From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 27 04:51:52 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 603D716A469 for ; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:51:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.192.90]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 210D213C4DB for ; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:51:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) Received: from TEDSDESK (nat-rtr.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.197.130]) by mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with SMTP id m0R4pnCc001451; Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:51:50 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tedm@toybox.placo.com) From: "Ted Mittelstaedt" To: "Nerius Landys" , "Chris Whitehouse" Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:52:57 -0800 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1914 Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <560f92640801261203i419bd27fq69cd96484cef9e05@mail.gmail.com> X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (mail.freebsd-corp-net-guide.com [65.75.192.90]); Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:51:51 -0800 (PST) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: 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: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:51:52 -0000 > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Nerius Landys > Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 12:04 PM > To: Chris Whitehouse > Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > Subject: Re: formatting disk for FreeBSD : Detecting IDE Primary Master > ...[Press F4 to skip] > > > > Some motherboards had an upper limit on hard disk size which I think was > > 32gb. Some drives have a jumper to limit the apparent size to 32gb (if > > that was the size). > > > > Also I no longer have hardware to test this on but if it is a BIOS > > problem I believe if you could put the hard disk in a newer machine for > > the install it would then boot in the older machine as FreeBSD accesses > > the disk directly, not through the BIOS. > > > > When he puts that big hard drive back in the old computer, he > still won't > be able to boot because to boot the BIOS reads the MBR on the > hard disk and > passes control to that program. All BIOS code is written to check for firmware at locations c000:0000 through c789:0000 during bootup - this is where add-in cards like the Promise card that I indicated he should use, have their firmware. When the CPU transfers control to that firmware, it can overwrite BIOS parameters to allow booting to occur off the hard disk on the add-in card. Ted