Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 21:32:35 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Pepper <pepper@reppep.com> To: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org Subject: docs/61605: Improve documentation for i386 disk geometry Message-ID: <20040120023235.088F3FE2D@www.reppep.com> Resent-Message-ID: <200401200240.i0K2eGSb031754@freefall.freebsd.org>
index | next in thread | raw e-mail
>Number: 61605 >Category: docs >Synopsis: Improve documentation for i386 disk geometry >Confidential: no >Severity: serious >Priority: medium >Responsible: freebsd-doc >State: open >Quarter: >Keywords: >Date-Required: >Class: doc-bug >Submitter-Id: current-users >Arrival-Date: Mon Jan 19 18:40:16 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: Documentation for disk geometry (i386) is lacking. As described in i386/61603, sysinstall doesn't always come up with a usable disk geometry. The Handbook documentation on sysinstall is a bit sparse. It should mention that geometry may be guessed wrong, \\tools\\pfdisk.exe on the CD-ROM can be used to pick up workable geometry numbers from within a working DOS environment (but not a normally-running Windows XP, which won't allow the necessary device access -- boot floppy created in XP works, though). http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/4-STABLE/installation/i386/trouble.html #4.2.2 claims sysinstall will figure out geometry from a preexisting DOS partition, but this didn't work for me -- perhaps because my DOS partition started at sector #63?? I was able to boot FreeBSD from the 5.2 CD-ROM, after installing with sysinstall's bad geometry values. It seems it should be possible to install FreeBSD boot blocks at this point, without running through the whole sysinstall process, but I was unable to find any pointers to how to do so. I checked the FAQ (which says to reinstall from scratch), and the manual pages for fdisk, sysinstall, boot0cfg, and disklabel (4.9) -- is "bsdlabel -B ad0s2" the right way to go?? >How-To-Repeat: Search www.freebsd.org for "sysinstall geometry" seeking information on getting a 5.2 system to bootstrap correctly. Bang head -- do not damage desk. >Fix: Mention sysinstall's good but imperfect geometry guessing in Handbook (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install-pre.html 2.2.3) & FAQ (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/install.html#GEOMETRY). Suggest disklabel/bsdlabel in Handbook & FAQ & http://www.freebsd.org/relnotes/4-STABLE/installation/i386/trouble.html (4.2.2) for fixing non-bootable systems installed with incorrect geometry. Add bsdlabel/disklabel to SEE ALSO under boot0cfg. >Release-Note: >Audit-Trail: >Unformatted:help
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20040120023235.088F3FE2D>