From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Oct 20 18:12: 1 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A14437B401 for ; Sun, 20 Oct 2002 18:11:59 -0700 (PDT) Received: from abstractfactory.org (fcahoon.dsl.visi.com [208.42.140.224]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9E29043E77 for ; Sun, 20 Oct 2002 18:11:58 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from forrest@abstractfactory.org) Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]) by garbarek.abstractfactory.org with esmtp (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 182lBA-00007H-00 for ; Fri, 18 Oct 2002 23:25:36 -0500 Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 23:25:35 -0500 (CDT) Message-Id: <20021018.232535.92592630.forrest@abstractfactory.org> To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Install problem -- can't mount disk From: Forrest Cahoon X-Mailer: Mew version 2.2 on Emacs 21.2 / Mule 5.0 (SAKAKI) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Hi! This is my first experience with FreeBSD, although I've been running Linux for seven years now, so I have some clue about UNIX-like OSes. I'm trying to install FreeBSD 4.7 on an old Pentium 90, and when the install is completed and the machine reboots, it can't find the root partition. I've installed Linux on this box with no problems, so the hardware is basically OK. The only drive in the machine is a 6 Gb Seagate IDE. The BIOS is so old that it doesn't identify the disk size correctly, but I don't know if that matters. (It doesn't to Linux.) I'm doing the install with floppy images since this box is too old to boot a CD. The first thing that seems weird to me is in the FDISK Partition Editor -- here's what it tells me: Disk name: ad0 FDISK Partition Editor DISK Geometry: 784 cyls/255 heads/63 sectors = 12594960 sectors (6149MB) Offset Size(ST) End Name PType Desc Subtype Flags 0 63 62 - 6 unused 0 63 12257532 12257594 ad0s1 3 freebsd 165 C 12257595 337365 12594959 ad0s2 1 ext2fs 131 For LBA addressing, the geometry looks right. The geometry shows up the same whether or not I have LBA enabled in the BIOS. (The ad0s2 partition is actually a minefield of bad blocks. It needs its own partition only to ensure that part of the disk isn't used. It's an ext2 partition because this used to be a Linux box, and I haven't messed with it.) No matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of the "unused" cylinder at the beginning of the disk. I try deleting the freebsd partition and creating a new partition starting at offset 0, but it always inserts that empty cylinder. That's just weird. Neither Linux nor DOS fdisk show this. When I use Linux fdisk to create a FreeBSD partition, the FreeBSD partition editor will still show that there's an empty first cylinder. The rest of the install seems to go OK: I've tried both "BootMgr" and "Standard" for the MBR; they both boot, but neither can find the root partition. I've taken all the defaults - "Auto" in the Disklabel Editor, "Minimal" install from CD image ... that seems to go smoothly. When I get to the prompt "Visit the general configuration menu for a chance to set any last options?", I take the default "No", then exit install. The machine boots, but when it gets to the disk mounting part, here's what I see: Mounting root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a no such device 'ad' setrootbyname failed ffs_mountroot: can't find rootvp Root mount failed: 6 Then I get taken to the mountroot> prompt. What's going on here? FDISK and the Disklabel Editor both see my hard disk fine, and ad0s1a is correct name for my root partition. I've tried at least a half dozen times now, with different variations on BIOS settings and using Linux and DOS fdisk programs to prep the disk. I keep running into the same problem. Any help would be most appreciated. -- | Forrest Cahoon | forrest@abstractfactory.org | To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message