"sam" wrote in message
news:d6mon1$2bh$1@news.hgc.com.hk...
>
> I tried to boot the 5.4 Release installation CD into serial console by
> following the instruction as described below:
>
> 1. Connect some sort of ANSI (vt100) compatible terminal or
> terminal emulation program to the COM1 port of the PC you are installing
> FreeBSD onto.

>
> What else I have missing in this procedure?

The fact that this is an OpenBSD newsgroup?

Steve
http://www.fivetrees.com

sam wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I tried to boot the 5.4 Release installation CD into serial console by
> following the instruction as described below:
>
> 1. Connect some sort of ANSI (vt100) compatible terminal or
> terminal emulation program to the COM1 port of the PC you are installing
> FreeBSD onto.
>
> 2. Unplug the keyboard (yes, that's correct!) and then try to
> boot from floppy or the installation CDROM, depending on the type of
> installation media you have, with the keyboard unplugged.
>
> 3. If you don't get any output on your serial console, plug
> the keyboard in again and wait for some beeps. If you are
> booting from the CDROM, proceed to Step 5 as soon as you hear
> the beep.
>
> 4. For a floppy boot, the first beep means to remove the
> kern.flp floppy and insert the mfsroot.flp floppy, after
> which you should press enter and wait for another beep.
>
> 5. Hit the space bar, then enter
>
> boot -h
>
> But I don't have any luck to see the "boot" prompt appear when
> continusly hitting space bars. CDROM is the first device to boot in the
> boot order list.
>
> What else I have missing in this procedure?
>
> Thanks
> Sam

Are you sure your serial port is COM1? Some devices (mouse pads on
portables, internal modems, IR devices, etc.) will emulate a COM port.
Most do not use COM1/2 (though I've seen some modems do that), but if
you have devices like that (and your problem isn't already resolved),
you could try disabling them in BIOS.

Keme wrote:

> sam wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I tried to boot the 5.4 Release installation CD into serial console by
>> following the instruction as described below:
>>
>> 1. Connect some sort of ANSI (vt100) compatible terminal
>> or terminal emulation program to the COM1 port of the PC you are
>> installing
>> FreeBSD onto.
>>
>> 2. Unplug the keyboard (yes, that's correct!) and then try to
>> boot from floppy or the installation CDROM, depending on the type of
>> installation media you have, with the keyboard unplugged.
>>
>> 3. If you don't get any output on your serial console, plug
>> the keyboard in again and wait for some beeps. If you are
>> booting from the CDROM, proceed to Step 5 as soon as you hear
>> the beep.
>>
>> 4. For a floppy boot, the first beep means to remove the
>> kern.flp floppy and insert the mfsroot.flp floppy, after
>> which you should press enter and wait for another beep.
>>
>> 5. Hit the space bar, then enter
>>
>> boot -h
>>
>> But I don't have any luck to see the "boot" prompt appear when
>> continusly hitting space bars. CDROM is the first device to boot in
>> the boot order list.
>>
>> What else I have missing in this procedure?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Sam
>
>
> Are you sure your serial port is COM1? Some devices (mouse pads on
> portables, internal modems, IR devices, etc.) will emulate a COM port.
> Most do not use COM1/2 (though I've seen some modems do that), but if
> you have devices like that (and your problem isn't already resolved),
> you could try disabling them in BIOS.
this is an old IBM desktop with K6 running chipset. It has an internla
modem card. but too frustrated to find out the problem I execute the
same command with the same serial NULL cable, and it works with com1.

Thanks
sam