Date: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 15:21:19 -0600 (CST) From: "Roger P. Johnson" <rpj@fep.hirshfields.com> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: OK. Check this out: Re: HELP! on drive Geometry and I just can't get it! Just Can't! Message-ID: <199803162121.PAA11643@fep.hirshfields.com>
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Hi again!
Here is a STEP by step installation of FreeBSD 2.2.5 onto my platform.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check/configure ROM and SCSI Card:
==================================
Phoenix BIOS 4.04 Plug and Play
(not much to configure in here)
Adaptec 2940AU BIOS v1.30
( I reset the host controller to factory defaults via <F6>
Extended BIOS Translation for DOS drives > 1GByte is ENABLED,
I do a low level SCSI format of the hard disk)
-------------------------------------------------------
now I have a "clean" hard disk
-------------------------------------------------------
I insert FBSD 2.2.5 boot floppy in and boot up
Now I'm in the Kernel/Hardware Configuration:
============================================
Storage:
Deleted everything but the floppy disk controller
Network:
Deleted everything but the 3Com 3C509 Ethernet Adapter card
PCI:
I can see "Adaptec 274x/284x/294x SCSCI controller ahc0" listed -- OK.
I press Q to quit and Y to yes save it ....
from the hardware probe I can see the 2940AU and Seagate ST32430N 1GB HD reconised,
it has 1010MB and 2069860 512 byte sectors
Now I'm at the Installation Menu:
=================================
I select "N" for Novice.
Next screen says:
WARNING: A geometry of 4019/5/103 for sd0 is incorrect, using a more likely geometry.
...
Remember: you need to enter whatever your BIOS thinks the geometry is!
...
For SCSI, its the translation mode your controller is using. Do NOT use
"physical geometry".
Now I'm in the Partion Editor
=============================
Disk name: sd0
DISK geometry: 128 cyls / 255 heads / 63 sectors = 2056320 sectors
offset size end name Ptype Desc Subtype Flags
0 2069860 2069859 - 6 unused 0 >
I select A = Use entire disk
I select N for No I do not want to do this with a true partion entry ...
I now get:
0 2069860 2069859 sd0s1 3 freebsd 165 C
I select Q to quit
Now I'm in the Disklabel editor
===============================
Initially it displays:
Part Mount Size Newfs ... ... .. ...
I select A = Auto Defaults for all! (just to keep it simple)
Now I get displayed:
Part Mount Size Newfs ... ... .. ...
sd0s1a / 32MB UFS Y
sd0s1b swap 41MB swap
sd0s1e /var 30MB UFS Y
sd0s1f /usr 906MB UFS Y
I select Q = finish
Now I'm choosing distribution packages
======================================
I select [X] 4 User .... for simplicity
do the rest of the install
watch it being installed
...
exit out of the install program
reboot the machine
==================
.......and.............
I get the good old "Read error" message.
^^^^^^^^^^
I reboot off the boot floppy via: 0:sd(0,a)/kernel and issue the
fdisk and disklabel commands to read the tables ...
Here is the output of the 'fdisk' command:
==========================================
# fdisk
******* Working on device /dev/rsd0 *******
parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
cylinders=165 heads=215 sectors/track=58 (12470 blks/cyl)
parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
cylinders=165 heads=215 sectors/track=58 (12470 blks/cyl)
Media sector size is 512
Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
Information from DOS bootblock is:
The data for partition 1 is:
sysid 165,(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
start 0, size 2069860 (1010 Meg), flag 80
beg: cyl 0/ sector 1/ head 0;
end: cyl 128/ sector 58/ head 214
The data for partition 2 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 3 is:
<UNUSED>
The data for partition 4 is:
<UNUSED>
Here is the output of the 'disklabel -r sd0' command:
=====================================================
#disklabel -r sd0
# /dev/rsd0c:
type: SCSI
disk: sd0s1
label:
flags:
bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 63
tracks/cylinder: 255
sectors/cylinder: 16065
cylinders: 128
sectors/unit: 2069860
rpm: 3600
interleave: 1
trackskew: 0
cylinderskew: 0
headswitch: 0 # milliseconds
track-to-track seek: 0 # milliseconds
drivedata: 0
8 partitions:
# size offset fstype [fsize bsize bps/cpg]
a: 65536 0 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 4*)
b: 85904 65536 swap # (Cyl. 4*- 9*)
c: 2069860 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 128*)
e: 61440 151440 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 9*- 13*)
f: 1856980 212880 4.2BSD 0 0 0 # (Cyl. 13*- 128*)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My comments:
1. The root partion is only 32MB so I should be OK.
2. The drive geometry being changed from 4019/5/103 to 128/255/63 in the partition editor is
not what the FAQ suggests.
Since "Extended BIOS Translation for DOS drives > 1GByte is ENABLED", according to the FAQ,
the drive geometry to use is:
1010 (MB)/ 7.844238 = 128.76 -> 128 cyl
63 heads
255 sectors
or in common notation: 128/63/255; not 128/255/63 as reported
Does this really matter ? I say no from what I have read about this and what I have read in
a Solaris section on disk geometry. 128*63*255 = 128*255*63 = 2056320 sectors
3. Since the whole disk is dedicated to FBSD, from what I read in the man pages, FBSD puts in
a "phony" fdisk table in sector 0 for the BIOS. Is that why 'disklabel -r sd0' reports the
geometry as: cylinders=165 heads=215 sectors/track=58 (12470 blks/cyl) ??
This geometry computes as 165*215*58 = 20575500 sectors, which is more than the 2056320
reported in the default geometry used. Does this matter ?
Why did this not get set to 128/255/63 as the partion editor recommended for the geometry ?
I left the geometry alone and used the recommended geometry in the partion editor.
4. On the disklabel output, what do the asteriks mean in the Cyl. columns ? I am guessing the
the partion doesn't fall on an even boundry ? Does this matter ? I say no since I have 3
other FBSD machines with asteriks displayed on their disklabel outputs.
WOW! Can someone shed some light on this ?
What/How should I try next?
This is the same procedure used to install FBSD via 1542's, except that I don' used the Auto
defaults in the disklabel editor, but manually spec them.
Thanks
Roger
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