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Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 09:41:55 -0500
To: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>, questions@freebsd.org
From: "Tim M. Kelley" <tkelley@cy.com>
Subject: Re: Another Failed to boot problem
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At 07:30 PM 1/16/96 +1030, you wrote:
>> > However, when I reboot my PC, I get the prompt from the boot manager to
>> > press F1 for DOS, or F5 for Disk 2. F1 boots DOS with no problems. However,
>> > F5 just causes the boot manager prompt to be redisplayed. In other words, I
>> > can't boot the installed FreeBSD.
>
>Works here just fine.  Some questions :  
>
>- When you hit F5 the first time and get the bootmanager menu again, do
>  you have the default value listed as 'F?' (ie. with the ? mark?)
>- Is there a partition marked as 'active' on the second disk?  If there
>  isn't (ie. you forgot to mark it active in the installer) then you
>  won't be able to boot it easily.  The OS-BS bootmanager (also on the 
>  CDrom) will overcome this, and works very well.
>

Some answers and more questions:
- When I hit F5 the first time, the bootmanager displays the default value
of 'F?'.  Does this indicate that there is no active partition on the second
disk?
- I don't specifically recall marking a partition on the second disk as
active. I chose the "all of disk" option in the novice install. I then
partitioned the disk into /, swap, /var, and /usr. Is it the / partition
that should be set as active? Can I do this without having to go back and
reinstall everything?

Thanks for your help,
Tim Kelley