From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 3 20:19:54 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EC0716A41F for ; Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:19:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonicy@otenet.gr) Received: from aiolos.otenet.gr (aiolos.otenet.gr [195.170.0.93]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8B2AC13C48C for ; Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:19:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonicy@otenet.gr) Received: from atlantis.dyndns.org (athedsl-317246.home.otenet.gr [85.72.94.220]) by aiolos.otenet.gr (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id l53KJpaj005879 for ; Sun, 3 Jun 2007 23:19:51 +0300 Message-ID: <4663225B.6070905@otenet.gr> Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 23:19:39 +0300 From: Manolis Kiagias User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.0 (X11/20070419) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: FreeBSD Questions References: <20070603191700.GC66889@demeter.hydra> <466317C4.7060404@daleco.biz> <20070603194516.GF66889@demeter.hydra> In-Reply-To: <20070603194516.GF66889@demeter.hydra> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: repair a FreeBSD install X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 20:19:54 -0000 Chad Perrin wrote: > On Sun, Jun 03, 2007 at 02:34:28PM -0500, Kevin Kinsey wrote: > >> Chad Perrin wrote: >> >>> Someone I know tried installing Slackware on a Thinkpad R52 to create a >>> triple-boot system (MS Windows and FreeBSD 6.2 as the other two, already >>> present on the system). The Slackware install didn't get very far (the >>> installer is less than helpful -- wouldn't recognize a swap partition at >>> all), but apparently it got far enough to break the FreeBSD install. >>> >>> Any tips, hints, and suggestions about how exactly to go about fixing >>> the FreeBSD install (without overwriting the home partition and losing >>> the installed system configuration to minimize time lost getting things >>> back to "normal") would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. >>> >> What exactly is broken in the FBSD installation? Just won't >> find enough bootstrap stuff to boot? >> > > Shortly after the aborted Slackware install, the FreeBSD bootloader > still loaded, but chosing the FreeBSD option would just cause it to hang > rather than booting up the OS. Since then, Debian has been installed in > the free space on the drive, with GRUB installed as the new bootloader, > and it doesn't list the FreeBSD option as existing at all. > > > You can use the grub bootloader to load freebsd (assuming that nothing is damaged in the freebsd slice itself, and I believe it is intact in your case) It's been some time since I've done this myself (I am no longer dual booting FreeBSD on this machine), but I'll try to be as accurate as possible. Start your system, when it gets to the grub loader press "c" to get to the grub command line. Do you know what your freebsd slice is? Even if you don't, you can get this info from fdisk -l from debian. Or you could try searching in the command line. Type something like: root (hd0,2,a) that is assuming your freebsd slice is hda3 (or sda3) - grub numbering starts from 0 If you are not sure about the number try others like root (hd0,3,a) and so on. You will know when you hit the correct partition, since it will say: Filesystem type is UFS, partition type ... (something similar) Then type kernel /boot/loader and then type boot If you get into freebsd successfully, you can then add all the above instructions in the grub configuration file (normally in /boot/grub/menu.lst in your linux system) Hope this helps.