Date: Tue, 18 Jun 1996 17:16:15 -0400 (EDT) From: townsend@INTER8.interactive8.com To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: problems w/ ahc + Micropolis 1991 9 gig Message-ID: <199606182116.RAA04182@inter8.interactive8.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
This is a followup to my own question for the benefit
of any Micropolis owners out there. Apologies to
the list for noise.
>Hi -
>
>I'm having some problems getting a Micropolis 1991 drive
>working w/ the ahc driver w/ an adaptec 2840 vlb
>controller. I can (apparently) label the drive but I
>get numerous medium errors followed by a bus timeout when
>I try to newfs the drive. I suspect that I have bogus disktab
>information.
This problem was solved by:
1. low level formatting the drive
(I had done this originally, to no avail,
not sure what't happening there)
2. running the adaptec controller's "Verify Disk Media"
to the end (also done at the original install, but
I suspect my numerous flailings w/ disklabel
corrupted something)
3. Disconnecting the two internal IDE drives, leaving only
the SCSI drive in question, booting w. an install disk,
proceeding as w/ a new install, but setting the disk
geometry to:
1 cylinder
1 head
1 sector
This got the install process through the disklabel and
newfs steps w/ no problem, and I then aborted the
installation, reconnected the IDE drives, and mounted
the new partition at /var/spool/news, and my news
server was back...
I found this *terribly* frustrating and the documentation
abominable -- (btw, where the hell is format(8) anyway and
why do I have a man page for it?) -- I would like
very much to assist w/ installation documentation to
help others avoid the trouble I had.
I would also greatly appreciate any insight anybody may have
as to why the 1/1/1 bogus geometry worked. I suspect it
has to do w/ the drive's variable geometry (as on most
new large SCSI's...) and FreeBSD trying to impose its
somewhat outdated fixed-geometry on a drive that can take
care of itself...but that's mere speculation on my part.
Thanks,
Chris
townsend@interactive8.com
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199606182116.RAA04182>