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Date:      Sat, 29 Apr 95 16:06:06 MDT
From:      terry@cs.weber.edu (Terry Lambert)
To:        bao@saigon.async.com (Bao Chau Ha)
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.org, install@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: 950412-SNAP Installation with ESDI (WD1007V) System
Message-ID:  <9504292206.AA29120@cs.weber.edu>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.91.950429122751.355A-100000@saigon.async.com> from "Bao Chau Ha" at Apr 29, 95 12:41:17 pm

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> How do I install 950412-SNAP on a system with a WD1007V
> ESDI controller and 2 drives: Maxtor XT4380E (320M) and
> Maxtor XT4760E (630M)?
> 
> It is very annoying that the driver gets the true disk
> geometries directly from the ESDI controller and use them
> instead of the translated ones.  It also ignores the 
> spare sector mapping, so it does not help, even if I 
> reformat my drives.

The spare sector mapping and translation are software artifacts of the
BIOS.

If you are willing to port the VM86() code from NetBSD to FreeBSD and
write BIOS based disk driver, you'd be a hero.


Of course, this is difficult enough that the only OS out there that
can do this at all right now is OS/2, so unless you are comparing the
SNAP to the commercial release of OS/2, your complaint is not a
valid one.  It's like complaining because your car can't fly, and
then arguing that this must be because it's a Ford instead of a Chevy...
when in fact, checy doesn't manufacture flying cars either.

> Anyway, I did fdisk, added the translated geometry and
> was able to complete the installation from the boot
> and cpio floppies onto the first drive.  Upon reboot,
> the kernel went up to the npx16 ... messages, then
> printed out a message about wrong size on partition d 
> of wd1, which does not have a freebsd partition.  It
> then panicked, and rebooted.
> 

Sounds like a Bad144 problem or errors early in the drive.  If this is
it, moving the partition up a cylinder will probably avoid the bad spot
(it would have to be under the boot track or the disklabel).

You may want to install a teeny DOS partition before installing the
BSD -- some people have found this necessary with the new slice code
in the most recent snaps.


					Terry Lambert
					terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.



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