From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Dec 22 20:01:44 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 57736A4E135 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:01:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mcdonnjd@pcam.org) Received: from na01-bl2-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-bl2on0114.outbound.protection.outlook.com [65.55.169.114]) (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 1389D1A25 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:01:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mcdonnjd@pcam.org) Received: from BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com (10.141.25.14) by BLUPR07MB324.namprd07.prod.outlook.com (10.141.25.24) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.1.361.13; Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:01:33 +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 20:01:34 +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/+AALMoILAAAb3EKQABTfAgACXgJxAACzEqAAAAO67A Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2015 20:01:33 +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; BLUPR07MB324; 5:obzywNv7SGpQaRLti+BERmDY2i0a2ktxEobKpJfgRaofhUFDLiG8AGqgW6jR1mQhy7nV8/HEKVOakKRLqSDIUa/NqN89mQK07kxm9FNHYCmLawE9G9UaHLz1ZThQSfm9/9BjaLQiqgE4riEMDwIS3A==; 24:6U4YiyiRDMGEINOHIOPZQqL1t3ifK41kU0V4FIGQLEr57p5c2D9YHBuHsSRZ5ukEaHwhrNVbsGph4PtpfU+AodRrWFDlCksK6SSu+gSI7lY=; 20:ZOuMmps2CTxFmy0uuh/lty8qs+zIunZDfAi0P7gy8V6UBuJpySvl9uA3KAOqFmnrB5x40+3YXDvbHSkO6h6muBrO1C6E92h3T0SRlZNImIXpfq0LVwfInj1tGi3rHYIAZskEYYatLPY8EbWLltw8QXDoRma0L3eykPkb6U/o71g= x-microsoft-antispam: UriScan:;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:;SRVR:BLUPR07MB324; 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:BLUPR07MB324; BCL:0; PCL:0; RULEID:; SRVR:BLUPR07MB324; x-forefront-prvs: 0798146F16 x-forefront-antispam-report: SFV:NSPM; SFS:(10019020)(6009001)(24454002)(189002)(199003)(86362001)(5004730100002)(5001960100002)(450100001)(5002640100001)(2900100001)(19580405001)(99286002)(76576001)(105586002)(76176999)(189998001)(5003600100002)(2950100001)(106356001)(92566002)(107886002)(81156007)(50986999)(19580395003)(10400500002)(97736004)(40100003)(66066001)(3846002)(110136002)(87936001)(74316001)(1220700001)(6116002)(33656002)(101416001)(586003)(54356999)(102836003)(1096002)(5008740100001)(93886004)(122556002); DIR:OUT; SFP:1102; SCL:1; SRVR:BLUPR07MB324; H:BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com; FPR:; SPF:None; PTR:InfoNoRecords; MX:1; A:0; 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 20:01:33.9599 (UTC) X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-fromentityheader: Hosted X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-id: 4d0a72ee-ba26-46d5-8bbe-6430f01b636a X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: BLUPR07MB324 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 20:01:44 -0000 > From: Warren Block > On Tue, 22 Dec 2015, John McDonnell wrote: >=20 > > 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 wa= s > unable to match my hard drive to one detected by the BIOS. I remember > when pretty much every install of FreeBSD would prompt me with that > message about the reported 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 an= d > reports these settings: > > Cylinders: 19158 > > Heads: 16 > > Sectors: 255 >=20 > None of this has really mattered since drives became larger than... I wan= t to > say 4G. The MBR spec said that partitions had to be specified in round C= HS > numbers, but that also is meaningless any more. Although gpart enforces > that for compatibility, but it is rare that a BIOS cares. It seems that the BIOS on these machines is one of those rare cases where i= t cares. While I'm not sure what gparted reports the drive as after doing t= he FreeBSD install as I didn't make note of it other than just checking tha= t the sector size was 63. But with the BIOS at least set to LBA mode for th= e hard drive, even if it differs from what the BIOS reports, it is compatib= le enough that the computer doesn't lock up and does boot. > If an MBR partition layout created by bsdinstall does not work, I would c= lone > the original drive partitioning with gpart (backup and restore). > Then install FreeBSD bootcode and format the first partition with UFS. > Then try to get bsdinstall to see that partition and install to it. I'm not sure if the partitioning in bsdinstall is working or not as I usual= ly end up using your guide on setting up hard drives for FreeBSD. So once again, thank you for to everyone for your time. And a special thank= you to Warren for your guides. I've used several of them over the years an= d often refer back to them when looking something up. It also helps that yo= ur domain name is somewhat easy to remember. --=20 John McDonnell mcdonnjd@pcam.org