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Date: Fri, 29 Mar 96 03:44:20 PST
From: "Brett Glass" <Brett_Glass@ccgate.infoworld.com>
Message-Id: <9602298281.AA828112246@ccgate.infoworld.com>
To: "Justin T. Gibbs" <gibbs@freefall.freebsd.org>
Cc: jkh@freebsd.org, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Cannot boot after install 
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After giving up on getting the EISA/SCSI system to work with FreeBSD, I
switched to a Zeos Pantera 486 DX4/100 with a Seagate ST5660A IDE hard
disk. This is a "green" hard disk that shuts down after periods of
inactivity, then spins up when it's needed again. It can be configured not
to, but FreeBSD doesn't change the hard disk's default setting.

Unfortunately, the spin-downs play hob with FreeBSD's IDE disk driver.
As soon as the system was installed and seemed healthy, I brought up jove
to edit a configuration file for a customized kernel. While I was editing,
the drive shut down. When I tried to save, the console was splattered with
messages indicating timeouts and "unwedge failures." The disk was
corrupted, and the entire install was lost.

Does anyone know of a way I can get THIS system stabilized?

--Brett