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

[Jacob Moody <moody@posixcafe.org>]

On 7/26/23 18:48, Jay F. Shachter wrote:
> 
> 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"
> 


"no config" is the boot loader telling you that it can not find the plan9.ini
file on the 9fat partition. You must have some old (corrupted?) 9fat partition sitting around.
I don't know why you choose to partition the disk from linux, I think that is doing
something incorrect in the installation process. I would just using a new blank disk and give
9front all of it to avoid such issues. Or leaving the space entirely unallocated and doing the
partitioning from 9front may assist you.