HP T740 thin client does not boot installer disks - atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]

[Greg_E]

[EDIT] This is not a 24.x problem, this is a problem with BSD on the HP T740

I'm going to request that this be moved to Tutorials and FAQs or any more appropriate section, the end post seems to be one solution, but only seems to work in Legacy Boot mode and only with UFS, I'll have to do more playing to see if I can get UEFI and ZFS working. UEFI and ZFS work the same way after I zeroed the drive and starting fresh (last post) [end of edit]

I'm trying to get new systems up and testing with the 24.1 DVD and VGA images... Rufus says that the DVD iso is not a format that it understands and will not write it to a flash drive. So I put it on Ventoy and tried booting this way... It boots up until it detects the keyboard and then sits there doing nothing.

So I grabbed the VGA image, extracted and used Rufus to write to USB. Boot off of this image and it loads until it detects the keyboard, and stops, again with no error message.

I've tried this with two different computers, an HP T620+ and a new HP T740. I've downloaded from a couple of mirrors and check the hash and everything seems correct.

If I go back to 23.7, I can easily write those images to USB, and boot them to get this installed. I'd like to start directly with 24.1 but it looks like I'll need do a bunch of upgrades to get there.

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Cherry keyboard?

[Greg_E]

A Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard with a USB adapter, I should probably try it with a "regular" USB wired keyboard. But 23.7 works fine which is the part that threw me.

[spkis]

Hi,
It worked just fine then we did install some devices yesterday using the new image.

Use balena etcher - ventoy I was also never able to successfully boot completely :( Sad as it is, but with balena etcher (also available for Windows) it will work without issues :-)

[phoenix]

I don't know why you have problems with Ventoy, it's worked fine for me over the past few years. I've used it for physical hardware and for VMs on VMware.

[sillyabraham8@gmail.com]

It is quite frustrating for us to encounter issues with system testing and booting from the 24.1 DVD. There could be compatibility problems with Rufus, and Ventoy isn't entirely cooperative. Fixing technical glitches can be difficult. I am seeking professional help because I want to do homework for me. and that's why Experts can offer valuable perspectives on technical issues and academic obstacles, guaranteeing a more seamless progression. Never be afraid to ask for the help you require!

[Greg_E]

Stops each time at

atkbd0: [GIANT LOCKED]

Tried it with the most basic Microsoft branded keyboard on USB 2 and USB 3 ports. Hopefully the system will let me attach a picture. And I'll update my version of Etcher and give this a try, I've had problem with Ventoy for a few images. but for the most part it works great.

[Greg_E]

This is what I get from Etcher with both the .bz and after extracting to the .iso, similar message that Rufus gave me. Also attached is the location of the mirror I used. Anyone have a suggestion for a known working mirror? I've tried the "default" LeaseWeb a couple of times with the same results in Rufus which suggests that Etcher would be the same too.

[Greg_E]

I went back to the t620+ because none of the versions seemed to work... I can get 24.1 to load on the t620+ in legacy mode. So switch back to the t740 and try legacy boot, still gets stuck. Go into bios and turn off all UEFI booting, try again, still stuck. Stuck on 23.7 as well.

Grabbing files and making a Windows boot disk to update the bios on the t740 and will try again after that. And that said, I may pause for a bit because I see users are getting the 24.1.2 update, so I would hope a new ISO/IMG would be generated.

[Greg_E]

Did more testing... PFsense 2.7.0 freezes at the same point, OPN 23.1 freezes at the same point, and just for kicks, Truenas Core 13.x freezes at the same point. I tried most of these in UEFI and legacy.

This makes me think there is a BSD issue at play with the HP T740.

The Windows PE HBCD loads just fine, that's what I used to update the BIOS, even works when secure boot is on.

I have tried a couple version of OPN in single user mode with no luck, anything else that anyone can think of to try?

[edit] Guess I should have searched a little harder! Going to try this: https://www.neelc.org/posts/hp-t740-freebsd/

[Greg_E]

The above link did work, however I'm having trouble with the /boot/loader.conf.local file. That file is not present, and if did not create that file even though it said it saved the lines. I had some luck with hitting escape on boot and unset those two commands, then I logged into the system (vga) and selected to open a terminal. I was able to add the command to /boot/loader.config and reboot but I have a feeling that will be overwritten when I do the upgrades up to 24.1.2.

But I'm on the track to working, and now that this has been posted, maybe other people will find it. I was lucky and got my T740 for under $200 brand new (two years sitting in storage). Lots of computer for $200 plus the cost of a bigger drive.

[Greg_E]

Being far more methodical and pedantic this morning, I have it working correctly.

Here is what I found in this process (reference the link above).

Boot installer in legacy mode (I'll try UEFI later when new drives come in).

At the boot options screen press 3 or esc

Type the

Code Select Expand

unset hint.uart.0.at
unset hint.uart.1.at
autoboot
the installer should load.

I chose UFS (will try zfs next time) and clicked through the steps.

When it is done, select reboot but as it counts down, you can hit cntl-c to break out of the reboot. Login in as root. You'll get the "normal" menu of choices and can select a terminal (#8?)

Now you can create the loader.conf.local file, it does not exist yet.

Code Select Expand

vi /boot/loader.conf.local
i to insert (because I don't work in vi often)

Code Select Expand

hint.uart.0.disabled="1"
hint.uart.1.disabled="1"
press esc key and type to (w)rite and (q)uit

Code Select Expand

:wq

This will drop you back into terminal where you can type reboot. Now you can proceed like normal.

If you don't get the time to break out of the first reboot, all is not lost! During regular boot, you can again press 3 or esc to bring in the loader option, again type the unset commands followed by the autoboot. When you get to the login prompt, login as root and go through the second set of steps. I'm kind of preferring this way, less hectic since you only have a few seconds to break out of that first reboot. But I have 3 or 4 more installs ahead of me before I write down my procedure with screenshots, trying to leave documentation for "the next guy", and because we typically only do this once every hardware upgrade or failure which might be years down the road. I'll probably coalesce this into a better post for the FAQs section since this isn't really a 24.x problem, it's a T740 with BSD problem (maybe other HP computers or thin clients).

[Greg_E]

One last post on this... Being more methodical again, grabbing screen shots of this issue, I was able to get UEFI and ZFS to work. The same simple steps as above.

What I'm finding is that if you have a failed attempt, or you want to change the way you did things, you really need to wipe the drive to start from scratch.

Hope this helps the next person, I found one other post in the past on this specific hardware, but no suggestions were given.

[buffmenot]

I encountered this error today setting up a T740 with the latest OPN.

[Greg_E]

Did this process fix the issue and get you running? I've moved my T740 to VMware testing which they also seem to work fine within their limits (and a 10gbe card).