Hi,

>> FreeBSD/i386 bootstrap loader, Revision 1.1
>> (root at mb62 dot neon1 dot net, Sat Dec  9 17:20:01 CET 2006)
>> /kernel text=0x2a25d0 data=0x31c14+0x1ae54 syms=[0x4+0x3aa50+0x4+0x4ad6d]
>> ??f???æ???f????????ð
>>
>> These funny characters appear only after the kernel of m0n0wall has
>> been booted.
>> Any ideas how to revive my 4501?
> 
> Change your terminal to 9600 bps and you should then be able to watch
> the boot process. Some (all?) Soekris machines use a different console
> bitrate, so the text turns to nonsense partway through.

OK, that worked!
But: Shouldn't this then be considered a bug?
Explanation: The standard speed of the Soekris 4501 serial port is 19200
bps. In 1.231 one could just connect to the serial port with 19200 bps
and then read the BIOS output as well as the m0n0wall boot output. Now
in 1.3b3 I have to choose: either listen to the BIOS with 19200 bps, OR
listen to the m0n0wall boot with 9600 bps. I consider this pretty
uncomfortable.

> This is not likely to make your mono boot, but at least you can watch
> the console as you try.

OK, I ended up visiting a friend who owns a CF card reader. I reflashed
the card, and then it booted again.
Unfortunately I still don't know what caused the sudden boot failure,
but now I've got a working box again.

Thanks for the hint with the different serial port speed. I didn't have
the idea to change it because it worked fine during the BIOS phase. I
didn't know that the speed could have been changed by m0n0wall.


greetings,
 Harry