From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 22 13:11:42 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1C8691065693 for ; Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:11:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from john@dexter.starfire.mn.org) Received: from dexter.starfire.mn.org (starfire.skypoint.net [173.8.102.29]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BEC328FC16 for ; Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:11:41 +0000 (UTC) Received: (from john@localhost) by dexter.starfire.mn.org (8.11.3/8.11.3) id o0MCaEJ27898; Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:36:14 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from john) Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:36:14 -0600 From: John To: Fbsd1 Message-ID: <20100122063614.A27734@starfire.mn.org> References: <20100121014759.B3377@starfire.mn.org> <4B58127E.9000106@a1poweruser.com> <20100121065206.B8574@starfire.mn.org> <4B5863D6.2000800@a1poweruser.com> <20100121180336.B17543@starfire.mn.org> <4B59973B.8040203@a1poweruser.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i In-Reply-To: <4B59973B.8040203@a1poweruser.com>; from fbsd1@a1poweruser.com on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 08:16:59PM +0800 Cc: freebsd-questions Subject: Re: "Invalid partition table" after installation X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:11:42 -0000 On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 08:16:59PM +0800, Fbsd1 wrote: > John wrote: > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 10:25:26PM +0800, Fbsd1 wrote: > >> John wrote: > >>> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 04:38:22PM +0800, Fbsd1 wrote: > >>>> John wrote: > >>>>> I've tried the "modern BIOS" geometry and the "255 head" geometry. > >>>>> I've ensured that the first slice (boot slice) is smaller than 1.5 > >>>>> Gb. I've tried to figure out what the BIOS thinks the geometry > >>>>> is, but it doesn't seem to want to tell me. At least, I can't find > >>>>> it in the BIOS menu anywhere. When I boot from the CD-ROM with > >>>>> the 255 head geometry, though, it complains about the disk geometry, > >>>>> saying 16h,63s != 255h,63s or something like that - it flies by > >>>>> pretty fast (is there a way to go back and see that from the CD-ROM > >>>>> "boot only" boot?). > >>>>> > >>>>> I'm using the "Standard" boot manager, and the entire disk is devoted > >>>>> to FreeBSD. > >>>>> > >>>>> System > >>>>> BIOS version PT84510A.86A.2004.P05 > >>>>> Processor Type: Intel Pentium 4 > >>>>> Processor speed: 2.20Ghz > >>>>> > >>>>> Memory: 512Mb > >>>>> > >>>>> Disk: Primary IDE Master ST380021A (Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 80Gb) > >>>>> Primary IDE Slave: IOMega ZIP 250 > >>>>> Secondary IDE Master: Sony CD-RW CRX19 (what I boot from to install) > >>>>> Secondary IDE Slave: DVD-ROM DDU1621 > >>>>> > >>>>> Boot sequence: > >>>>> 1) ATAPI CD-ROM > >>>>> 2) Hard Drive > >>>>> 3) "Removable Dev." > >>>>> > >>>>> "Modern BIOS" geometry: 155061/16/63 for ad0 > >>>>> "calculated" geometry: 9729/255/63 for ad0 > >>>>> > >>>>> ad0s1 start=63, size=2875572 > >>>>> ad0s2 start=2875635, size=10217340 > >>>>> ad0s3 start=13092975, size=143203410 > >>>>> unus start=156296384, size=5103 > >>>>> > >>>>> ad0s1a / 384Mb > >>>>> ad0s1d /usr 1Gb > >>>>> ad0s2b SWAP 1Gb > >>>>> ad0s2d /tmp 384Mb > >>>>> ad0s2e /var 512Mb > >>>>> ad0s2f /var/mail 2Gb > >>>>> ad0s2g /usr/ports 1Gb > >>>>> ad0s3d /home/mysql 4Gb > >>>>> ad0s3e /home 50Gb > >>>>> ad0s3f /usr/src 3Gb > >>>>> ad0s3g /usr/obj 3Gb > >>>>> ad0s3h /extra 8483Mb > >>>>> > >>>>> Suggestions, please? I'm making zero headway right now. :( > >>>> What version of FreeBSD are you running???? > >>> Well, yes, I suppose that would be a good bit of information! > >>> > >>> What I'm *TRYING* to run is 8.0. It seems to install successfully > >>> (of course - after doing all that), but then when I try to boot > >>> from the hard drive, I see an otherwise-blank screen that says: > >>> > >>> > >>> Invalid partition table > >>> > >>> > >>> and that's as far as it goes! > >>> > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > >>>> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > >>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > >> There are reports of this sort of thing caused by 8.0 fdisk when doing a > >> install from scratch over a hard drive that all ready has an older > >> version of Freebsd installed on it. > >> > >> The solution is to force the scratching of the MBR on the disk first > >> before running sysinstall fdisk. > >> > >> Boot a LiveFS CD, then at a root prompt do: > >> > >> sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16 and: > >> > >> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/adx oseek=1 bs=512 count=1 > >> > >> where x equals your drive number. > > > > OK. I did exactly that. I confirmed that the second 512 bytes were zero > > by doing a dd if/dev/ad0 bs=512 count=2 | od -c > > and everything from 001000 through 002000 was zero. > > > > But I still got "Invalid partition table" after the installation. > > > > I guess I should set up one of my other systems as a local mirror. > > I've done the installation so many time already, and it looks like > > I'm not done yet! > > On the 8.0 fdisk/MBR subject. > Doing dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/adx oseek=1 bs=512 count=1 was the > solution from another post to the list with subject 'SunFire X2100 > fails'. Here is another post that gives more details > http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=322687+326879+/usr/local/ > www/db/text/2009/freebsd-questions/20091227.freebsd-questions > > It seems in 8.0 gpart was introduced and a change was made to fdisk to > support its sector o mbr format. 8.0 fdisk and disklabel are now broken. > > Searching the list archives may shed more light on your problem. Hmmm. This seems to describe a case where fdisk fails to change the slice table. That is definitely not my case. The changes certainly get made. The next time I go to retry the installation, it has the information I gave it the previous time. I suppose it is possible that it is putting it (and reading it) in the wrong location, which is why the MBR throws up. The problem is that I have a finite (and smallish) amount of time in which to solve this. It seems like the most expedient route forward at this point may be to try to install 7.2 and see how that goes. -- John Lind john@starfire.MN.ORG