Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 01:10:02 -0800 (PST) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: freebsd-bugs@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: i386/14256: System doesn't boot under FreeBSD 3.2 Message-ID: <200001120910.BAA99439@freefall.freebsd.org>
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The following reply was made to PR i386/14256; it has been noted by GNATS. From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> To: <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>, <alrx@excite.com> Cc: Subject: Re: i386/14256: System doesn't boot under FreeBSD 3.2 Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 00:58:36 -0800 The boot loader must access the /kernel using BIOS code. It's likely that your 15GB IDE disk is simply too large. There are several BIOS limitations at 500MB, and 8GB that have been hacked around over the years by BIOS manufacturers. Please obtain a scratch small IDE disk (500MB or so) and temporairly disconnect your 15GB disk and plug in the small IDE disk, and attempt a FreeBSD installation on it. If this DOES NOT work then this problem needs further investigation, please supply the make, model and year of your machine. If it DOES work then you might be able to get FreeBSD installed if you can create a small (50MB or so) partition under the 8GB boundary on your 15GB hard disk, install the root filesystem here, then you should be able to install the rest of the system elsewhere. Of course you need a partition manager to do this. Another possibility is installing an arbitrary small disk as your second IDE disk, and loading the FreeBSD root and /usr on here, then mount the rest of your 15GB IDE disk somewhere. You might also investigate if there is a BIOS upgrade for your motherboard. You might also think about investigating the use of large SCSI disks, instead of large IDE disks. SCSI disks on good controllers generally don't have this kind of problem, as the SCSI controllers BIOS understands how to reach any part of the disk. Ted To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-bugs" in the body of the message
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