Re: NetBSD on a NUC

[David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>]

On Mon, 27 Sept 2021 at 20:59, Bob Bernstein <poobah%ruptured-duck.com@localhost> wrote:
>
> A few years ago I was given an Intel NUC
> running Windows 10, and I used it for quite
> awhile since it allowed me to enjoy Adobe
> Acrobat and Epson's Scan Utility. I was very
> familiar with both of those products.
>
> Earlier this year the NUC went belly up
> complaining that it could not find bootable
> media. I believed the unit's bios had been
> rendered unusable by many (years of 'em)
> instances of Windows Update, and the thing
> collected dust until I decided it would be
> marvelous to run NetBSD on it.
>
> Delightfully enough, a CD created from
> NetBSD-9.99.88-amd64.iso booted the NUC, but
> when sysinst began to run I was informed that
> no hard disks could be found on which to do the
> install.
>
> After awhile dawn broke over the erroneous (as
> I now believe) thinking that led me initially
> to suspect the Win10 bios, and it now seems a
> more likely scenario that the NUC's SSHD had,
> as we say, expired.
>
> An online search for the NUC's symptoms
> suggested I try to set the boot order in it to
> its boot drive, to see if it might be detected,
> but I was unable to wrestle the Intel Setup
> screen(s) into such an attempt.
>
> My question: other than replacing the NUC's
> drive, are there useful directions in which I
> might point my efforts?

If the NetBSD iso boots but cannot locate the onboard disk then either
the disk/controller is dead, or there is an issue with the NetBSD
driver code.

Some possible things to check
- Does dmesg from the NetBSD iso show up an atabus0 or nvme0 ? (To see
if the controller is recognised)
- Does the system boot a NetBSD bootable USB image? if so, can you
boot the NetBSD ISO and install onto a USB key & then boot a full
system from the USB
- Does the system boot a Windows10 bootable USB image? if so does it
see any disks

David