[9front] 9front Boots Into "No Config" -- The Most Bizarre Error Of Them All

["Jay F. Shachter" <jay@m5.chicago.il.us>]

Esteemed Colleagues:

My recent attempts to install a working 9front system on my laptop
computer have been astonishingly frustrating.  At first, I could not
perform an installation because the installer could not keep its
sanity while connected to a USB keyboard that had USB ports on it.
After disconnecting all USB devices except the one that contained the
installation medium, I successfully made it thru an installation.
Then I could not run the installed system, because I had made it too
small (I thought 5G was enough, I was wrong).  I prepared a 20G slice
of disk, and successfully installed a working 9front system onto it.

Now for the most bizarre and frustrating error of them all: the system
has stopped working.  It now boots into a "no config" screen.  I have
done nothing to the system, since I successfully installed it.  I do
not know 9front well enough to have done anything to it.  I have
installed other operating systems, but I have done nothing to the
9front system.  It no longer boots.  Moreover, I zeroed out the slice
of disk on which it resides, and re-installed it.  It still no longer
boots.  Moreover, I designated a different 20G slice of disk to be the
one with the 0x39 description, installed onto that one, and that one
doesn't boot, either.  Instead, I see the following (there may be
typographical errors, I am copying manually from the screen):

  pbs.................ok
  no config
  *e820=1 0x0000000000000000 0x000000000009d400 2 0x000000000009d400 0x00000000000
  a0000 2 0x00000000000e0000 0x0000000000100000 1 0x0000000000100000 0x00000000200
  00000 2 0x0000000020000000 0x0000000020200000 1 0x0000000020200000 0x00000000400
  04000 2 0x0000000040004000 0x0000000040005000 1 0x0000000040005000 0x00000000c7f
  0a000 2 0x00000000c7f0a000 0x00000000c8000000 1 0x00000000c8000000 0x00000000c87
  53000 2 0x00000000c8753000 0x00000000c8800000 1 0x00000000c8800000 0x00000000c8f
  b2000 3 0x00000000c8fb2000 0x00000000c9000000 1 0x00000000c9000000 0x00000000ca6
  fc000 4 0x00000000ca6fc000 0x00000000ca800000 1 0x00000000ca800000 0x00000000cbb
  0f000 2 0x00000000cbb0f000 0x00000000cc7a7000 4 0x00000000cc7a7000 0x00000000cc7
  ea000 1 0x00000000cc7ea000 0x00000000ccab0000 2 0x00000000ccab0000 0x00000000ccf
  f0000 1 0x00000000ccff0000 0x00000000cd000000 2 0x00000000cd800000 0x00000000cfa
  00000 2 0x00000000f8000000 0x00000000fc000000 2 0x00000000fec00000 0x00000000fec
  01000 2 0x00000000fed00000 0x00000000fed04000 2 0x00000000fed1c000 0x00000000fed
  20000 2 0x00000000fee00000 0x00000000fee01000 2 0x00000000ff000000 0x00000001000
  00000 1 0x0000000010000000 0x000000042e600000
  >

with a blinking underline cursor immediately to the right of the >
symbol.  I think this is how 9front always starts, except for the "no
config" error and the > prompt, but I don't know for certain because
when the system boots successfully the initial output flies off the
screen too fast.

When I installed 9front sucessfully, I accepted all the defaults,
except for the machine name, which I changed from "circo" to "m5", and
the timezone, which I changed from "US_Eastern" to "US_Central".  I
said "no" when asked whether to overwrite the MBR, and I said "no"
when asked whether to make the partition bootable.  When I reinstalled
9front, after my functioning system mysteriously stopped working, I
did the same.  It still didn't work.  I reinstalled again and said
"yes" to the bootable partition question.  It still didn't work.

How does a functioning 9front system suddenly stop working, with a "no
config" error and an angle-bracket prompt?  More important, how do I
get it to work?

As always, thank you in advance for any and all replies.


                        Jay F. Shachter
                        6424 North Whipple Street
                        Chicago IL  60645-4111
                                (1-773)7613784   landline
                                (1-410)9964737   GoogleVoice
                                jay@m5.chicago.il.us
                                http://m5.chicago.il.us

                        "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"