From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 3 14:06:07 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5F35A16A4CE for ; Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:07 -0800 (PST) Received: from deerite.fhcrc.org (deerite.fhcrc.org [140.107.52.11]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 38B7D43D3F for ; Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:07 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jgoodlea@fhcrc.org) Received: from e500a.fhcrc.org (e500a.fhcrc.org [140.107.42.21]) i23M66Mh001591 for ; Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:06 -0800 Received: from jarlite.fhcrc.org(140.107.42.11) by e500a.fhcrc.org via csmap id 7521; Wed, 03 Mar 2004 14:05:16 -0800 (PST) Received: from shemp.fhcrc.org (shemp.fhcrc.org [140.107.42.41]) i23M66nU019031 for ; Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:06 -0800 Received: by shemp.fhcrc.org with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) id ; Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:04 -0800 Message-ID: From: "Goodleaf, John M" To: "'freebsd-questions@freebsd.org'" Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 14:06:04 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2657.72) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-FHCRC: INTERNAL X-PMX-Version: 4.5.0.90627, Antispam-Core: 4.0.4.92622, Antispam-Data: 2004.3.3.93359 Subject: disk geometry issues during sysinstall of 5.2.1 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 22:06:07 -0000 Hello, I have a fairly new test machine configured on an Intel 875 (yes, the ICH5 controller) board. I have a standard ATA-133 drive and two SATA drives, Maxtor 80GB. They are not configured as a RAID device. Here's the thing: When I try to install FBSD, I get the apparently common disk geometry problem warnings for each drive (with the Boot Mgr MBR setting, and yes, including the parallel ATA drive). It instructs me to enter correct geometry, as reported by the BIOS. But the BIOS on this board doesn't report a geometry. I've scoured those stupid BIOS screens and haven't found anything, nor has a search of the product manual. How do I get the "correct" BIOS settings? Also, does it really matter? I've poked around the web and it seems like a lot of folks have encountered this and simply chosen to ignore it. Certainly there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer out there that I've seen. "Turn on LBA" isn't really an issue for the still-bleeding 875PBZ. In the 5-CURRENT installation that currently exists on the machineI regularly get crashes and kernel panics that are disk-related (I don't have those error messages handy; I'm not expecting anyone to divine the answer?). Moreover, I have gotten two hangs during installation using the 5.2.1 bootonly iso. I don't really know why as it's a true hang--no error messages--but it occurs shortly after filesystems are written and distro extraction begins. My working hypothesis is that my PITA ICH5 controllers are fighting FBSD's (new) twitchy SATA code. I dunno. Whaddaya think? -J