Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 19:03:28 +0200 From: Carsten Zimmermann <cz@aegisnet.biz> To: Malcolm Kay <malcolm.kay@internode.on.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Partitioning fails due to drive geometry inconsistency Message-ID: <20040503170328.GA1238@iluvatar.bbk.hh.aegisnet.de> In-Reply-To: <200405032303.25731.malcolm.kay@internode.on.net> References: <20040503090312.GB3018@iluvatar.bbk.hh.aegisnet.de> <200405032303.25731.malcolm.kay@internode.on.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--6TrnltStXW4iwmi0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Thanks for the answers so far. I tried to use the autocorrected values, of course. But I can't create a partition with them (as said: I was able to delete a NTFS partition w/o problems).=20 When I try to write the partition table, sysinstall / fdisk catches signal 11. It seems fdisk is not able to write the partition data since the (now autocorrected) drive geometry is (still) not valid. Carsten Am Mon May 03, 2004 at 11:0325PM +0930 schrieb Malcolm Kay: > On Monday 03 May 2004 18:33, Carsten Zimmermann wrote: > > Hello list. > > > > I know this had been discussed quite often, but none of the posting > > google offered worked out for me. Please (B)Cc: me as I am not on the l= ist. > > > > I have a Western Digital WDC WD400AB-00CMB0 40 GB IDE drive hooked in as > > pri slave in my system and wish to install FreeBSD on it. This is not my > > first install, but it won't work this time (using 5.2.1-R): > > > > I try to partition the drive with fdisk during the installation process. > > Everytime I hit "w" to write the changes, the program catches ``sig 11'' > > (segfault?). Curious thing is: I was able to delete partions but I > > cannot create new ones. I tried every option concerning bootsector (boot > > mngr, std mbr, none) and the error occures every time. > > > > When I enter the fdisk tool it tells me that the drive geometry > > "778545/16/63" is wrong. I don't have a clue where it gets that value. >=20 > This set of figures would correspond to a disk of 401GB (k=3D1000) or 374= GB=20 > (k=3D1024) -- Clearly not a 40GB drive. >=20 > > The BIOS detects the geometry as 19158/16/255. The auto-corrected value >=20 > This set corresponds to 40.0Gb (k=3D1000) so seems to be an acceptable se= t of=20 > numbers except that I understand that the seectors per track can't exceed= 63 > so the this set is unsuitable. In LBA mode it is not necessary that the= =20 > specified geometry is the same as the physical reality. It is common to s= et=20 > the heads and sectors to maximum values 255/63. >=20 > > is 4865/255/63 which equals the BIOS-setting when access mode is set to > > LBA manually. When I enter the geometry manually with "g", it still >=20 > Which corresponds to this auto-corrected value and again calculates > to 40.0GB (k=3D1000). This looks like the best geometry to use. >=20 > > mourns the value 19158/16/255 is not correct and again falls back to > > those LBA values. > > >=20 > Again the 255 value is too large. Don't try to set your own geometry; go > with the auto-corrected value. >=20 > Malcolm >=20 >=20 --=20 Carsten Zimmermann mailto:cz@aegisnet.biz Tel.: +49-(0)40-98760543 Aegis:Net IT-Dienstleistungen Postfach 620371 22403 Hamburg http://www.aegisnet.biz Info: +49-(0)700-AEGISNET Fax: +49-(0)40-98760547 --6TrnltStXW4iwmi0 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFAlntfucbzqiAxJVkRArlyAJ9/w9/+m9RMrbaw9c5oKS9CeOhDAACbB/SV i0xvvtU4aXqOW1/9XqZQ01A= =5cqu -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --6TrnltStXW4iwmi0--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20040503170328.GA1238>