From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jun 30 14:42:29 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F1E016A41C for ; Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:42:29 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from oberman@es.net) Received: from postal1.es.net (postal1.es.net [198.128.3.205]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E83A443D4C for ; Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:42:28 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from oberman@es.net) Received: from ptavv.es.net ([198.128.4.29]) by postal1.es.net (Postal Node 1) with ESMTP (SSL) id IBA74465; Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:42:27 -0700 Received: from ptavv (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ptavv.es.net (Tachyon Server) with ESMTP id E47385D07; Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:42:26 -0700 (PDT) To: Axel Steiner In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 30 Jun 2005 10:59:12 +0200." <20050630085912.GE19617@chronix.treibsand.com> Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 07:42:26 -0700 From: "Kevin Oberman" Message-Id: <20050630144226.E47385D07@ptavv.es.net> Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: JVC MP-XP7210 Missing Operating System X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:42:29 -0000 > Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 10:59:12 +0200 > From: Axel Steiner > > Hi, > > > A problem with the boot block is the most likely thing. > > > > I assume that there were no errors during the install, but there is > > little information on it, either, which leaves almost nothing to go on. > > > > You should boot up the installation CD and run the live OS. You should > > be able to look at the slices and partitions on your disk to see if they > > are OK. ('fdisk ad0' and 'bsdlabel ad0') if FreeBSD is the only system > > on the disk, you can also use the system to write a boot block to the > > disk, (boot0cfg -B ad0) > > The problem is, that I can't boot from CD. This notebook has no CD-ROM, > I installed FreeBSD with USB-Floppy. An installation of 4.11 worked fine, > 4.11 has detected the same geometry. Then I did an upgrade to 5.4. Now it > works. I think 5.4 did not write correct boot blocks on my disk. Next time, > when I expect this problem I give boot0cfg a try. No CD? Ouch. That does make things a bit difficult. Which sysinstall options did you use? Any of them should have asked you about installing an MBR. If you have only FreeBSD on the disk, I'd suggest just using the standard MBR and not the FreeBSD MBR. You can also install a standard MBR with a DOS disk or get a FIXIT floppy and use that to get a slim version of FreeBSD up so that you can try to track down the problem. It will include boot0cfg. Or just use the floppies to bring up sysinstall and select "Configure". Than you can select "Fdisk" to verify the slices. Make sure that the FreeBSD slice is flagged as bootable. If not, you have the option of setting it. When you select the "Write changes" option, it will put up a warning about sysinstall normally not wanting you to do a write, but you will not be re-installing the OS, so you can write it. When you exist Fdisk, you will get a request to define the MBR. If you will have multiple OSes on the system, you probably want "BootMgr". If FreeBSD is the only OS, select "Standard". Then select "Label" to look at the partition table. This will only list named and sizes, but it is something to check on. Unless you modify the slices or partitions, these operations will not cause the loss of any of the OS files on the disk. Neither will setting the slice to bootable. -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634