From owner-freebsd-fs@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 20 08:43:21 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher AECDH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 76352F6D for ; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:43:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from cu01176b.smtpx.saremail.com (cu01176b.smtpx.saremail.com [195.16.151.151]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 31C995EE for ; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:43:20 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [172.16.2.2] (izaro.sarenet.es [192.148.167.11]) by proxypop04.sare.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 3DCAA9DF0C9; Thu, 20 Nov 2014 09:43:12 +0100 (CET) Subject: Re: BIOS booting from disks > 2TB Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1283) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 From: Borja Marcos In-Reply-To: <546DA321.8050403@jrv.org> Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 09:43:10 +0100 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: <17A2AC72-AD70-480A-9BAC-9CC8EAFD572F@we.lc.ehu.es> <546DA321.8050403@jrv.org> To: "James R. Van Artsdalen" X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1283) Cc: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-fs@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Filesystems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:43:21 -0000 On Nov 20, 2014, at 9:15 AM, James R. Van Artsdalen wrote: >=20 > The extended BIOS disk functions, introduced onto PCs almost 20 years = ago, allowing for addressing LBAs beyond 2TB. FreeBSD will use these = BIOS functions when present. This is usually not a problem. Yes, that I was assuming. Something is wrong at least in this machine, = though. > If a disk controller card of some kind is installed then the option = ROM on that card must support the extended BIOS disk functions for this = to work. This is usually not a problem. Aha, so definitely HP blew it with the disk controller (see below) > The error messages shown only pertained to the backup header, not = primary, and looking at the code it implies to me that the primary = header and table were read OK, and that these will be used even if the = backup cannot be found. I think "invalid backup GPT header" is a = warning in this case, not a fatal error. Yes, I see the boot progressed beyond that error. > I think the real problem is here: >=20 > Can't work out which disk we are booting from. > Guessed BIOS device 0xffffffff not found by probes, defaulting to = disk0: >=20 > 1. If you replace the 3TB disk with a disk 2TB or smaller and make no = other change, does this error still happen? Yes. I tried a 1 TB disk and it worked without problems. The other = difference between them is the "advanced format". The 1 TB disk has normal 512 byte sectors (it's a two years old Samsung, I don't have = the model number handy), and the 3 TB disk is a WD Red 3 TB disk which has 4 KB sectors. > 2. How are the disks connected to the system? What disk controllers = are used? What is the system BIOS boot disk setting set to? The disk controller is one of those "array controllers" but it can be = configured to work as a stock AHCI one, which is the mode in which I am using it of course. It works flawlessly as an AHCI = controller under FreeBSD, for example with ZFS. However, maybe HP has assumed that everyone will use it in "intelligent" = mode and they haven't implemented the BIOS code for it correctly, for example missing the BIOS extensions. So, can we assume that it's not a problem with the FreeBSD boot chain, = but definitely a poorly implemented BIOS? Thanks! Borja.