From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 29 10:11:51 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6315C37B404 for ; Thu, 29 May 2003 10:11:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from xmxpita.excite.com (nn1.excitenetwork.com [207.159.120.55]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5608343F85 for ; Thu, 29 May 2003 10:11:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from testing12351@excite.com) Received: by xmxpita.excite.com (Postfix, from userid 110) id 727F8B6C5; Thu, 29 May 2003 13:11:46 -0400 (EDT) To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from [66.171.42.29] by xprdmailfe20.nwk.excite.com via HTTP; Thu, 29 May 2003 13:11:46 EST X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: ID = 900b1b1d357e5d9a11deb402afe3e6a5 From: "FreeBSD_Guy" MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: testing12351@excite.com X-Mailer: PHP Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Message-Id: <20030529171146.727F8B6C5@xmxpita.excite.com> Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 13:11:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: freebsd 5.1 beta 2 partition table corruption X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: testing12351@excite.com List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 17:11:51 -0000 Previously I had reported a hard disk geometry problem with the freebsd installer in 5.1 beta 2. It turns out there is more to the problem. The FreeBSD installer also corrupts the partition table on the fixed disk. I did not realize this until I rebooted into Windows 98 and ran Partition Magic 7.0 which detects the problem immediately and corrects it. This is not more than an inconvenience for me since I own PM7 but, there are probably many people out there who don't have this software and can't detect the problem, let alone fix it. I suspect that this problem stems simply from the large size of the fixed disk drive and the fact that I'm installing FreeBSD far into the drive, somewhere around the 50GB - 59GB mark. Having recently purchased this drive, I tried re-installing earlier Release versions of FreeBSD ( 5.0, 4.8, 4.7 ). They all have the same problem with disk geometry. I don't know at what release FreeBSD broke through the old "large disk" 8GB barrier problem, that prevented installation of the OS on a partition above the 8GB mark but, i suspect my problem is connected to the large size of the fixed disk. By the way, if you're looking for a new hard drive this one is outstanding. Its very quiet ( under 3db ), and reasonably cool ( operates around 72 degrees F ) and fairly quick. repeat of related message: x86 P3 whitebox Hard disk: Seagate IDE Model Number:ST380011A Capacity:80 GB Speed:7200 rpm Interface:Ultra ATA/100 The FreeBSD 5.1 BETA 2 installer ( custom "partition" ) has trouble determining my hard disk geometry. The installer reads the disk as 155061/16/63 then reports this as unlikely and guesses 9729/255/63 but the BIOS states that the geometry is 1024/255/63 once the geometry is set correctly, the install works ( with the often mentioned krb5 problem ). _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!