Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 17:58:13 +0300 From: =?iso-8859-7?B?1/Hf8/Tv8iDF9eHj493r7/UgKENocmlzdG9zIEV2YWdnZWxvdSk=?= <christos.e@cytanet.com.cy> To: "FreeBSD questions" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Freeze while trying to write partition information Message-ID: <004a01bff648$e6a34080$7d920ec3@johnsmit>
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I'm trying to install FreeBSD 4.0 but I have a problem. I will try to feed
you with as much information as
possible so that you can find out what the problem is.
I'm also attaching a couple of textfiles which contain my
BIOS settings and notes any other variations I unsuccesfully tried
some kernel messages and some other BIOS messages I get on startup.
QUICK DESCRIPTION
==================
After doing all the partition selections, label selections and package
selections,
when the installation program tries to writes to the partition table the
system freezes
after the following message appears a couple of times (in virtual screen 2
with DEBUG on).
(I don't remember exactly the second line, it says something similar, but
I'm 100% sure about the "ad0" part).
DEBUG: diskPartitionWrite: Examining 1 devices
DEBUG: Notify: Writting partition information to drive ad0 (or
something similar)
ad0: WRITE command timeout - resetting
ata0: resettings devices .. done
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
=====================
(I'm also attaching a couple of textfiles which contain my)
(BIOS settings and notes any other variations I unsuccesfully tried)
(some kernel messages and some other BIOS messages I get on startup)
1. I downloaded the floppy disk installation images, wrote them on
two disks,
verified that they were correctly written, write-protected the disks and
used them to
boot the the FreeBSD kernel. The kernel boots just fine.
2. I choose the second option from the installation menu and the
UserConfig runs.
3. I remove all the networking devices (I don't have any) and all
conflicts are resolved now
and continue to the next screen.
(4. Sometimes while probing, the system freezes (when I press a key I
am advanced to
the next screen) - this is not the problem anyway)
5. I have partitioned my hard disk to two parts. The active primary
partition which is
3500MB is FAT32 and used by Windows 98. The other partition is 600MB FAT32
and it is
the one I will have FreeBSD installed on. When fdisk shows the partition
information, I
go over the second partition, I press DELETE to remove it and then I create
a new one
of type FreeBSD at the place of the previous one. Please note that I have
tried to use a smaller
partition size (250MB) instead of 600MB at the BEGINNING of the disk (so
that it falls within the
first 1024 cylinders) however the problem remains.
6. At this point I get a warning about "only one fat can be used
whole" or something similar, but I ignore it.
7. I choose to install the boot manager (note that I've also tried it
without installing the boot manager).
8. Then I use the label utility to create mount points etc. I always
use the Auto option.
9. The I select installation packages (I use custom)
10. I choose media DOS, and I point to my other FAT32 partition onto
which I have a directory
c:\freebsd\bin with the basic minimal installation modules. Note that I've
tried converting my FAT32 partition
to normal FAT (with PartitionMagic) however this does not resolve the
problem.
So far so good.
11. A confirmation prompt follows warning me that data may be erased etc
etc.
12. I press Yes and the installation prog. shows a message box
"Writting partition table on ad0" (or something similar)
AND THIS IS WHERE IT FREEZES !!!!
In virtual screen 2 (with Alt-F2) it says:
DEBUG: diskPartitionWrite: Examining 1 devices
DEBUG: Notify: Writting partition information to drive ad0 (or
something similar)
ad0: WRITE command timeout - resetting
ata0: resettings devices .. done
It may loop the last two lines a couple of times, and that's it. The system
hangs for good!
There's nothing I can do but press the Reset button.
Please note that sometimes the second partition onto which I instructed
FreeBSD to be installed
is corrupted. I know that because when I get into PartitionMagic to examin
the partitions
the volume label of the partition is rubbished and it says something about
partition error etc.
I am a computer science student at the University, and I want to get in
touch with
FreeBSD and Linux because I consider it a necessity, so plz HELP!
