Date: Sun, 30 Apr 1995 10:33:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Bao Chau Ha <bao@saigon.async.com> To: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu> Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: 950412-SNAP Installation with ESDI (WD1007V) System Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.91.950430100745.110B-100000@saigon.async.com> In-Reply-To: <9504292206.AA29120@cs.weber.edu>
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On Sat, 29 Apr 1995, Terry Lambert wrote: > > How do I install 950412-SNAP on a system with a WD1007V > > ESDI controller and 2 drives: Maxtor XT4380E (320M) and > > Maxtor XT4760E (630M)? > > > > It is very annoying that the driver gets the true disk > > geometries directly from the ESDI controller and use them > > instead of the translated ones. It also ignores the > > spare sector mapping, so it does not help, even if I > > reformat my drives. > > The spare sector mapping and translation are software artifacts of the > BIOS. > > If you are willing to port the VM86() code from NetBSD to FreeBSD and > write BIOS based disk driver, you'd be a hero. > > > Of course, this is difficult enough that the only OS out there that > can do this at all right now is OS/2, so unless you are comparing the > SNAP to the commercial release of OS/2, your complaint is not a > valid one. It's like complaining because your car can't fly, and > then arguing that this must be because it's a Ford instead of a Chevy... > when in fact, checy doesn't manufacture flying cars either. > Not really, Linux is running happily on the second drive. I don't think I need the OS/2-style real-mode INT-13 driver. The WD1007V is running under the OS/2 ST506 driver. OS/2 does know the real geometries, but it uses the fictitous geometries. Anyway, I think we may have miscommunicated somewhere. What I am complaining is that the disk driver did not use the BIOS geometries, which is used by DOS, Linux, and OS/2 sharing the disk system. I may be naive, but all it is needed is a BIOS call to get the fictitous drive geometries during the boot up process prior to switching to the protected mode. The WD1007V can then be treated just like a ST506/ST412 interface. All of the geometry translation and spare sector mapping are done by the controller firmware. I think the problem is that the disk device driver is too smart for its own good, since the WD1007V is a hybrid between the old MFM/RLL interface and the new IDE. The WD1007V predated the current IDE standard, I think. > > Anyway, I did fdisk, added the translated geometry and > > was able to complete the installation from the boot > > and cpio floppies onto the first drive. Upon reboot, > > the kernel went up to the npx16 ... messages, then > > printed out a message about wrong size on partition d > > of wd1, which does not have a freebsd partition. It > > then panicked, and rebooted. > > > > Sounds like a Bad144 problem or errors early in the drive. If this is > it, moving the partition up a cylinder will probably avoid the bad spot > (it would have to be under the boot track or the disklabel). > The disk is perfect, since all of the bad spots have been remapped to the spare sectors. This is a controller firmware feature, just like the current IDE or SCSI drives. > You may want to install a teeny DOS partition before installing the > BSD -- some people have found this necessary with the new slice code > in the most recent snaps. > I do have a DOS partition on the first drive. I tried a lot of other things and make the wd1 error about changing d partition size ... going away. I still have the same panic error about cannot mount the root partition, right after the message about npx0: INT 16 ... I still think it is an incompatible problem, but not knowing how to deal with it. The WD1007 is listed as supported in the FAQ. A FreeBSD newbie. :-( Bao -- Bao Chau Ha (bao@saigon.async.com) Nuclear chemical engineer by day, Linux hacker by night and weekends.
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