From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 14 15:50:38 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30E9E16A41F for ; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 15:50:38 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from garys@opusnet.com) Received: from opusnet.com (mail.opusnet.com [209.210.200.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DB67143D49 for ; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 15:50:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from garys@opusnet.com) Received: from localhost.localhost [70.98.246.232] by opusnet.com with ESMTP (SMTPD32-8.05) id A849D14B0150; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:50:33 -0700 Received: from localhost.localhost (localhost.localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localhost.localhost (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id j7EFrOwh072952; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:53:24 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from garys@opusnet.com) Received: (from jojo@localhost) by localhost.localhost (8.13.3/8.13.3/Submit) id j7EFrI5m072951; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:53:18 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from garys@opusnet.com) To: Milscvaer References: <20050814143728.99574.qmail@web54509.mail.yahoo.com> From: garys@opusnet.com (Gary W. Swearingen) Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 08:53:18 -0700 In-Reply-To: <20050814143728.99574.qmail@web54509.mail.yahoo.com> (Milscvaer's message of "Sun, 14 Aug 2005 07:37:28 -0700 (PDT)") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) XEmacs/21.4 (Jumbo Shrimp, berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Failed installation of FreeBSD 5.4 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, 14 Aug 2005 15:50:38 -0000 Milscvaer writes: > I would like to try to boot the system on the hard > driv e from a floppy. Maybe there is something wrong > with the boot record on the HD. Does anyone know if > this is possible and how I can do that? Sure, but you've left us in the dark as to what you have to work with there. Do you have FreeBSD or some unixy OS on another system or on a "live CD"? Or just a floppy "fixit"? Or what? Do you have enough hard disk space to leave your /usr/home out of the picture until you get FreeBSD going on another part of the disk? (Maybe after deleting unneeded parts of /usr/home's filesystem.) Anyway, if you can run a FreeBSD off a fixit or live CD somehow, you can "bsdlabel" to put /boot/boot = boot+boot2 on a floppy so you should be able to get a "boot2" prompt (the one before the "loader" prompt) and try to boot your 5.4 from there. Or you could try using "fdisk" and "boot0cfg" and "bsdlabel" to put new boot records (MBR, boot1, and boot2) on a floppy or on your hard disk, too. If you can DL and burn a CD, get yourself a "live CD" or CD-based "fixit", else try to find room on your HD for a fresh minimal FreeBSD install, else get an old HD and install fresh to that. Another thing you could try is getting a Grub floppy off the Internet and try booting from the Grub command line. I suppose that your problem is related to the fact that your "upgrade" is reusing your old partition(s) and maybe old boot records. BTW, if you can keep your /usr/home out of the picture and then copy it to your new system, you can end up with nice new UFS2 filesystems. BTW, if that's your only copy of /usr/home, you probably shouldn't be trying to install a new OS on the disk anyway. You should be able to find another HD for a small FreeBSD (or a copy of /usr/home) for VERY little money these days.