Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:47:46 +0100 (MET) From: Martin Machacek <mm@i.cz> To: Joubert Uriarte <xichrome@pacific.net.ph>, freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: Booting Problems Message-ID: <XFMail.981027124746.mm@i.cz> In-Reply-To: <008401be0178$47967aa0$c908a8c0@xichrome.asiansources.com>
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On 27-Oct-98 Joubert Uriarte wrote:
> I hope someone can help me with my installation of FreeBSD v.2.2.6. I don't
> have problems installing the OS at home, but the hardware configuration in
> the
> office is very different.
>
> The installation pushes through successfully, but after restarting the
> machine,
> I end up with an error message saying,
>
> Read Error
>
> HP Vectra VE Series 2 5/75 upgraded to Pentium-133 Mhz
Aha, Vectra! Those machines up to Series 8 are pure shit. I've been struggling
with them for about a month.
I assume that you are installing FreeBSD in the so called "dangerously"
dedicated mode i.e. without FDISK table, is that correct? This unfortunately
does not work with Vectras. Their BIOS is too smart (stupid?) and it tries to
read something from the disk assuming that there is a FDISK table. So, If
FreeBSD is the only OS on your disk, you have to create FDISK table with a
single partition spanning the entire disk (except for the FDISK tabel itself).
There is one more gotcha! Before doing this, you have to zero out at least the
first sector on the disk. Otherwise you will get 'Missing operatig system' next
time you try to boot from it (again - too clever BIOS). So, do something like:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rsd0 size=512 count=10
(one sector should be enough, but zeroing is cheap, so why not to zero couple
more).
This should make your FreeBSD boot. It worked at least in my case, however I've
been trying it on Vectras Series 3 and 4 and I have no clue how much different
Series 2 Vectras are. There were some substantial differences between Series 3
and 4, so ...
Good luck!
Martin Machacek
---
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