Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 09:43:10 +0100 From: Borja Marcos <borjam@sarenet.es> To: "James R. Van Artsdalen" <james-freebsd-fs2@jrv.org> Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BIOS booting from disks > 2TB Message-ID: <E1D09BFA-B9E5-4291-B01B-B9CC8B21FF91@sarenet.es> In-Reply-To: <546DA321.8050403@jrv.org> References: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es> <alpine.BSF.2.11.1411191024540.55133@wonkity.com> <FF60956B-BF1F-4A1A-840E-489C549304EF@sarenet.es> <546DA321.8050403@jrv.org>
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On Nov 20, 2014, at 9:15 AM, James R. Van Artsdalen wrote: >=20 > The extended BIOS disk functions, introduced onto PCs almost 20 years = ago, allowing for addressing LBAs beyond 2TB. FreeBSD will use these = BIOS functions when present. This is usually not a problem. Yes, that I was assuming. Something is wrong at least in this machine, = though. > If a disk controller card of some kind is installed then the option = ROM on that card must support the extended BIOS disk functions for this = to work. This is usually not a problem. Aha, so definitely HP blew it with the disk controller (see below) > The error messages shown only pertained to the backup header, not = primary, and looking at the code it implies to me that the primary = header and table were read OK, and that these will be used even if the = backup cannot be found. I think "invalid backup GPT header" is a = warning in this case, not a fatal error. Yes, I see the boot progressed beyond that error. > I think the real problem is here: >=20 > Can't work out which disk we are booting from. > Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to = disk0: >=20 > 1. If you replace the 3TB disk with a disk 2TB or smaller and make no = other change, does this error still happen? Yes. I tried a 1 TB disk and it worked without problems. The other = difference between them is the "advanced format". The 1 TB disk has normal 512 byte sectors (it's a two years old Samsung, I don't have = the model number handy), and the 3 TB disk is a WD Red 3 TB disk which has 4 KB sectors. > 2. How are the disks connected to the system? What disk controllers = are used? What is the system BIOS boot disk setting set to? The disk controller is one of those "array controllers" but it can be = configured to work as a stock AHCI one, which is the mode in which I am using it of course. It works flawlessly as an AHCI = controller under FreeBSD, for example with ZFS. However, maybe HP has assumed that everyone will use it in "intelligent" = mode and they haven't implemented the BIOS code for it correctly, for example missing the BIOS extensions. So, can we assume that it's not a problem with the FreeBSD boot chain, = but definitely a poorly implemented BIOS? Thanks! Borja.
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