threads on the mailing list about problems similar to mine but did not find any solutions.
 
After enabling Legacy mode in BIOS and booting my pendrive I get few lines of text for split second and after that booting process crashes. From what I was able to spot something about kernel and disks in the system is printed.

Not sure if this is relevant but I am using FreeBSD-13.0-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img and I have Windows and Linux currently installed on two separate SSD drives.
 
Can you post your laptop's spec(cpu, RAM, HDD) and the usb you used? And I think we can solve this quickly if you attach a video that has the booting moment.
 
acheron said:
It's probably this PR 209821. It's fixed on -current, what you can do is grab loader.efi on a recent -current and put it in the ESP.
Click to expand...
I might be misunderstanding something, but from what I understand from uefi(8) loader.efi is created/installed during installation process.
I am not sure how installing FreeBSD 14.0-current will affect ability to boot Live CD or installer from a pendrive.

acheron said:
Crap, you'll probably need a -current kernel...
Click to expand...
Unless this scary sentence means that previous message is not relevant in my case.

Is there some kind of guide that might help me with swapping kernel? I am new to FreeBSD, but I work as a programmer so with some guide/tips I am confident that I can manage.
 
huginn said:
Is there some kind of guide that might help me with swapping kernel?
Click to expand...
No, because FreeBSD comes as a whole. Running a different version of the kernel compared to the userland is not a supported configuration.

Also note that -CURRENT is a unsupported, development version.
 
I am aware that -CURRENT is a development version this is why I was looking for a way to install 13.0-RELEASE despite all the problems.

In that case I will wait for the 14.0-CURRENT to become 14.0-RELEASE.

Thank you for all your help and patience.
 
Yeah, ABI mismatch between kernel and userland is recipe for a hard-to-debug crash.
That's why FreeBSD has a development process in place - somebody needs to have the discipline to do reasonably thorough testing of changes to code before saying, "OK, this works, we stand behind it, to the extent it's used as intended".

There are 14-CURRENT iso's available that OP can try (instead of 13-RELEASE), those bowls of jell-o are at least set. But like real jell-o, the flavors are experimental, and not meant to be served to customers. I wonder if anyone can understand my analogy here.
 
huginn said:
I might be misunderstanding something, but from what I understand from uefi(8) loader.efi is created/installed during installation process.
I am not sure how installing FreeBSD 14.0-current will affect ability to boot Live CD or installer from a pendrive.


Unless this scary sentence means that previous message is not relevant in my case.

Is there some kind of guide that might help me with swapping kernel? I am new to FreeBSD, but I work as a programmer so with some guide/tips I am confident that I can manage.
Click to expand...
You can replace the EFI loader, it's located on the ESP (usually it's the first partition, formatted as fat32, gpart show -l will give you more info)
Something like this should do it (replace ada0 with the name of your disk):
Makefile: 
mount_msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /mnt
cp /boot/loader.efi /mnt/efi/boot/BOOTx64.efi

You can put the CURRENT kernel in say /boot/kernel.current/ (you can fetch on here https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/snapshots/amd64/14.0-CURRENT/kernel.txz). When you reboot you can choose at the loader prompt which kernel you want to boot.

You can use a 14-CURRENT kernel with a 13.x-RELEASE (or 12.x) userland.
 
acheron said:
You can replace the EFI loader, it's located on the ESP (usually it's the first partition, formatted as fat32, gpart show -l will give you more info)
Something like this should do it (replace ada0 with the name of your disk):
Makefile: 
mount_msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /mnt
cp /boot/loader.efi /mnt/efi/boot/BOOTx64.efi

You can put the CURRENT kernel in say /boot/kernel.current/ (you can fetch on here https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/snapshots/amd64/14.0-CURRENT/kernel.txz). When you reboot you can choose at the loader prompt which kernel you want to boot.

You can use a 14-CURRENT kernel with a 13.x-RELEASE (or 12.x) userland.
Click to expand...
yeah, you can, but it's better to compile the two on the same machine for best results. Depends on how adventurous you are, and whether or not you're willing to put up with unpredictable crashes and spending time reinstalling the system from scratch. That's the kind of territory you're stepping into. Nothing wrong with with that, but you might need to re-calibrate your expectations from ground up.
 
"Unsupported" and "experimental" doesn't mix well with "I want a stable machine".
So I will wait for the 14.0 to become -RELEASE and maybe meanwhile look for old(-er) ThinkPad. For sure I am not giving up on FreeBSD. ;)

BTW I really like the jell-o analogy, I might use it in the future.
 
Confirming the same issue and solution:
Have a company supplied HP ZBook Fury 15 G7.
Stuck without any error with the same symptom:
screen.jpg

Downloaded FreeBSD14 Current for March 3rd 2022 and it ran fine.
Never used UEFI before and the DMESG boot text is white, not red. Having red text during boot makes up 50% of my enjoyment in using FreeBSD. :[
huginn said:
"Unsupported" and "experimental" doesn't mix well with "I want a stable machine".
Click to expand...
The adrenaline rush of whether your machine will wake up after a kernel panic is what makes life worth living.
 
huginn said:
"Unsupported" and "experimental" doesn't mix well with "I want a stable machine".
So I will wait for the 14.0 to become -RELEASE and maybe meanwhile look for old(-er) ThinkPad. For sure I am not giving up on FreeBSD. ;)

BTW I really like the jell-o analogy, I might use it in the future.
Click to expand...
I think you do not have to wait until 14 become Release. I have a HP G5 Desktop (2019 make) with the same problem. Workaround for the last few
months is to use 13/Stable. This works fine for me and over the months I learned that Stable is really stable. I had no problems at all with it.

The fix for the efi-framebuffer issue will be arreive for sure in 13.1 Release and the first RC will be out next week. The final 13.1 than in April.

In April I will go back to Release but over the last few months I learned quite a bit about FreeBSD on my detour via Stable.
 
will be arreive for sure in 13.1 Release
Click to expand...
Can we get a confirmation on this, now that the release features are set in stone? Been using 14-Current on my ZBook Fury G7 until now, works great. Though would like to get back to a properly supported release.
bsduck said:
teken.fg_color="red" in /boot/loader.conf should bring enjoyment back.
Click to expand...
Not quite actually. This colors the normal default text color as well, whereas with the non-EFI bootloader normal text is white and Kernel messages are red.
Also it's not the same red. The BIOS red is more of a light pinkish hue, wheres as teken.fg_color="red" gives a RGB 255, 0, 0 painful looking red. Still better than boring white :P
 
FrostKiwi said:
Can we get a confirmation on this, now that the release features are set in stone? Been using 14-Current on my ZBook Fury G7 until now, works great. Though would like to get back to a properly supported release.
Click to expand...
I tried one of the 13.1 Betas on my G5 and the efi-framebuffer issue is fixed and gone. I'm now waiting for the final 13.1 Release
and than go back from stable to release.

Should work on your machine too. Just try it and boot up with a Beta or RC and test it.
 
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