Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:14:07 +0100 From: Anton Shterenlikht <mexas@bristol.ac.uk> To: bug-followup@FreeBSD.org Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: alpha/61940: [sysinstall] Can't disklabel new disk Message-ID: <20070724211407.GA25306@mech-aslap33.men.bris.ac.uk> In-Reply-To: <200707231108.l6NB8ApV045230@freefall.freebsd.org> References: <200707231108.l6NB8ApV045230@freefall.freebsd.org>
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I suggest closing this PR. This topic has been discussed many times before and solution is very clear. Instead I suggest adding some information on this under section 4.2 "Common Installation Problems for Alpha/AXP Architecture Users" of "FreeBSD/alpha 6.2-RELEASE Installation Instructions" (www.freebsd.org/./releases/6.2R/installation-alpha.html). I volunteer to write a few paragraphs on this along the following lines. thanks anton ****************************************************** TITLE: Disklabel Editor cannot see disk 1. Problem description. In some cases the FreeBSD installer (partitioning program, FDisk or Disklabel Editor) will not properly recognise the disk. In such situations one has to create a BSD label, typically by using Fixit (live) CD. Furthermore successful bsdlabel(8) operation might requre zeroing the first block on the disk with dd(1). The following is based on my experience of installing FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE #0: Sat Jan 13 02:32:39 UTC 2007 on AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.3-1, Feb 27 2007 13:17:58 This server was previously running OpenVMS installed on Quantum Atlas 10k 18GB disk. Below is the output from the SRM SHOW DEVICE command showing the disk as dka0.0.0.17.0. >>>SHOW DEVICE dka0.0.0.17.0 DKA0 QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18_WLS 020K dqb0.0.1.13.0 DQB0 CD-224E 9.5B dva0.0.0.0.0 DVA0 ewa0.0.0.9.0 EWA0 08-00-2B-87-42-31 ewb0.0.0.11.0 EWB0 08-00-2B-87-42-4E pka0.7.0.17.0 PKA0 SCSI Bus ID 7 >>> This SCSI disk is connected to the standard NCR 53C895 controller (see the output of the initialisation below, line with 'pka') , supported by ncr(4) and a newer sym(4) drivers: www.freebsd.org/releases/6.2R/hardware-alpha.html www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ncr&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+6.2-RELEASE www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sym&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+6.2-RELEASE I recorded and used only one CD from ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/alpha/ISO-IMAGES/6.2/ 6.2-RELEASE-alpha-disc1.iso 533248 KB 13/01/2007 00:00:00 I put this CD in the drive and boot from it: >>>boot dqb0 Initializing... [...] da0 at sym0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0 da0: <QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18_WLS 020K> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-3 device da0: 40.000MB/s transfers (20.000MHz, offset 31, 16bit), Tagged Queueing Enabled da0: 17537MB (35916548 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 2235C) [...] Note that so far the disk is recognised correctly - lines containing da0 in the devices list. Now proceeding further with Standard Installation I finally get to the Disklabel Editor which shows no disks: ******************************** START SCREEN ******************************** FreeBSD Disklabel Editor Part Mount Size Newfs Part Mount Size Newfs ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- ----- The following commands are valid here (upper or lower case): C = Create D = Delete M = Mount pt. N = Newfs Opts Q = Finish S = Toggle SoftUpdates Z = Custom Newfs T = Toggle Newfs U = Undo A = Auto Defaults R = Delete+Merge Use F1 or ? to get more help, arrow keys to select. ********************************* END SCREEN ********************************* Hitting C gives the following message at the bottom of the screen: You can only do this in a master partition (see top of screen) and hitting A gives this: You can only do this in a disk slice (at top of screen) If (in desperation) I hit other keys, like e.g. Z, or R, I get: +--------------------------- Message ---------------------------+ |A signal 11 was caught - I'm saving what I can and shutting | |down. If you can reproduce the problem, please turn Debug on | |in the Options menu for the extra information it provides | |in debugging problems like this. | +-------------------------------------------------------(100%)--+ | [ OK ] | +-------------------[ Press enter or space ]-------------------- and hitting enter or space halts the machine: Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `vnlru' to stop...done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `bufdaemon' to stop...done Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop... Syncing disks, vnodes remaining...2 0 done All buffers synced. Uptime: 8m1s halted CPU 0 halt code = 5 HALT instruction executed PC = fffffc00007f9a60 Resetting I/O buses... >>> 2. Solution It is necessary to create BSD label on disk. The easiest way to achieve this is with 'live' filesystem CD, which it this case is the same installation CD. First one has to choose 'Fixit' option in the sysinstall Main Manu: ******************************** START SCREEN ******************************** +---------- FreeBSD/alpha 6.2-RELEASE - sysinstall Main Menu -----------+ | Welcome to the FreeBSD installation and configuration tool. Please | | select one of the options below by using the arrow keys or typing the | | first character of the option name you're interested in. Invoke an | | option with [SPACE] or [ENTER]. To exit, use [TAB] to move to Exit. | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Usage Quick start - How to use this menu system | | | | Standard Begin a standard installation (recommended) | | | | Express Begin a quick installation (for experts) | | | | Custom Begin a custom installation (for experts) | | | | Configure Do post-install configuration of FreeBSD | | | | Doc Installation instructions, README, etc. | | | | Keymap Select keyboard type | | | | Options View/Set various installation options | | | | Fixit Repair mode with CDROM/DVD/floppy or start shell | | | | Upgrade Upgrade an existing system | | | | Load Config Load default install configuration | | | | Index Glossary of functions | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [ Select ] X Exit Install | +------------------[ Press F1 for Installation Guide ]------------------+ ********************************* END SCREEN ********************************* the following screen appears: ******************************** START SCREEN ******************************** +---------------------- Please choose a fixit option ----------------------+ | There are three ways of going into "fixit" mode: | | - you can use the live filesystem CDROM/DVD, in which case there will be | | full access to the complete set of FreeBSD commands and utilities, | | - you can use the more limited (but perhaps customized) fixit floppy, | | - or you can start an Emergency Holographic Shell now, which is | | limited to the subset of commands that is already available right now. | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | X Exit Exit this menu (returning to previous) | | | | 2 CDROM/DVD Use the "live" filesystem CDROM/DVD | | | | 3 Floppy Use a floppy generated from the fixit image | | | | 4 Shell Start an Emergency Holographic Shell | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | [ OK ] Cancel | +------------[ Press F1 for more detailed repair instructions ]------------+ ********************************* END SCREEN ********************************* choose 2 and you get to the shell: ******************************** START SCREEN ******************************** DEBUG: fixit: I can't set the controlling terminal. Waiting for fixit shell to exit. When you are done, type ``exit'' to exit the fixit shell and be returned here. sh: can't access tty; job control turned off +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | You are now running from FreeBSD "fixit" media. | | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | When you're finished with this shell, please type exit. | | The fixit media is mounted as /mnt2. | | | | You might want to symlink /mnt/etc/*pwd.db and /mnt/etc/group | | to /etc after mounting a root filesystem from your disk. | | tar(1) will not restore all permissions correctly otherwise! | | | | Note: you can use the arrow keys to browse through the | | command history of this shell. | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Good Luck! Fixit# ********************************* END SCREEN ********************************* now do the following: Fixit# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=512 count=32 32+0 records in 32+0 records out 16384 bytes transferred in 0.445921 secs (36742 bytes/sec) Fixit# bsdlabel -w da0 which is actually copied from the examples in the bsdlabel(8) man pages. (In some cases you can run bsdlabel straight away. If that gives you errors - run 'dd' first.) That's it, exit the shell: Fixit# exit Now, for some reason, BSD label will not be recognised unil you restart sysinstall: +------------- User Confirmation Requested -------------+ | Are you sure you wish to exit? The system will halt. | +-------------------------------------------------------+ | [ Yes ] No | +-------------------------------------------------------+ As before: >>> boot dqb0 and now finally you get to see the disk in Disklabel Editor: ******************************** START SCREEN ******************************** FreeBSD Disklabel Editor Disk: da0 Partition name: da0 Free: 16 blocks (0MB) Part Mount Size Newfs Part Mount Size Newfs ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- ----- ---- ----- da0a <none> 17537MB * The following commands are valid here (upper or lower case): C = Create D = Delete M = Mount pt. N = Newfs Opts Q = Finish S = Toggle SoftUpdates Z = Custom Newfs T = Toggle Newfs U = Undo A = Auto Defaults R = Delete+Merge Use F1 or ? to get more help, arrow keys to select. ********************************* END SCREEN ********************************* Delete the partition created by bsdlabel(8). After this proceed as in the Installation Manual. good luck! -- Anton Shterenlikht Room 2.6, Queen's Building Mech Eng Dept Bristol University University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8233 Fax: +44 (0)117 929 4423
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