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A selective description follows of what BIOS and DOS report.
=====================================================================
BIOS reports (in the box it displays on startup) the following:
=====================================================================
Primary Master:
Cylinders: 8354 Heads: 16 Sectors: 63
LBA Mode: LBA 32bit mode: ON Block mode: 16Sec
Size: 4312MB PIO mode: 4 UDMA mode: 2
Primary Slave: None
Secondary Master: CDROM PIO mode: 4 UDMA mode: N/A
Secondary Slave: CDROM PIO moed: 4 UDMA mode: 2
====================================
And in the [PCI Devices] section:
====================================
PCI on board IDE, IRQ 14,15
==================================================
However, when I run Norton Diskedit it reports:
==================================================
Sides: 255 Cylinders: 524 Sectors per cylinder: 63
Physical sectors: 8418060
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name="Kernel.txt"
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filename="Kernel.txt"
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Among many other things, these are detected by the kernel:
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
ad0: 4111MB <ST34310A> [8354/16/63] at ata0 - master using UDMA-33
acd0: CD-RW <RICOH CD-R/RW MP7040A> at ata1 - master using PIO4
acd1: CDROM <OIP - CD4400A> at ata1 - slave using PIO4
ata0: at 0x1f0 irq 14 on atapci0
ata1: at 0x170 irq 15 on atapci0
atapci0: <SiS 559/ATA33 controller> port 0xffa0-0xffaf, 0x374-0x377, =
0x170-0x177, 0x3f4-0x3f7, 0x1f0-0x1f7 irq0, at dev 0.1 on pci0
pci0: <PCI bus on pcib0>
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name="Mybios.txt"
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filename="Mybios.txt"
A description of my BIOS settings follows.
Selections which are disabled by the BIOS program are
enclosed in [brackets]. I have noted cases in which I
tried different settings.
Standard CMOS Setup
===================
(All disk drive detections are set to Auto)
32-Bit mode: ON (tried: OFF)
Advanced Setup
==============
Shared memory size: 8MB
Trend ChipAwayVirus: Enabled (tried: Disabled)
1st Boot device: Floppy
2nd Boot device: IDE-0
Try other boot devices: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. for hard disks: Disabled (tried: Enabled)
Bootup Num-lock status: On
Floppy disk swap: Disabled
Floppy disk seek: Disabled
Password check: Setup
Boot to OS/2 over 64MB: No
Internal Cache: Enabled (tried: Disabled)
External Cache: Enabled (tried: Disabled)
SDRAM speed: 8ns
Refresh queue depth: 4
SDRAM CAS Latency: 3T
Graphics Window Size: 64M
Features Setup
==============
Onboard FDC: Enabled
Onboard Serial Port 1: 3F8h/COM1
Onboard Serial Port 2: 2F8h/COM2
Onboard IR Port: Disabled
IR Duplex: Half
Onboard parallel port: 378h
Parallel port mode: Normal
Parallel port IRQ: 7
Parallel port DMA: [N/A]
Onboard PCI IDE: Both (tried: Primary/Disabled)
UDMA Support: Enabled (tried: Disabled)
USB Function: Disabled
USB Function for DOS: [Disabled]
PCI/PnP Configuration
=====================
Plug & Play aware O/S: Yes (tried: No)
Primary graphics adapter: PCI (tried: AGP)
PCI VGA Palette Snoop: Disabled
Allocate IRQ for VGA: No
DMA Reserved for ISA: N/A
IRQ Reserved for ISA: N/A
Reserved memory size: Disabled
Reserved memory address: [C8000]
Power Management
================
Power management/APM: Disabled
Standby time out (min): [Disabled]
Suspend time out (min): [Disabled]
Keyboard power-on: Disabled
Lan Card power-on: Disabled
Ring On power-on: Disabled
RTC Alarm power-on: Disabled
RTC Alarm Date: [15]
RTC Alarm Hour: [12]
RTC Alarm Min: [30]
RTC Alarm Sec: [30]
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