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Date:      Wed, 18 Jun 2003 21:15:40 -0400
From:      Joe Altman <fj@panix.com>
To:        FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   FreeBSD 5.1 Release, WMe, Invalid Partition Error after 5.1 install
Message-ID:  <20030619011540.GA8322@panix.com>

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Greetings, listmembers....if 5.1 Release questions are better on the
list for current, please let me know...I'm not quite sure where the
lines are in this apparently interim period.

I recently performed the following act of Doh:

1) Partitioned a 30 Gig Seagate IDE under dos fdisk, allocating 8 Gig
   to WMe for Unreal Tournament.

2) Installed Me, and the game, configured the necessaries, and voila
   it booted fine.

3) Then, I installed 5.1 in preparation for a complete move to it on
   my main machine. That went fine, and booting was a cinch. I was
   using the FBSD bootloader, F2 for FreeBSD as usual.

4) Trying to use F1 after the FreeBSD install, however, failed with an
   "invalid partition" message. IOW, WMe would not boot. FreeBSD
   continued to boot just fine. The partition was seen by both fdisks.

I've installed the boot loader in 4.3 - 4.8, and never had this
problem. I could go through the steps presented to me in the
sysinstall process, but they appear identical to the last 4.x install
I did, years ago, so I don't know if that is relevant.

Did I miss an announcement about incompatabilities between Mes'
fdisk/partitioning scheme, and FreeBSDs' bootloader, particularly 5.1,
or what....?

I'm quite perplexed; is this somehow related to the new bootloader
stuff referenced here, specifically Section 4:

http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.1R/errata.html

I think that what I am really interested in is whether or not anyone
has ever seen such an error, post-BSD install, where the other OS just
will not boot. Nothing fixes it; wiping the BSD install, nope; fdisk
/mbr, nada. In fact, I can't use the BSD fdisk to delete the
partition...I am presented with an 'unable to write changes' type of
error message, and I am forced to use the dos fdisk, but that still
doesnt' repair whatever was broken. Also, I was always under the
impression that BSD just doesnt' fubar other OSes MBRs. So it must be
something else. But what?

The machine itself is not crucial to my online/work needs, and it is
at this point a test bed for 5.1. But I do need my UTEO, so any help
is appreciated.

-- 
Free the West Memphis Three
http://www.wm3.org/



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