From owner-freebsd-questions Fri May 17 10:28:21 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id KAA04261 for questions-outgoing; Fri, 17 May 1996 10:28:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from cr.island.net (root@cr.island.net [204.239.41.1]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id KAA04252 for ; Fri, 17 May 1996 10:28:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from slip1.cr.island.net by cr.island.net with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #4) id m0uKTJa-000c5sC; Fri, 17 May 96 10:27 PDT Message-Id: From: myoung@cr.island.net (Michael Young) To: install@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Installation fails on root file system init... Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 17:27:06 GMT X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk I posted this on comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc and thought I'd also sent it via e-mail... >I am making my first attempt at installing FreeBSD 2.1.0 RELEASE and >am hitting a snag during the hard disk initialisatin process. >The system is an AST Premium 386DX with 6MB RAM, an 88MB IDE WD hard >drive, 1.44MB (A:) and 1.2MB (B:) floppy drives, a couple of serial >ports and an NE2000 network card. Nothing particularly exotic, as you >can see. >The boot floppy correctly identifies all the hardware, and goes to the >installation menu. I'm instaling a simple "User" configuration >(52MB). The entire disk is given a single FreeBSD partition as I >don't intend to use it for anything else. It has three labels: a 20MB >chunk for the root file system, a 20MB chunk for swap space, and the >rest for the /usr file system. So far, so good. >The hard disk init. begins and the hard disk light flashes at 3-4 sec >intervals as the root file system is initialised. After about 15-20 >mins the init. process halts and reports a "Command returns 36", or >words to that effect (I don't have the system nearby). And that's as >far as it'll go. >So, here are my questions: >- Is this machine too weak / too old to run FreeNSD? >- If not, would a BIOS upgrade help? >- Is an 88MB hard disk too small for the "User" config? >- If so, what is the minimum amount of disk space needed? >- Is there a workaround for the mysterious 36 error? >Any help, advice, comments would be greatly appreciated. Useful >e-mail responses will be posted on this newsgroup. >-- >Michael Young -- Michael Young