Date: Tue, 02 Sep 2003 03:59:48 +0100 From: Robert Downes <nullentropy@lineone.net> To: freebsd-bugs@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD 5.0 hard disk geometry problem at install Message-ID: <3F5407A4.9050004@lineone.net>
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I am attempting to install FreeBSD 5.0 (from a CD supplied with FreeBSD Unleashed, second edition - good book) onto my P4 system. The first drive is a 40Gb Fujitsu ATA-100 which Windows XP Pro is sitting on. The second disk is a 14Gb Western Digital ATA-66 which I intend to devote to FreeBSD if it ever wants to accept me as a host. However, Sysinstall says the probed reading of the geometry of ad0 is obviously wrong and sets it to something else. When I set it to what my BIOS says [19623/16/255], it tells me this is obviously wrong too. When I tell it what pfdisk reports it as [4981/254/63], sysinstall is happy with the values and carries on. The installation seems to go fine, but when I try to boot my machine, Boot Manager offers me: F1: ?? F5: disk 1 If I hit F5 I am offered F1: disk 0 F5: freebsd I hit F5 and then get a boot: prompt from FreeBSD telling me that /boot/loader and /kernel are not available. Sometimes a bad install like this will kill XP's ability to load properly. I got right up to the login screen before XP froze, the first time. But booting the XP installation CD and running fixmbr (?) to reset the MBR, then going all through the install seems to restore XP without loss of personal files. Other times, selecting ?? at the Boot Manager will allow Windows XP to run perfectly fine. (I'm doing so now.) So I don't know what to try next. I even swapped the IDE cables around in my box because originally the HDDs were on the secondary channel, but I still get the same problem, so that cannot have been the cause. Any suggestions? I've already ordered new hardware to dedicate to FreeBSD, and I'm dreading getting the same problem there. --- Bob
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