Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 12:40:08 -0500 From: craigh@bugsoft.com (Craig A. Heilman) To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: PANIC: Cannot mount root Message-ID: <v02130506adb52bdd2da5@[205.213.64.30]>
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Hi all,
I'm also having a slight problem getting the default boot sequence (using
BootEasy) to work properly. I believe it is directly related to this
topic.
System Info
-----------
Magitronic 486DX2-80 (GA-486VS motherboard), 16MB RAM
520MB IDE hard drive (504MB formatted - all DOS, BootEasy installed)
Adaptec AHA-1542CP SCSI controller
Conner 1.08 GB SCSI hard drive (CFP1080S), SCSI ID: 0
(20MB DOS partition on sd0s1, remaining is FreeBSD on sd0s2)
Boot Sequence 1 Boot Sequence 2
--------------- ---------------
F1...dos F1...dos
F5...disk 2 F5...disk 2
Default: F5 Default: F5
F1...dos F1...dos
F2...BSD F2...BSD
F5...disk1 F5...disk1
Default: F2 Default: F2
Boot: Boot:hd(1,a)/kernel
Booting sd(1,a)/kernel 0x100000 Booting sd(0,a)/kernel 0x100000
... ...
changing root device to sd1a successful boot
panic: cannot mount root
As you can see, if I enter hd(1,a)/kernel at the Boot prompt, it finds the
correct root partition, but if I let it default, it incorrectly attempts to
use sd1a as the root partition. What is the EASIEST way to fix this so it
defaults to the proper partition?
Here's what I tried that DID NOT work:
- changed DOS partition on sd0s1 from primary to extended
- deleted DOS partition on sd0s1 (but didn't reinstall FreeBSD)
In a prior related message (Subject: Re: PANIC: Cannot mount root):
At 09:49 05/05/96, Michael Smith wrote:
>Jeff Genender stands accused of saying:
>>
>> The problem is, I can install FreeBSD without any problem. I then go to
>> boot (with the floppy) and type in sd(1,a)/kernel (for the second drive)
>> and it does nothing. I then type in sd(2,a)/kernel and it begins to
>> boot and I then get the famous 'PANIC: Cannot mount root'. I have tried
>
>The BIOS drive numbers and SCSI minor numbers are out of sync.
>This is addressed in newer bootblocks, but you should be able to boot
>hd(1,a)/kernel without any problems.
>
>If this works, look in /usr/src/sys/i386/boot/biosboot and modify the
>Makefile and boot.c to default to this.
Anyone have step-by-step instructions on how to do this? Is this the
easiest way to fix this?
In another related message (Subject: Re: PANIC: Cannot mount root):
Terry Lambert said:
>You are tying to boot off a drive not in the BIOS boot chain, since
>I assume your IDE is your boot device.
>You can use the NT boot loader to load the BSD boot blocks (recently
>posted to comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc, and posted rather regularly to
>this [-questions] list).
>
>But you will have to modify the BSD boot code, which only recognizes
>the first and second bootable devices (definitely *not* your second
>SCSI drive on your secondary disk controller).
>
>Basically, you need to either recompile with a different "root on sd1a"
>or hack the sys/i386/machdep.c boot device designation.
Any step-by-step instructions on this procedure? Which procedure is
easiest - modify boot.c or machdep.c?
Thanks much,
Craig
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Craig A. Heilman Bugaboo Software *
* craigh@bugsoft.com Software Engineering & Consulting *
* (608) 274-2003 http://www.bugsoft.com/ *
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