From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 23 16:58:03 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1D46106564A; Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:58:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bruce@cran.org.uk) Received: from muon.cran.org.uk (unknown [IPv6:2a01:348:0:15:5d59:5c40:0:1]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5C8948FC08; Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:58:03 +0000 (UTC) Received: from muon.cran.org.uk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by muon.cran.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1448EE8C0C; Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:58:00 +0000 (GMT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed; d=cran.org.uk; h=subject :from:to:cc:in-reply-to:references:content-type:date:message-id :mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; s=mail; bh=r9ebRg1WT/cH ZBvs8e7wc+amF1I=; b=PiAlD0xcVmpfaWZaIpCOG84eVfp1w98XM7h7dPJ+Y/hr lV3Ke6edgvoln5dGTwGuXAAPAMsGWnGsiO8xF1vjlZdQrjJL5YA1UG0yMeF+SCJ4 3Sp3OyaogLqRNd13YsvIOcg31lEu7+VDMjXa5A0BkiHdydH3wgiMU33XlSyBEu0= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=cran.org.uk; h=subject:from :to:cc:in-reply-to:references:content-type:date:message-id :mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; q=dns; s=mail; b=W6QJUD KXN0n0T6lb3CypgjFm2Tti46/ZHQoMkxtASEIg/FyBellREybkGgCQfkGuw7t6fO sD5yBNYScalW13gdRH3iwBVJ5zUbfDPCnEA6nyBwuS+nlQdTYEqrDunavI/++hWI 7T4lQ7EJf+KYr0H7ak4DkyLL+6eYo7HJWgenQ= Received: from [192.168.0.10] (client-86-31-236-253.oxfd.adsl.virginmedia.com [86.31.236.253]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by muon.cran.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id AAA65E8BA7; Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:57:59 +0000 (GMT) From: Bruce Cran To: John Baldwin In-Reply-To: <201102231133.10571.jhb@freebsd.org> References: <4D35CFFB.3010302@freebsd.org> <20110222205741.GA34103@server.vk2pj.dyndns.org> <4D65328D.3050709@jrv.org> <201102231133.10571.jhb@freebsd.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:57:56 +0000 Message-ID: <1298480276.2895.5.camel@core.nessbank> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.32.1 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org, freebsd-current@freebsd.org, Devin Teske , "James R. Van Artsdalen" , freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Installer Roadmap X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:58:03 -0000 On Wed, 2011-02-23 at 11:33 -0500, John Baldwin wrote: > That is mostly true. There are some SCSI BIOSes that would examine the MBR > and infer what C/H/S geometry the OS was expecting from the MBR. The > original dedicated disk dummy MBR triggered a divide by zero in one of these > BIOS ROMs. I guess RAID BIOS's read through the MBR too: my Gigabyte board has an Intel AHCI BIOS (1.20E seems to be the problematic revision) with fakeraid that hangs (requiring a CMOS reset) if you install FreeBSD physically after Windows 7 x64 for example - and some IBM laptops have a bug related to repair partitions and FreeBSD too (http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/Laptops), so they must read the MBR too. -- Bruce Cran