From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Nov 10 14:06:39 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id OAA03152 for questions-outgoing; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 14:06:39 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions) Received: from Bayou.UH.EDU (jef53313@Bayou.UH.EDU [129.7.1.7]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id OAA03141 for ; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 14:06:35 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from jef53313@Bayou.UH.EDU) Received: from localhost (jef53313@localhost) by Bayou.UH.EDU (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id QAA30552; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 16:06:22 -0600 (CST) Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 16:06:22 -0600 (CST) From: Jonathan Fosburgh To: Jeffrey VanderWal cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Uninstalling In-Reply-To: <01bcedba$48ab0a00$0e77e4cf@jvande.cadvision.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > I am a system administrator at a school that has a server that once had > FreeBSD on it. Since our last administrator refused to part with his login > password etc, we have formatted the HD and are attempting to install new > hardware in the machine. Unfortunately, we cannot seem to boot the machine > any longer. I realize that FreeBSD uses "unique" boot MBRs. How do I > completely uninstall it? I have unplugged all extra cards in our server, > unplugged the hard drive and only the FDD remains. I have attempted to > clear the CMOS, but the system still refuses to boot past the system config > screen. Is this a hardware problem or did FreeBSD encode the Bios to look > at a different MBR in the FDD too? Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks. > Please tell me I am reading this wrong or you chose your wording poorly, but you formatted the hard drive? This is, certainly as far as I have ever heard, a big no-no. FIrst of all, why could you not log in as root and newpasswd the account (can be done with the -s option at boot if you dont know it) and set it to nologin? As to formatting the hard drive, well ... I have no idea what, if anything can be done. Jonathan Fosburgh, wotan@scientist.com , University of Houston Geophysics http://www.geocities.com/vienna/1498 FreeBSD: Turning PCs into Workstations http://www.freebsd.org ******************************************************************************* We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of our exploring shall be to arrive Where we started from, and know the place for the first time. --T.S. Eliot, The Four Quartets *******************************************************************************