Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 12:31:42 -0600 From: Oscar Ricardo Silva <oscars@mail.utexas.edu> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Installation of FreeBSD fails on machine with large disks Message-ID: <4.3.2.7.2.20010126122206.00b2ead0@mail.utexas.edu> In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010123143017.00b138b0@mail.utexas.edu> References: <011101c08579$6fc28550$0f10a7d1@phantom> <4.3.2.7.2.20010123112121.00b535c0@mail.utexas.edu>
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Although we still haven't fixed the problem, I think we've narrowed it down. Some of the original messages are included below. Basically, we're trying to install FreeBSD 4.1 or 4.2 onto a machine with three IBM 32GB drives. After the installation and reboot, we get one of two error messages: 1. If we chose "dangerously dedicated", we get the "No /boot/loader" message (full text included at the end of this message) 2. If we chose true partition, we get "Missing Operating System" After doing some additional reading, I found in the FreeBSD FAQ that this is probably a problem with the disk geometry, that the BIOS and FreeBSD don't agree on it. So in the BIOS, we set all the drives to LBA and the disk geometry is: C/H/S 4160/255/63 and FreeBSD sees the disks as: 4160/255/63. We do the install, and still the same error messages. When we're asked about the boot loader, we always do a Standard MBR. I have tried the Boot Loader but still the same errors. We are able to bootup and mount the disks, and we see that all the files are being copied to the drives. Another piece of information, we have another machine configured EXACTLY the same way, but running Red Hat Linux 6.2, there was no problem installing it, and here's what it says in dmesg: hda: IBM-DPTA-373420, 32634MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=4160/255/63 hdb: IBM-DPTA-373420, 32634MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=4160/255/63 hdc: IBM-DPTA-373420, 32634MB w/1961kB Cache, CHS=4160/255/63 I would really prefer to stick with FreeBSD on this machine. At this point, I'm at a dead end. I've tried the suggestions from here. Oscar At 02:42 PM 1/23/01 -0600, Oscar Ricardo Silva, you wrote: >In an answer to a reply: this machine is about 6 months old. The BIOS >successfully recognizes the size of the large drives. > >In the FDISK portion of the install, I had been selecting "A" to use the >entire disk and then "N" to accept dangerously dedicated, but that wasn't >working. I've been doing some additional reading and apparently, the new >boot0 won't work with "dangerously dedicated". This is according to John >Baldwin in: > ><http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=86312+90941+/usr/local/www/db/text/2000/freebsd-stable/20000730.freebsd-stable>; > >So in another attempted install, I still chose "A" to use the entire disk, >but this time selected "YES", for a true partition entry, and also set >that partition as bootable. In the next section, I was asked to install a >Boot Manager for the drive and I selecte "S" to install a Standard MBR (no >boot manager). The machine may have three drives, but there will only be >one operating system so I don't see a need for a Boot Manager, just the >standard MBR. I then created my partitions on ad0 in the following manner: > >ad0s1a / 2000MB >ad0s1b swap 512MB >ad0s1e /var 10000MB >ad0s1f /usr 20500MB > >I then selected which Distribution I wanted to install, and I selected >"ALL". After this I went through the post-installation configuration and >that finished. > >This time, when I rebooted the machine I get a different message: > > "Missing Operating System" > >Not sure what I need to do now. I've followed the different install >methods suggested in the mail archives as well as on this list. > >As before, any information or suggestions would be appreciated. > > > >Oscar > > >The drives are all 32GB and all on the ATA-33 bus. I have tried installing >>FreeBSD 4.1 and 4.2 but each time, when the machine boots after the >>install, I get a prompt: >> >>No /boot/loader >> >> >>FreeBSD/i386 BOOT >>Default: 0:ad(0,a)/kernel >>boot: >>No /kernel >> >> >>FreeBSD/i386 BOOT >>Default: 0:ad(0,a)/kernel >>boot: To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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