From owner-freebsd-i386@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jan 19 18:00:29 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-i386@hub.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2F1DA16A4CE for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:00:29 -0800 (PST) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (freefall.freebsd.org [216.136.204.21]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B6A2C43D46 for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:00:24 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gnats@FreeBSD.org) Received: from freefall.freebsd.org (gnats@localhost [127.0.0.1]) i0K20OFR024749 for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:00:24 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gnats@freefall.freebsd.org) Received: (from gnats@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.12.10/8.12.10/Submit) id i0K20Oqb024748; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:00:24 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gnats) Resent-Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 18:00:24 -0800 (PST) Resent-Message-Id: <200401200200.i0K20Oqb024748@freefall.freebsd.org> Resent-From: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org (GNATS Filer) Resent-To: freebsd-i386@FreeBSD.org Resent-Reply-To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org, Chris Pepper Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5DEAC16A4CF for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:55:12 -0800 (PST) Received: from www.reppep.com (www.reppep.com [66.92.104.200]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A9F943D39 for ; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 17:55:11 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from pepper@reppep.com) Received: by www.reppep.com (Postfix, from userid 501) id 07251FE82; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 20:56:06 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <20040120015606.07251FE82@www.reppep.com> Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 20:56:06 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Pepper To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org X-Send-Pr-Version: 3.113 Subject: i386/61603: sysinstall: wrong geometry guessed X-BeenThere: freebsd-i386@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Chris Pepper List-Id: I386-specific issues for FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 02:00:29 -0000 >Number: 61603 >Category: i386 >Synopsis: sysinstall: wrong geometry guessed >Confidential: no >Severity: non-critical >Priority: medium >Responsible: freebsd-i386 >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: sw-bug >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Mon Jan 19 18:00:24 PST 2004 >Closed-Date: >Last-Modified: >Originator: Chris Pepper >Release: FreeBSD 4.9-STABLE i386 >Organization: >Environment: System: FreeBSD www.reppep.com 4.9-STABLE FreeBSD 4.9-STABLE #13: Thu Nov 13 23:50:39 EST 2003 root@www.reppep.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/REPPEP i386 >Description: sysinstall under 5.2-RELEASE guessed my geometry wrong. I have a 6gb WinXP partition and a 32gb FreeBSD partition. After upgrading from 4.9-STABLE (including requesting BootEasy), the system failed to boot. I was able to boot from CD and set currdev to load the 5.2 installation, and install BootEasy w/ boot0cfg, but not to get the system booting correctly -- with BootEasy, F2 for FreeBSD just beeped, although the WinXP installation was accessible. sysinstall chose a good geometry for this system from 4.5 through 4.9, but not booting from 5.2 disc 1. sysinstall 5.2 guessed 4865/255/63, which didn't work. fdisk inside 5.2 claimed 77545/16/63. pfdisk suggeted 1023/240/63, which worked for sysinstall when entered manually. Note: http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/4-STABLE/installation/i386/trouble.html #4.2.2 claims sysinstall can determine the geometry from a 'DOS partition' at the beginning of the disk, but that didn't work for me. I will write up another PR for documentation issues associated with this problem. >How-To-Repeat: Install from 5.2-RELEASE CD on an HP Pavilion with 40gb WD disk, accepting sysinstall's (incorrect) geometry. >Fix: Make sysinstall smarter, if possible. Additionally, improve the documentation on disk geometry (next PR). Offer a method for fixing a usable FreeBSD installation without reinstalling. My system was bootable and looked fine, except boot code was missing. Presumably there is a way to install boot code for FreeBSD (for BootEasy to load) without reinstalling from scratch, but I was unable to find it. This is obscure, but would have been useful. >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted: