From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 25 22:19:35 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8787616A421 for ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:19:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david.larkin@whitburncc.org.uk) Received: from mk-outboundfilter-3.mail.uk.tiscali.com (mk-outboundfilter-3.mail.uk.tiscali.com [212.74.114.23]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2259713C46B for ; Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:19:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from david.larkin@whitburncc.org.uk) X-Trace: 26953019/mk-outboundfilter-1.mail.uk.tiscali.com/F2S/$NILDRAM-ACCEPTED/nildram-customers/213.208.117.42 X-SBRS: None X-RemoteIP: 213.208.117.42 X-IP-MAIL-FROM: david.larkin@whitburncc.org.uk X-IP-BHB: Once X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Ao8CAAftmUfV0HUq/2dsb2JhbACuRQQ X-IP-Direction: IN Received: from secure.djl.co.uk (HELO sparrow) ([213.208.117.42]) by smtp.f2s.tiscali.co.uk with SMTP; 25 Jan 2008 22:08:09 +0000 Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:48:07 +0000 From: David Larkin To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20080125224807.233a2a14@sparrow> X-Mailer: Sylpheed-Claws 0.9.12b (GTK+ 1.2.10; i386-portbld-freebsd5.3) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: formatting disk for FreeBSD : Detecting IDE Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:19:35 -0000 Hi Guys, I'm trying to install FreeBSD 6.3 on an old PC. I have bought a new Maxtor DiamondMax 80Gig disk, to replace the old one. I will have only one disk in the PC. I am looking to build using boot floppies and FTP. There is no CD drive on the PC. When I turn the PC on the BIOS hangs with the message Detecting IDE Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip] However, by holding down F4, I was able to boot using the floppies boot.flp , kern1.flp , kern2.flp & kern3.flp This detected disk and I selected standard configuration, and the FTP installation all went to plan. I got message saying installation was successful and I added users and set root password. However, when I reboot (without floppies) I still get the message Detecting IDE Primary Master ... [Press F4 to skip] and when I go into BIOS , it still doesn't detect the IDE disk. How do I format disk so BIOS recognises it ? I read something about using DOS fdisk , but I haven't got DOS floppies. Can I format disk using boot or fixit floppies ? Thanks