Date: Mon, 04 Mar 1996 15:51:31 -0800 From: "David M. Bostedo" <dbostedo@vt.edu> To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Message-ID: <313B8203.24B2@vt.edu>
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Recently I have been getting a Missing FIle System error after installing
FreeBSD to a second harddrive(1.2GB). I got several responses one of which
follows:
"The basic problem is that the 'normal' PC BIOS can't get beyond the first
500M of an IDE disk. The BIOS has to be used to load the FreeBSD kernel, and
the kernel could be anywhere on the root filesyste, the whole root
filesystem has to be below the 500M mark.
Normally this means that you want at least the first 40-50M of the
FreeBSD partition below the 500M mark.
That sort of depends, and this is why almost every serious PC Unix person
will _always_ recommend SCSI from the start. (SCSI has none of these
problems)
Let's look at how you're currently set up :
You have two IDE disks, the first of which is full. The second is much
larger, and you want to put FreeBSD on some of it. If you can get away
with repartitioning it, the best solution is to do that, and put FreeBSD at
the beginning of the disk.
DO NOT INSTALL THE BOOT MANAGER IN THIS SITUATION. There's a bug in the
2.1 installer that will overwrite the partition information on the first
disk, which can be a Real Nuisance. Instead, put 'bootinst.exe' and
'boot.bin'
out of the 'tools' directory on a floppy and run it (boot from your
harddisk). Install the bootmanager on _both_ disks.
I presume that you have something like DiskManager installed for accessing
the large disk under DOS; make sure this is installed and configured,
and then use DOS' fdisk to allocate the remainder of the second disk for
DOS usage."
I have since followed the instructions and reinstalled freeBSD but I
still have problems.
1) within the freebsd installation program : If I create a partition at the
very beginning of the drive I get an error that it doesn't start at the
beginning of a sector or something like that, then it tells me it can't
access my swap file.
If I put a small DOS partition (say 10MB) at the beginning of the
drive, I don't get these errors. FreeBSD installs (on a 600MB partition I
created - I didn't use the "set bootable option, though I have tried doing
that) and then I configure a couple of things and reboot. I told it NOT to
install the boot manager. Then when I reboot it shows my POST test screen
then goes to boot. It outputs a number something like 99054234 and then just
stops. If I boot DOS off of a floppy, then run FDISK I see that C:\ is not
active. After setting it active I installed the boot manager off of a floppy
and told it to install to both hard drives. Then when I reboot I get the
prompt:
F1 DOS
F5 DISK2
If I hit F5 I get the same Missing File System error that I have been
getiing for a while now.
Some other info that may help.
I am running Ontrack Disk Manager by Western Digital, Version 6.03C. Its
documentation tells me that in order to run UNIX I can't use the disk
management software. It tells me to enter my CMOS setup and define the size
of the drive as 1024 cyls., 16 heads, 63 sects. I can't change any of that in
my CMOS setup though. I have a non translating BIOS. If I got another Disk
Manager would I be able to install? Do you know where I can get one?
Do I need a new BIOS or CMOS? (by the way, what is a CMOS?)
Thanks for any help,
I really appreciate it,
David M. Bostedo
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