Master One, did you ever install onto a PATA drive or were you installing onto USB flash drives the whole time? All of my work was done using a PATA drive (which btw, a 3.5" regular sized PATA drive fits beautifully inside the case). Perhaps that is what is the problem? My SS4200 is still running strong with FreeBSD 7.1 with the four 1.5 TB disks in a ZFS raidz and it is wonderful. I was never able to get a single flavor of Linux (except the EMC garbage) to boot on the SS4200.
[admin@ ~]$ uname -a
FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Sat Feb 7 05:56:50 EST 2009 root@:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/SS4200ZFS i386
[admin@ ~]$ uptime
5:02PM up 35 days, 9:30, 1 user, load averages: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
[admin@ ~]$ cat /boot/loader.conf
console="comconsole"
comconsole_speed="115200"
zfs_load="YES"
vm.kmem_size="1024M"
vm.kmem_size_max="1024M"
vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable="1"
vfs.zfs.arc_min="16M"
vfs.zfs.arc_max="128M"
kern.maxvnodes="400000"
cat /etc/ttys
console none unknown off secure
#
ttyv0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
# Virtual terminals
ttyv1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv4 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv5 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv6 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv7 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" cons25 on secure
ttyv8 "/usr/local/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secure
# Serial terminals
# The 'dialup' keyword identifies dialin lines to login, fingerd etc.
ttyd0 "/usr/libexec/getty std.115200" vt100 on secure
ttyd1 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" dialup off secure
ttyd2 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" dialup off secure
ttyd3 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" dialup off secure
# Dumb console
dcons "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" vt100 off secure
# Pseudo terminals
ttyp0 none network
ttyp1 none network
ttyp2 none network
dmesg follows:
Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.1-RELEASE #0: Sat Feb 7 05:56:50 EST 2009
root@:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/SS4200ZFS
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 420 @ 1.60GHz (1600.01-MHz 686-class CPU)
Origin = "GenuineIntel" Id = 0x10661 Stepping = 1
Features=0xafebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,TM,PBE>
Features2=0xe31d<SSE3,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM>
AMD Features=0x20100000<NX,LM>
AMD Features2=0x1<LAHF>
real memory = 2138898432 (2039 MB)
avail memory = 2080657408 (1984 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <121907 APIC1340>
This module (opensolaris) contains code covered by the
Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL)
see
http://opensolaris.org/os/licensing/opensolaris_license/
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
acpi0: <121907 XSDT1340> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, 7f700000 (3) failed
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x808-0x80b on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0xec00-0xec07 mem 0xffa80000-0xffafffff,0xe0000000-0xefffffff,0xffa40000-0xffa7ffff irq 16 at device 2.0 on pci0
agp0: <Intel 82945G (945G GMCH) SVGA controller> on vgapci0
agp0: detected 7932k stolen memory
agp0: aperture size is 256M
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 28.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
em0: <Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection 6.9.6> port 0xbc00-0xbc1f mem 0xff6e0000-0xff6fffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
em0: Using MSI interrupt
em0: [FILTER]
em0: Ethernet address: 00:15:17:31:da:cc
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 18 at device 28.2 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
atapci0: <SiI SiI 3132 SATA300 controller> port 0xcc00-0xcc7f mem 0xff8ffc00-0xff8ffc7f,0xff8f8000-0xff8fbfff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci2
atapci0: [ITHREAD]
ata2: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata2: [ITHREAD]
ata3: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata3: [ITHREAD]
uhci0: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xe000-0xe01f irq 23 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xdc00-0xdc1f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xd880-0xd89f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci3: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xd800-0xd81f irq 16 at device 29.3 on pci0
uhci3: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci3: [ITHREAD]
usb3: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb3
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <Intel 82801GB/R (ICH7) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xffa3f800-0xffa3fbff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb4: EHCI version 1.0
usb4: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2 usb3
usb4: <Intel 82801GB/R (ICH7) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb4: USB revision 2.0
uhub4: <Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb4
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci3: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci1: <Intel AHCI controller> port 0xe880-0xe887,0xe800-0xe803,0xe480-0xe487,0xe400-0xe403,0xe080-0xe08f mem 0xffa3fc00-0xffa3ffff irq 19 at device 31.2 on pci0
atapci1: [ITHREAD]
atapci1: AHCI Version 01.10 controller with 4 ports detected
ata4: <ATA channel 0> on atapci1
ata4: [ITHREAD]
ata5: <ATA channel 1> on atapci1
ata5: [ITHREAD]
ata6: <ATA channel 2> on atapci1
ata6: [ITHREAD]
ata7: <ATA channel 3> on atapci1
ata7: [ITHREAD]
pci0: <serial bus, SMBus> at device 31.3 (no driver attached)
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A, console
sio0: [FILTER]
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
p4tcc0: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu0
pmtimer0 on isa0
ata0 at port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 irq 14 on isa0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1 at port 0x170-0x177,0x376 irq 15 on isa0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> at port 0x60,0x64 on isa0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
ppc0: parallel port not found.
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x100>
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
WARNING: ZFS is considered to be an experimental feature in FreeBSD.
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 1600006696 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
ZFS filesystem version 6
ZFS storage pool version 6
ad0: 38166MB <WDC WD400JB-00JJC0 05.01C05> at ata0-master PIO4
ad8: 1430799MB <Seagate ST31500341AS CC3G> at ata4-master SATA300
ad10: 1430799MB <Seagate ST31500341AS CC3G> at ata5-master SATA300
ad12: 1430799MB <Seagate ST31500341AS CC3G> at ata6-master SATA300
ad14: 1430799MB <Seagate ST31500341AS CC3G> at ata7-master SATA300
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a
em0: link state changed to DOWN
em0: link state changed to UP