Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Questions about the installation of FreeBSD
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

I am unable to get to GhostBSD dekstop from my live USB. I've already got a linux distribution installed with LUKS encryption and the computer boots up in insecure mode. When I boot from USB, default, the computer just restarts. When I boot from USB UEFI mode I get to the menu but all of the 4 live boot options just load files for some 15 seconds and then restarts the computer. I've got GTX1070 if that makes any difference. Any ideas are appriciated!
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by ASX »

legitname wrote:I am unable to get to GhostBSD dekstop from my live USB. I've already got a linux distribution installed with LUKS encryption and the computer boots up in insecure mode. When I boot from USB, default, the computer just restarts. When I boot from USB UEFI mode I get to the menu but all of the 4 live boot options just load files for some 15 seconds and then restarts the computer. I've got GTX1070 if that makes any difference. Any ideas are appriciated!
How was transferred to the USB stick ?
Are you using a USB2 or USB3 port ?

Anyway the 11Alpha is bugged and a next image shoould be released soon.
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

I used Rufus on Windows 10 which worked without error. I am using USB3 on both Windows and the pc I want to install GhostBSD on.
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by ASX »

legitname wrote:I used Rufus on Windows 10 which worked without error. I am using USB3 on both Windows and the pc I want to install GhostBSD on.
Hmm ... I would not be so sure:
https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/issues/809

GhostBSD at 99% is a FreeBSD ISO image, although with difference, and the most important here is that unlike FreeBSD we use GRUB and we provide "hybrid" ISOs.

Anyway, a transfer tool has no business in looking into the ISO content, and if it does (and it appear Rufus does that), is doing something we do not support.

EDIT:
So, yeah, Rufus does tell you that it just can't support that image, which mostly has to do with the fact that the FreeBSD people are doing their own thing, and, unlike the Linux people, don't seem to care that much about people trying to install their OS from a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive created from Windows.
Of course yes, FreeBSD people do the things their own way and certainly not the MS way, nor the Linux way, in fact it is name FreeBSD and not MS-BSD, nor GNU-BSD.
end edit

~~~

You wrote you have linux, please use dd

Code: Select all

dd if=filename.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M conv=sync
where filname.iso is a placeholder for the actual ISO filename, and X is a placeholder for a letter that identify your USB unit.
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

Whenever I execute ""dd if=foo.iso of=/foo/bar bs=1M conv=sync" all the files copied to the USB get weird names and I can't delete them from my linux computer because they are "read only" so I have to plug them in my windows computer and reformat them to be able to work with them. When they don't copy corrupt files it says "1855+1 records in, 1856+0 records out" and nothing happens besides my USB stops working completely on both Linux and Windows, I can't even format them anymore. Any idea why?
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

I just put the broken USB in my computer and booted from it and I got to the "choose desktop" menu but all I get is "Fatal server error: no screens found" and "ERROR: failed to start X...". In other words Xorg doesn't seem to work.
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by ASX »

legitname wrote:Whenever I execute ""dd if=foo.iso of=/foo/bar bs=1M conv=sync" all the files copied to the USB get weird names
nonsense: dd copy raw blocks and is not aware of logical structures like files or filesystems.
Any idea why?
Yes, one: your wrong assumptions:

Your previous assumption about Rufus doing the right job: it doesn't.
Your assumtion that your linux is able to deal with UFS2 filesystem: it is not.
and so on ...
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

I had no idea my linux couldn't deal with UFS2 and I didn't even know what UFS2 is but now I do, thanks for updating me! Anyhow now that I know that and have plugged in the USB I get errors with Xorg or my xconfig which says it can't find drivers nor a screen and it fails to start. After letting it display the errors for about 60 seconds a command line pops up and I am able to execute commands. Should I start xorg or load a config and reboot or what?
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by ASX »

@legitname,

please download and try GhostBSD 10.3, i.e. the most recent stable release.

Alpha and Beta release are meant for releatively advanced users who are willing to provide feedback and are able to report properly about issues.

With all due respect, it appear you are new to the BSD world in general and GhostBSD/FreeBSD specifically.
legitname
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:08 am

Re: Unable to get to install menu GhostBSD 11 ALPHA

Post by legitname »

@ASX,

I've already tried with 10.3 but it too gives me xorg errors. It says "no screens found(EE)" and that's it. The error is put at both 11 ALPHA and 10.3 . I found this link "https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=173153" which says that my system is loading too fast. Then I pressed CTRL+ALT+F4 to get a console up and ran "bsdinstall", which gave me the alternative to install. Now I've installed GhostBSD but I have no graphics drivers for some reason and I've downloaded xorg. When I start it takes about 7 minutes to get to what is suppost to be a login screen (SLIM) but all I get is a gray screen, which is the same issue I've had before when my Nvidia drivers didn't work properly so I tried installing nvidia but it fails because my kernel is outdated and downloading latest 4.9.5 linux kernel or something didn't help either. Any ideas on how to download graphics drivers for GTX 1070?
Post Reply