Alpha 1 worked but no WLAN - now Alpha 3 new and stop at 99%

[MatisseGroening]

Hello,

now I tried it the 8th or 9th time and now it's over. I can't install PC-BSD Alpha 3. It always stops at 99% when installing the language packages. PC-BSD 1.51 has some problems with the KDE stability and does somes things not in the KDE menu. And sometimes it just hangs when clicking on desktop programmes.

And Alpha 1 didn't get the Atheros WLAN working and changed all the time from 54 to 48 MBit and complained about no carrier. 1.51 does so too but just sometimes and I can still surf. I don't think I can make the WLAN work on the new PC-BSD 7. And now I'm more and more convinced I will not even be able to install it. This Alpha 3 is a new version and still the same problem. And you made a writing mistake in German in the harddisk menu.

And the in 1.51 1280x800 is a 1280x1024 mode and half the screen is down there somewhere. And there is no function in the control center. 16:10 or 16:9 should be supported. So there is a 1280x768 mode needed. And the via graphics driver also does not work, only the VESA. And the Battery Utility alarms correct, but there is always a 'loaded:-1%', so I don't know when my battery is empty.

This is a Clevo MobiNote Notebook with via chipset and a Atheros 5005 miniPCI card. It's a quite normal Centrino 1,73 Notebook. And in the Alpha 1 still I didn't have ZD1211 USB WLAN. It didn't work and I couldn't set it up.

I install Mandriva now again. I actually don't have 1.51 and can't ask for the CDs anymore. And now there was enough testing!

[graedus]

Since it's alpha software, what did you expected, to work flawlessly? That's the idea of alpha software, people test it, and give feedback on what works and what doesn't.

Did you filed each bug you faced? Reporting bugs at the forum has never been a good idea. There are channels for that.

From the Support Page:

If you have used the above resources, and still cannot find a solution to your problem, then it may be time to file a bug report. Please use the URL below to make an entry into our "Trac" bug database, and a PC-BSD developer will review the problem.
Bugs Database

[TerryP]

Since it's alpha software, what did you expected, to work flawlessly? That's the idea of alpha software, people test it, and give feedback on what works and what doesn't.

You may also wish to download and test a copy of FreeBSD 7.0-Release and see if any hardware issues are to be found.



For the battery you may also want to try asking the system directly about the battery -- assuming your laptop is ACPI based and not APM based, in konsole:


(this is while my laptop is plugged in)

dixie# sysctl hw.acpi.battery
hw.acpi.battery.life: 99
hw.acpi.battery.time: -1
hw.acpi.battery.state: 0
hw.acpi.batte
ry.units: 1
hw.acpi.battery.info_expire: 5

(this is after unplugging it for a few seconds and rerunning the command)

dixie# sysctl hw.acpi.battery
hw.acpi.battery.life: 99
hw.acpi.battery.time: 112
hw.acpi.battery.state: 1
hw.acpi.battery.units: 1
hw.acpi.battery.info_expire: 5
dixie# sysctl hw.acpi.battery
hw.acpi.battery.life: 99
hw.acpi.battery.time: 111
hw.acpi.battery.state: 1
hw.acpi.battery.units: 1
hw.acpi.battery.info_expire: 5

(this is after plugging it back in and starting to poll again)

dixie# sysctl hw.acpi.battery
hw.acpi.battery.life: 99
hw.acpi.battery.time: 107
hw.acpi.battery.state: 1
hw.acpi.battery.units: 1
hw.acpi.battery.info_expire: 5
dixie# sysctl hw.acpi.battery
hw.acpi.battery.life: 99
hw.acpi.battery.time: -1
hw.acpi.battery.state: 2
hw.acpi.battery.units: 1
hw.acpi.battery.info_expire: 5
dixie#

and compare the values your system reports to those reported by the battery monitoring utility.

[MatisseGroening]

I expected the Alpha 3 to work, I never said I expected the Alpha 1 to work, but it worked. That's the point.

I don't have BSD anymore right now. I have Mandriva 2008.1 (CD - more stabile)) again. The KPowersave works a little better than the one included in Windows. Of course I can find alternatives for Windows, but my touchpad does make problems with all except the Internet Explorer. And then I had a virus in the internet cache, of course.

Actually PC-BSD 1.51 does not stand a chance against Mandriva, but the WLAN works better and there is more range. I didn't expect that.

FreeBSD 7.0 works fine, but I don't like it. And I create all partitions with FreeBSD anyway.

And I thought I reported the bug. They should read this here, or not?

[Protagonist]

I expected the Alpha 3 to work, I never said I expected the Alpha 1 to work, but it worked. That's the point.

I don't have BSD anymore right now. I have Mandriva 2008.1 (CD - more stabile)) again. The KPowersave works a little better than the one included in Windows. Of course I can find alternatives for Windows, but my touchpad does make problems with all except the Internet Explorer. And then I had a virus in the internet cache, of course.

Actually PC-BSD 1.51 does not stand a chance against Mandriva, but the WLAN works better and there is more range. I didn't expect that.

FreeBSD 7.0 works fine, but I don't like it. And I create all partitions with FreeBSD anyway.

And I thought I reported the bug. They should read this here, or not?

Probably not. When reporting problems with the alpha you should use the testing mailing list. I can assure you that you will get a much faster response there as opposed to this forum.

http://lists.pcbsd.org/mailman/listinfo/testing

[ricmik]

I had this problem too...
Install PC-BSD with UFS2 + Softupdate instead of using UFS2 + Journaling.

-ricmik

[ricmik]

I've installed the latest Alpha (08082008) without problems, using UFS2 + Journaling.
Give it a shot

[MatisseGroening]

I tried an August Alpha 3 yesterday, and it stopped at 97%. But it's a different laptop. Actually the Thinkpads are supported well. Okay, I have the time and download the latest version, except someone found a trick with the titanium material this T23 is made of. Putting a miniPCI WLAN card in it gives you the real range. I don't know what Faradayscher Käfig is in English but you get it. I love this laptop, and I accept USB-WLAN. Okay, downloading and trying the new PC-BSD.

[MatisseGroening]

Now they changed to your advice. Without it it stops even earlier as 99%. But now I don't have enough memory, it seems. It does not install KDE4. I guess the video memory taken from the main memory is the problem. And with 256MB memory and graphics memory also (I have 2 laptops), I cannot even start the installation. I don't buy more memory for the Thinkpad. It has to work with 384MB. And it seems it needs more than 5.2GB to install this all?? Or there are still problems. I'm not sure if they gonna make it with PC-BSD 7. They should go back to KDE 3.5!