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Date:      Thu, 4 Jan 2001 14:00:44 -0500 (EST)
From:      "Nathan Vidican" <webmaster@wmptl.com>
To:        "R. Bisbey" <bisbey@rb.org>
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD + Mylex DAC960 (RAID 1) + DEC Prioris HX 6000 Server will not	recognize boot record for some reason
Message-ID:  <200101041900.OAA24643@mail2.wmptl.com>

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I just installed a 4.5G IBM SCSI-UW disk on my first SCSI adapter, and 
booted off of it now. Then mounts the RAID array to store our 
files/data on instead of booting from it as the system disk.

> I have the same problem with 4.2 a DAC960 on an old IBM dual 
processor server.
> 
> I was thinking trying to boot off floppy, a la:
> 
> 1.  Make a new kern.flp floppy
> 2.  Nuke the kernel.gz
> 3.  Create a boot.config file with the appropriate boot command
> 
> The boot command for IDE's is  0:ad(0,a)/boot/loader
> 
> If you get the floppy boot working before I do, send me email.
> 
> Richard
> 
> [---begin usenet posting---]
> 
> From: Nathan Vidican <webmaster@wmptl.com>
> Subject: FreeBSD + Mylex DAC960 (RAID 1) + DEC Prioris HX 6000 Server 
will not
>  recognize boot record for some reason
> Date: 02 Jan 2001 00:00:00 GMT
> Message-ID: <fa.g0j8npv.sim2jc@ifi.uio.no>
> Original-Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 16:45:22 -0500
> Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> Original-Message-ID: <3A524BF2.E2E1F3BF@wmptl.com>
> To: questions@freebsd.org, hackers@freebsd.org
> Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
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> Organization: Internet mailing list
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> Reply-To: nathan@vidican.com
> Newsgroups: fa.freebsd.hackers
> X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG
> 
> This machine is an Intel Pentium Pro based system, (not a DEC Alpha), 
it
> currently has one 200mhz 512K CPU, 196megs RAM, (4 x 32edo simms, 4 x
> 16edo simms), and two 4.5Gig SCSI disks in hot-swappable drive 
carriages
> configured using RAID 1 (mirrored), attached to a Mylex DAC960P/PD
> dual-channel controller. I have flashed the firmware of the controller
> card to 3.52, as reccomended during the dmesg prompts (the card
> initially had < 3.51). The problem seems to be with booting, I have
> tried several installs; all seem to partition fine except for
> 'dangerously dedicated'. After an install using a 4.4Gig root, and an
> 80meg swap, (leaving 20megs un-partitioned at the end of the drive), 
the
> system will not boot. If I boot off of the installation floppies, I 
can
> mount/view the files on the drive. This leaves me thinking it's got to
> have something to do with FreeBSD's MBR.
>         Having problems booting; the system installs to the mylex 
system drive
> fine, but when I reboot, I get the FreeBSD boot MGR, and it only beeps
> when I press F1 for FreeBSD. If I install using a normal boot record,
> the system reports 'No operating system found'. I'm thinking it may be
> an issue with the Mylex card, but I don't know for sure if the 
system's
> bios could cause this either. I cannot attempt to install the mylex 
card
> in another machine; as the drives attached to it are in a hot-swap
> carriage which is part of the system's chassis.
>         On a hunch, I tried re-partitioning and installing MsDos; 
maybe the
> RAID configuration isn't bootable at all I figured; but it partitioned
> fine, and booted properly. I then tried installing NT, and now Linux.
> All three had no problems, and all three booted fine. Seeing as how 
the
> other O/S's all installed/worked fine; I'm assuming this is just a
> software issue. Maybe with the bios of the Raid controller, or maybe
> with the system bios, has anyone else run into similar problems? Am I
> just missing something blatenly obvious? Does FreeBSD not boot from a
> mirrored volume (if so... why not)?
>         I've only ever done one other server install with FreeBSD, 
and a Mylex
> Raid controller; it booted fine. It was using an AcceleRAID PCI 150
> card, with foud 9.1gig SCSIUW's in a RAID 5 configuration. It went 
fine
> with no hitches, (cept that it took like 1hr to newfs). However, this 
is
> a different controller, and having little to no experience working 
with
> RAID controllers I figured I'd ask.
>         Baring no absolute solutions, or better partial ones from 
this mailing
> list, I'm going to install Linux on a 200meg partition, and attempt to
> install FreeBSD on the rest and boot it using Lilo (don't know if it's
> going to work...but it's worth a try).
> 
> 
> --
> Nathan Vidican
> webmaster@wmptl.com
> Windsor Match Plate & Tool Ltd.
> http://www.wmptl.com/
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Nathan Vidican
webmaster@wmptl.com
Windsor Match Plate & Tool Ltd.
http://www.wmptl.com/


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