Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 13:40:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Simon Shapiro <shimon@simon-shapiro.org> To: Eivind Eklund <eivind@yes.no> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Subject: Re: Weird behaviour in BootEasy Message-ID: <XFMail.980526134018.shimon@simon-shapiro.org> In-Reply-To: <19980524024533.60246@follo.net>
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On 24-May-98 Eivind Eklund wrote:
> On Sat, May 23, 1998 at 09:06:36AM -0700, Mike Smith wrote:
>> > I just switched my system to use a different bootdrive (a DPT RAID
>> > array, actually) than I had before, and got the following behaviour:
>> >
>> > On a standard boot, BootEasy won't go to BSD, displaying 'F?' when I
>> > select the BSD partiton.
>>
>> This typically means that the disk geometry is messed up, ie. the
>> geometry used when constructing the disk layout is different to the
>> geometry that the BIOS is using when BootEasy attempts to load the MBR.
>
> I know. However, it doesn't look like that's happening (though I
> haven't really debugged this yet, so it might well be it.)
>
>> > However, if I select F5 for booting to
>> > another drive (even though I don't have another bootable drive), then
>> > reboot, and _then_ press F2 when booteasy appears, it boots and works
>> > fine.
>>
>> Sounds like the DPT is playing games changing its reported geometry
>> based on what's on the drive. The fact that F5 appears indicates that
>> it's reporting more than one BIOS disk, which suggests that there's
>> some ugly stuff going on.
>
> F5 doesn't appear. Originally, I had another bootable disk as the
> first disk on an Adaptec in the machine. F5 didn't appear, but when I
> pressed it I got the other bootblock. This no longer happen - I get
> 'F?' when I press F5. Then I reboot, and F1/F2 appears again, with F5
> as default. If I press F5 here, it boot correctly.
>
>> > 4. Continue until I reach booteasy
>> > 5. Press F2
>> > 6. Boot normally from the FreeBSD bootblocks.
>> >
>> > If I reboot after this, I again get the F? when it tries to
>> > auto-select the BSD partition (or if I press F2 without having pressed
>> > F5 first).
>>
>> The FreeBSD driver probably nukes some state in the DPT that tells it
>> that it's changed its mind about the geometry.
>
> That's possible; I don't know the details of how the DPT handles this.
Did you make sure you started dptmgr with the /fw0 option? If not, you
built an array that is only recognizable by the driver, not the controller.
Since the FreeBSD driver does not recognize/support in-kernel RAID-0, you
are actually looking at the old array. In this case we may have a problem;
When the DPT builds an array, it steals the first sector on every disk for
its own use, and offsets all the LBA's by one. What it does with in-kernel
RAID-0 I know not.
>> > Any clues? Or should I just re-install BootEasy and see if it goes
>> > away? (It seems like such an interesting little problem... :-)
>>
>> Reinstalling BootEasy won't change anything - it contains no geometry
>> state at all. The situation basically results from you having moved
>> the disk from one controller with one BIOS translation to another. The
>> fact that the DPT learns the disk geometry and lets you boot at all is
>> an added bonus; normally you wouldn't be able to do that.
>
> I have _NOT_ moved the disk from one controller to another. I have
> re-built the partitions on the same drive, not changing the geometry
> at all. Everywhere that report geometry report the same.
See my question above about dptmgr/fw0...
> I was thinking it might be an old version of BootEasy, and that a new
> version might handle this differently. I don't think it is more than
> 6 months old (and I can't remember any changes in BootEasy in that
> time), but I didn't originally install the disk, so I don't really
> know.
I did :-) It came streight off the boot floppy. It was 3.0-current of
early April.
Simon
---
Sincerely Yours,
Simon Shapiro Shimon@Simon-Shapiro.ORG
770.265.7340
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