From owner-freebsd-doc Thu Feb 15 13:32:33 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from meow.osd.bsdi.com (meow.osd.bsdi.com [204.216.28.88]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 018C737B401 for ; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:32:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (murray@localhost) by meow.osd.bsdi.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with ESMTP id f1FLW5250466 for ; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:32:05 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from murray@osd.bsdi.com) Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 13:32:05 -0800 (PST) From: Murray Stokely To: Subject: Updated ThinkPad BIOS images to correct boot failure on FreeBSD (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org This is a response from IBM about the Thinkpad BIOS issue. Our users pretty much found this out a week ago but now that we have something semi-official from IBM we might want to update the FAQ? - Murray ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 16:27:05 -0500 From: Keith Frechette To: murray@osd.bsdi.com Cc: mperry@linuxcare.com Subject: Updated ThinkPad BIOS images to correct boot failure on FreeBSD Murray, As I mentioned to you at LinuxWorld, ThinkPad has been working on updated BIOS images to correct the boot failure that occurs when FreeBSD is installed on some ThinkPad models. Please release the following information onto those FreeBSD discussion forums, mailing lists, and other resources that you feel are appropriate. If you have questions, feel free to call me or send me e-mail. When posting this information, feel free to site me as a source if it seems appropriate. ============================================================================== IBM has released updated BIOS images to correct a problem with using FreeBSD on several ThinkPad models. Problem description: On several models of IBM's A-series and T-series ThinkPad notebook computers, installing FreeBSD results in the system's inability to boot from any device. Cause of the problem: During system initialization, the BIOS searches the hard disk for a FAT file system containing a hibernation file (a.k.a. suspend-to-disk file). On some systems, the BIOS erroneously masks off numerous upper bits when checking the partition ID, which results in the BIOS mistakenly determining that the FreeBSD partition is a FAT partition. The BIOS then appears to hang as it tries to parse the FreeBSD file system as if it were a FAT file system. The fix: The corresponding BIOS images have been updated such that the BIOS only masks off the "hidden" bit when checking the partition ID. Updated BIOS images: The following BIOS image releases incorporate the fix. T20: IYET49WW or later T21: KZET22WW or later A20p: IVET62WW or later A20m: IWET54WW or later A21p: KYET27WW or later A21m: KXET24WW or later A21e: KUET30WW (soon to be released) ============================================================================== -- Keith Keith Frechette Linux Development Lead, Mobile Computing Options and Software Development IBM Research Triangle Park, North Carolina kfrechet@us.ibm.com / 919-543-3761 / TieLine:441-3761 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message