Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Tue, 20 Apr 1999 23:09:52 -0500
From:      bob olbrich <rjob@gulftel.com>
To:        cjclark@home.com, davon@shires.org, FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: boot syntax and 3.1-release
Message-ID:  <371D4F90.B8F0EA58@gulftel.com>
References:  <199904201448.KAA09620@cc942873-a.ewndsr1.nj.home.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hello,

First, I am a new user. Back in 97 I first tried to install (via ftp),
but I found out that my modem was in the winmodem category.
I dropped FreeBSD until I purchased a new computer in March 99.
With my new modem I could use the FTP installation fully for the
first time. Onto my configuration.

My configuration is very simple. My HP Pavilion has a single IDE
hard drive (Quantum Bigfoot 11.5GB) with two partitions.
Partition 1 is win98 (9.5MB) and partition 2 is FreeBSD (2 GB,
at the end of the disk). I made my two boot floppies(kern.flp and
mfsroot.flp) and booted off the first. I configured my devices and
chose to do a quick and minimal install. I changed the 2nd dos partition
to
a freebsd partition,and created the following disk structure:

/         100 MB
swap  250 MB (128MB RAM)
/var     100 MB
/usr    1545 MB

I followed the rest of the steps, switcted to the alt-F screen,
typed term, dialed my modem, switched back, and watched
the download begin. I had chosen to set debugging on and
saw the components of  bin download.

This is where the confusion began.I chose to use the booteasy
and I do get a menu prompt like F1-DOS F2-FreeBSD, but
only F1 works. I got a reply to this in which somebody said
that there is a 500MB restriction in the BIOS that prevents
FreeBSD from accessing the partition at the end of the disk.
So it was suggested the I try to boot the hard drive from the
floppy.

First off, where is the boot prompt on the 3.1 -release boot
floppies? It is not simple as in the 2.x.x floppy.
Someone said you can hit enter to get it but the cursor
moves a line below it. I even tried booting with an older (2.2.8)
version of the boot floppy. That's where I get the error with
1:wd(0,a)kernel :

error D:0x81 C:0 H:0 S:0

Since I could not boot I wondered about the fixit floppy.
I'm not an experienced system administrator but I
thought their may be a few simple commands that I
might use to double-check the download.

That's about it. I appreciate any suggestions.

Bob Olbrich    rjob@gulftel.com

"Crist J. Clark" wrote:

> bob olbrich wrote,
> > Hello,
> >
> > You replied to one of my e-mails a few weeks ago.
> > You gave a new boot syntax (i.e. 1:wd(0,1,a)). Is
> > this discussed in detail somewhere?
>
> The best place I can think of is 'man 8 boot', but there are quite a
> few entries in the Handbook and FAQ about booting. The only time the
> slice number becomes inportant is when you have multiple FreeBSD
> _slices_ on a single device. At other times, you can just leave it
> out.
>
> > I'm still having
> > difficulties trying to boot FreeBSD.
>
> I looked you up in the mail archives to find your problem. According
> to the archives, you've been posting since August of '97? And you're
> still a new UNIX user having boot problems? :)
>
> > Also, I
> > can't seem to get my questions answered on the
> > mailing list or newsgroup.
>
> Last I saw, you were saying that hitting a F-key at the BootEasy
> prompt 'did nothing.' Is that still the problem? You might not be
> getting much help from the list or newsgroup since there is not a lot
> there to go on to diagnose the problem. How did you install? What did
> you install on to (what types of hard drive(s))? Exactly what appears
> at the boot prompt? Exactly what happens when you make your selection?
>
> I'd like to help, but I am no termendous expert with this either. I've
> installed FreeBSD 2.2.x and 3.1 on several machines (some off of
> CDROM, some by ftp over Ethernet), but all were onto IDE HDs
> cohabitating with Windows9x/NT. If that sounds like your situation, I
> might be able to help.
> --
> Crist J. Clark                           cjclark@home.com




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?371D4F90.B8F0EA58>