Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 09:45:53 -0800 From: Jeff Kletsky <Jeff@Wagsky.com> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: BootEasy and Multiple Partitions Message-ID: <l03130304b25cf7e79d9e@[192.168.6.3]>
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Having "always" used the simple boot loader with dedicated FreeBSD-STABLE systems, I have become a bit stymied by a dual-boot configuration I am using to evaluate FreeBSD-3.0/CURRENT. The bottom line is that it will load NTLDR, but not the rest of the FreeBSD boot sequence. The system *will* boot off a floppy, then load the FreeBSD kernel from the hard driver properly. Here is the sequence of events: (a couple years ago) **Loaded several M$ operating systems onto the first half of the Primary Master **Loaded Linux onto upper partitions -- had NTLDR chain-loading LILO (much time passes) **Started evaluating FreeBSD using a SCSI drive -- used BIOS to switch between IDE and SCSI booting (not much time passes ;-) **Adopted FreeBSD as primary OS on dedicated box, Linux languishes (more time) **981025: Blew away Linux partitions, BIOS set to boot sequence A then C, downloaded and booted from 3.0-RELEASE floppy. Minimal install (basically just enough to provide base for obtaining and building -CURRENT sources) with BootEasy selected for installation. FDISK: wd0 3116/32/63 0 63 62 - 6 unused 0 63 3136833 3136895 wd0s1 2 fat 6 > 3136896 3144960 6281855 wd0s2 3 freebsd 165 C> LABEL: (auto-defaults used) wd0s1 1531MB DOS wd0s2a 32MB / wd0s2b 105MB SWAP wd0s2e 30MB /var wd0s2f 1368MB /usr (from running system:) bash-2.02# disklabel wd0 # /dev/rwd0c: type: ESDI disk: wd0s2 label: flags: bytes/sector: 512 sectors/track: 63 tracks/cylinder: 32 sectors/cylinder: 2016 cylinders: 1560 sectors/unit: 3144960 rpm: 3600 interleave: 1 trackskew: 0 cylinderskew: 0 headswitch: 0 # milliseconds track-to-track seek: 0 # milliseconds drivedata: 0 8 partitions: # size offset fstype [fsize bsize bps/cpg] a: 65536 0 4.2BSD 1024 8192 16 # (Cyl. 0 - 32*) b: 215728 65536 swap # (Cyl. 32*- 139*) c: 3144960 0 unused 0 0 # (Cyl. 0 - 1559) e: 61440 281264 4.2BSD 1024 8192 16 # (Cyl. 139*- 169*) f: 2802256 342704 4.2BSD 1024 8192 16 # (Cyl. 169*- 1559*) Minimal install followed, then reboot: F1 . . . Dos will bring up NTLDR which appears to function properly F2 . . . FreeBSD will do (apparently) nothing but bring up Default: F? F5 . . . disk 2 will switch the menu to the SCSI drive (which is empty) Booting from the 3.0-RELEASE boot floppy will allow 0:wd(0,a)kernel which will boot properly from the installed FreeBSD system. Perhaps I am mistaken, but this would suggest that the BIOS configuration is such that the "dreaded 1024-cylinder limit" of multios.html and FAQ 2.15 is not coming into play. While FAQ 2.18 suggests a problem in the BIOS, he BIOS is set for "AUTO/AUTO" on Primary Master and reports LBA Mode 4 with the proper capacity. Changing the BIOS to LARGE prevents any reasonable behavior (crashes/hangs on boot for either M$ or FreeBSD). Two less that ideal answers: 1) Move root partition to SCSI drive and use BIOS to change boot order 2) Modify boot floppy to use 0:wd(0,a)kernel and serve as a "physical" switch Any other suggestions would be quite welcome, as I would like to someday be able to sucessfully install and trust BootEasy... Jeff P.S. Will be building -CURRENT as soon as cvsup is complete, if that helps any... (I am assuming that 'make installworld' does *not* change the boot records and that I will have to use disklabel to install the "new" loader -- yes?) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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