From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 8 16:22:01 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1795316A4CE for ; Mon, 8 Dec 2003 16:22:01 -0800 (PST) Received: from HostMaster.hostingbay.net (hostingbay.net [66.135.33.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D583043D13 for ; Mon, 8 Dec 2003 16:21:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from k1x@HostMaster.hostingbay.net) Received: from k1x by HostMaster.hostingbay.net with local (Exim 4.24) id 1ATVdd-0001pa-EW; Tue, 09 Dec 2003 11:22:05 +1100 Received: from elkanah.its.unimelb.edu.au ([128.250.18.41]) (SquirrelMail authenticated user k1x) by www.k1x.org with HTTP; Tue, 9 Dec 2003 11:22:05 +1100 (EST) Message-ID: <.128.250.18.41.1070929325.squirrel@www.k1x.org> In-Reply-To: <006201c3bde9$11eb2a80$f4f0a8c0@pcmedx.com> References: <.128.250.18.41.1070927212.squirrel@www.k1x.org> <006201c3bde9$11eb2a80$f4f0a8c0@pcmedx.com> Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 11:22:05 +1100 (EST) From: "Frederick Bowes" To: "Mike Maltese" User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 X-Priority: 3 Importance: Normal X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - HostMaster.hostingbay.net X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [590 32089] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - HostMaster.hostingbay.net cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org cc: Frederick Bowes Subject: Re: Hard drive geometry headache (slightly off topic) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 00:22:01 -0000 >> Now I had to move it to a new computer in which the bios >> detects a certian geometry, but then the system wont boot. >> No matter what I do now, i cant get the system to boot off >> the disk, i have even tried eraseing it with fdisk (freebsd >> and dos versions). Does anyone know how I can save it? >> I have tried everything and dont know where else to ask. > Check to see that the BIOS is using the same addressing mode as the old > board. I had a somewhat similar problem and it turned out the BIOS was in > Large mode. Switching to LBA solved the problem. Also, if you've fdisk'ed > the drive, chances are you've hosed the installations. I stopped caring about the data on the disk (which is backed up, so just an inconvenience. I have tried setting LBA/Large/CHS and booting and installing freebsd. Under each type, fdisk always reports that the geometry is incorect. Each time the install works fine but then when trying to boot, it cant read the hard disk! I am guessing freebsd works out the correct drive geometry, but the bios is not! Interestingly though, when set to LBA, the head/cyl/sector count is equal to what the freebsd fdisk detects it to be. (This is a new motherboard which works when booting/installing FreeBSD on an old 2G hd i have lying around) the problem is only with the 80G drive Fred