Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 20:52:24 -0700 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: Eivind Eklund <eivind@yes.no> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Weird behaviour in BootEasy Message-ID: <199805240352.UAA03922@antipodes.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 24 May 1998 02:45:33 %2B0200." <19980524024533.60246@follo.net>
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> On Sat, May 23, 1998 at 09:06:36AM -0700, Mike Smith wrote: > > > I just switched my system to use a different bootdrive (a DPT RAID > > > array, actually) than I had before, and got the following behaviour: > > > > > > On a standard boot, BootEasy won't go to BSD, displaying 'F?' when I > > > select the BSD partiton. > > > > This typically means that the disk geometry is messed up, ie. the > > geometry used when constructing the disk layout is different to the > > geometry that the BIOS is using when BootEasy attempts to load the MBR. > > I know. However, it doesn't look like that's happening (though I > haven't really debugged this yet, so it might well be it.) It does look like it's happening. 8) > > > However, if I select F5 for booting to > > > another drive (even though I don't have another bootable drive), then > > > reboot, and _then_ press F2 when booteasy appears, it boots and works > > > fine. > > > > Sounds like the DPT is playing games changing its reported geometry > > based on what's on the drive. The fact that F5 appears indicates that > > it's reporting more than one BIOS disk, which suggests that there's > > some ugly stuff going on. > > F5 doesn't appear. Originally, I had another bootable disk as the > first disk on an Adaptec in the machine. F5 didn't appear, but when I > pressed it I got the other bootblock. This no longer happen - I get > 'F?' when I press F5. Then I reboot, and F1/F2 appears again, with F5 > as default. If I press F5 here, it boot correctly. Try pressing F4 instead, I'd be interested to know if that works too. F5 will appear if you have an odd number of disks in the machine. > > The FreeBSD driver probably nukes some state in the DPT that tells it > > that it's changed its mind about the geometry. > > That's possible; I don't know the details of how the DPT handles this. Neither do I. 8( > > > Any clues? Or should I just re-install BootEasy and see if it goes > > > away? (It seems like such an interesting little problem... :-) > > > > Reinstalling BootEasy won't change anything - it contains no geometry > > state at all. The situation basically results from you having moved > > the disk from one controller with one BIOS translation to another. The > > fact that the DPT learns the disk geometry and lets you boot at all is > > an added bonus; normally you wouldn't be able to do that. > > I have _NOT_ moved the disk from one controller to another. I have > re-built the partitions on the same drive, not changing the geometry > at all. Everywhere that report geometry report the same. The whole point I am making is that the first-guess at the geometry is *wrong*, and it's not 'till the DPT changes its mind to match what the disk is set for that everything works. Prior to this point, things are disjoint but you can only tell that because BootEasy doesn't work. Subsequently, things are in sync, so of course everything claims to be happy. > I was thinking it might be an old version of BootEasy, and that a new > version might handle this differently. I don't think it is more than > 6 months old (and I can't remember any changes in BootEasy in that > time), but I didn't originally install the disk, so I don't really > know. The version of BootEasy used by FreeBSD hasn't changed in many years. You might try a newer OS-BS or System Commander, as these are much smarter. -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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