From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Dec 22 14:55:44 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 42406A4EAB3 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mcdonnjd@pcam.org) Received: from na01-bl2-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-bl2on0115.outbound.protection.outlook.com [65.55.169.115]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "mail.protection.outlook.com", Issuer "MSIT Machine Auth CA 2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id F17601CD4 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mcdonnjd@pcam.org) Received: from BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com (10.141.25.14) by BLUPR07MB323.namprd07.prod.outlook.com (10.141.25.23) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.1.361.13; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:34 +0000 Received: from BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.13.26]) by BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.13.26]) with mapi id 15.01.0361.006; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:34 +0000 From: John McDonnell To: FreeBSD Questions Subject: RE: POS system trashing hard drives during install Thread-Topic: POS system trashing hard drives during install Thread-Index: AdE42/YAUl1Y0GLdSvaQohL1/K9PRAAeH/+AALMoILAAAb3EKQABTfAgACXgJxA= Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:34 +0000 Message-ID: References: , In-Reply-To: Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: authentication-results: spf=none (sender IP is ) smtp.mailfrom=mcdonnjd@pcam.org; x-originating-ip: [68.234.51.1] x-microsoft-exchange-diagnostics: 1; BLUPR07MB323; 5:tcdvKOoCUkjKLdgNYq+011OCD6JvGDCZkdPf1qOKrNEKGwa/lV4tMq+CPGyyABzZ3VPYZubQdTVBi/utDwn4TtOrOYQ4uuTPJW1hN2SPMiI1PQFWWjr11Z3cEZPoi6fK3rpSeXRIMOcpwbL7EIv+oQ==; 24:A1e4QfdUb73TlAlSE+bbIiTDdJ6rLG2p/6nvBJSPH0EXeydZQHPKd6Btm3qDx7Ee70jjCuk9RCaJ2yhIR/2MC9yTwvthgfdUo6YkkJdKj6w=; 20:8rXIROb41UGpjM03dZnILhxmOXFWYmKOVVLcFT/7cHPfI0UFUytG01FlYtktUmjjNlKlJUghjUKuVsUywlIlfvxMLzBk6lY1oHEV73VOMJ4akSCNH/YMg+M87ZC207ZQdpoUSqX1MyUSDlCgk9iLl32wmNGiccBTv8G2oGGiNRI= x-microsoft-antispam: UriScan:;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:;SRVR:BLUPR07MB323; x-microsoft-antispam-prvs: x-exchange-antispam-report-test: UriScan:(192713067249063); x-exchange-antispam-report-cfa-test: BCL:0; PCL:0; RULEID:(601004)(2401047)(8121501046)(520078)(5005006)(3002001)(10201501046); SRVR:BLUPR07MB323; BCL:0; PCL:0; RULEID:; SRVR:BLUPR07MB323; x-forefront-prvs: 0798146F16 x-forefront-antispam-report: SFV:NSPM; SFS:(10019020)(6009001)(199003)(189002)(81156007)(105586002)(2900100001)(86362001)(50986999)(107886002)(6116002)(450100001)(40100003)(586003)(110136002)(2950100001)(102836003)(5008740100001)(76576001)(92566002)(1220700001)(5001960100002)(97736004)(11100500001)(5004730100002)(3846002)(101416001)(122556002)(93886004)(1096002)(76176999)(189998001)(10400500002)(66066001)(99286002)(19580405001)(19580395003)(106356001)(54356999)(5002640100001)(5003600100002)(87936001)(74316001)(33656002); DIR:OUT; SFP:1102; SCL:1; SRVR:BLUPR07MB323; H:BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com; FPR:; SPF:None; PTR:InfoNoRecords; A:0; MX:1; LANG:en; received-spf: None (protection.outlook.com: pcam.org does not designate permitted sender hosts) spamdiagnosticoutput: 1:23 spamdiagnosticmetadata: NSPM Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 X-OriginatorOrg: pcam.org X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-originalarrivaltime: 22 Dec 2015 14:55:34.3005 (UTC) X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-fromentityheader: Hosted X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-id: 4d0a72ee-ba26-46d5-8bbe-6430f01b636a X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: BLUPR07MB323 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:44 -0000 I just downloaded and booted from the NetBSD install disk and was presented= with a screen I haven't seen in FreeBSD in some time. NetBSD was unable to= match my hard drive to one detected by the BIOS. I remember when pretty mu= ch every install of FreeBSD would prompt me with that message about the rep= orted geometry not matching. I can't recall why the prompt no longer shows = up in FreeBSD, but perhaps it could be behind the issues I'm having? For comparision, here is what I have found about the geometry: NetBSD reports: Cylinders: 1023 Heads: 255 Sectors: 63 The BIOS by default is set to autodetect the mode for the hard drive and re= ports these settings: Cylinders: 19158 Heads: 16 Sectors: 255 Capacity: 40022MB Changing to CHS mode gives the same results. Changing to LBA mode reports: Cylinders: 4865 Heads: 255 Sectors: 63 Capacity: 40018 MB And last, changing to LARGE reports: Cylinders: 1277 Heads: 240 Sectors: 155 Capacity: 40016 MB Obviously none of these match what NetBSD is reporting. I then told the sys= tem to accept NetBSD's recommendation of the geometry for the hard drive an= d did an install. Upon reboot, I had no issues and booted right into NetBSD= . So it seems that NetBSD, Linux and Windows all have no issues on this mac= hine but whatever FreeBSD is doing with hard drives is the issue. While NetBSD or Linux are suitable solutions, I really would prefer FreeBSD= . Does anyone have any insight into what to try next? I don't mind doing a = completely manual install from the shell if needed, though it has been a wh= ile since I've done that. I usually use the installer for as much as possib= le to simplify the process and only drop to a shell for possibly hard drive= set up and tossing some things into /boot/loader.conf when finished. Thank you once again for your time. --=20 John McDonnell mcdonnjd@pcam.org