From owner-freebsd-hardware Sat Aug 15 01:53:52 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id BAA06064 for freebsd-hardware-outgoing; Sat, 15 Aug 1998 01:53:52 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from caladan.tdx.co.uk (caladan.tdx.co.uk [195.188.177.4]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA06055 for ; Sat, 15 Aug 1998 01:53:49 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from kpielorz@tdx.co.uk) Received: from tdx.co.uk (lorca-tx.tdx.co.uk [195.188.177.242]) by caladan.tdx.co.uk (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id JAA16792; Sat, 15 Aug 1998 09:52:53 +0100 (BST) Message-ID: <35D54B31.DB594CB0@tdx.co.uk> Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 09:47:45 +0100 From: Karl Pielorz Organization: TDX X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5b1 [en] (WinNT; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mike Smith CC: junkmale@xtra.co.nz, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: large drives, old BIOS, IDE Controllers References: <199808141833.SAA02264@dingo.cdrom.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Mike Smith wrote: > > > The "problem" is my machine is a 486/dx2 something. I'm installed a 5G > > drive. The shop figured I might not be able to use this drive as the BIOS > > won't handle more than the first 512M of the drive. Yet, what I've just > > read in the mail archives is that FreeBSD doesn't use the BIOS. If so, my > > job is easy. > > It needs the BIOS to boot. As long as you can get at the FreeBSD root > filesystem, you'll be OK. > > > At present, the machine has a CD-ROM and a 330M drive. Both are IDE and > > are running off the I/O board. I'm about to add a 5G drive. Problem: > > there's only 1 IDE connecter on my i/o board and none on the mother board. > > And I can't buy an i/board with two IDE connecters. None are available > > to be had. > > You'll have to find one. Try a secondhand (junk) store; there are lots > of them still around. Hi, We've seen a problem with a very old machine before, and a large drive. Apparently it had something to do with the number of bits the IDE controller supported (I seem to remember it only supported 22 bits, rather than 24 bits - this was a while ago!) - after some checking this turned out to be a hardware problem, and we couldn't use the onboard controller... Having said that we did buy a plug in controller and get that working - Maybe the extra controller will be the best bet... If you get really stuck (and don't mind paying carriage) let me know, as I've got some ISA / VESA-VL ones round here somewhere ;-) Regards, Karl To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message