Date: Mon, 23 Oct 95 12:08:38 EDT From: lmcerpr@lmc.ericsson.se (Eric Primeau) To: questions@freebsd.org Cc: lmcerpr@lmc.ericsson.se Subject: Missing operating system Message-ID: <9510231608.AA00904@egg.lmc.ericsson.se>
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Hi,
Congratulations on a sensational product! It would even be
better if....I could get it to run on my system.
PLEASE HELP ME!!
I am facing the famous "Missing operating system" problem.
I tried installing FreeBSD 2.0.5 on my 486 PC, but it appears
that I cannot boot from the hard disk.
I MUST BE REAL CLOSE.
After reading every possible FAQ file on the problem, I must have
tried at least 10 installation/partition variations, so I call to you
as a last resort.
-----------------------
Before FreeBSD, in my very typical DOS/Windows PC setup,
I would boot DOS off my disk C: (170Mb IDE drive).
Then I bought a 1Gb IDE disk and split it into two partitions: 400Mb intended for FreeBSD
and 600Mb for DOS (defined as primary DOS). (I put the FBSD partition lower because of a note
I read somewhere about a possible problem with this.) NOTE: DOS sees this 600Mb partition
as drive D:.
Because my IDE CDROM isnt supported by FreeBSD 2.0.5,
I copied the DISTS files unto the D: disk (600Mb DOS partition).
Next I start the FreeBSD installation and instruct it as follows:
disk 0 (C:)
mounted as /cdisk
disk 1
400Mb FreeBSD partition split into /wds3a 50Mb / (root mountpoint)
/wds3b 30Mb swap
/wds3e 320Mb /usr
600Mb mounted as /ddisk
NOTE: I set the geometry of my drive according to the specification written on it
e.g. 2112/16/63. The root partition is set to be bootable ("A" appears in fdisk).
I perform a "Minimal" installation from Media="DOS partition" and it seems to succeed
with no error messages. NOTE: I choose the "Boot Manager" option.
When all is finished and I reboot, the boot manager prompts me for:
F1 DOS F5 disk 2
If I choose F1, DOS boots OK.
If I choose F5, I get "Missing operating system" and the system hangs.
-------------------------------
Variations:
At one point I got desperate. I tried installing with the "Standard MBR" instead of
with the Boot Manager. After the installation I rebooted and got the message
(something like) "NO ROM SYSTEM HALTED" with system hang.
I figured the MBR had been wiped out somehow.
I rebooted and reinstalled with the Boot Manager; this time DOS can boot on F1
but "Missing operating system" still appears when booting on disk 2.
-------------------------------
Now there are a few things I dont understand.
1) Where does the boot manager reside? On disk 0 (e.g. my 170Mb DOS C: drive)? Or on disk 1 (1Gb) ?
2) Why cant the boot manager boot from the 1Gb drive?
Must I make a small FreeBSD partition on disk C:?
3) What's the problem with the geometry? Initially, fdisk states "528/64/63"
and I have to change it to "2112/16/63" (when you add it up it's the same thing, no?).
What does the geometry have to do with boot ?
4) Two of my colleagues have FreeBSD but they have dedicated disks.
In my case I dont want to use the whole 1Gb drive just for FreeBSD.
Is it possible to get DOS and FreeBSD to co-exist on my disk?
-------------------------------
THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR TIME AND COOPERATION!
/Eric (a desperate would-be-home-user-of-unix)
========================================================
Eric PRIMEAU lmcerpr@lmc.ericsson.se
Software Engineer (514) 738-8300 x2371
Ericsson Research Inc. Montreal (Qc) Canada
========================================================
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