Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 20:26:23 +0930 (CST) From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: klo@gate.net (Kevin Lo) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Dreaded Missing Operating System Message Message-ID: <199506181056.UAA17989@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <Pine.A32.3.91.950617185849.74999A-100000@hopi.gate.net> from "Kevin Lo" at Jun 17, 95 07:03:11 pm
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Kevin Lo stands accused of saying: > After pillaging through the mailing list archives, I've gone through > most of the messages relating to this problem. However, I haven't a clue > on what to do. :) That's what us loonies are for, to create more mailing list archives 8) > My setup is as follows: > > C: - 170 meg DOS, Stacked > D: - 270 meg DOS (1st Half of WD540) > E: - 270 meg FreeBSD (2nd Half of WD540) > > I go through all the installation things (version 2.0.5R) with ease. > For my HD geometry, do I set it to 1048/16/63 (like it says in my > manual), or do I set it to what FreeBSD thinks (524/32/63)? If I try the > first, it spits out Missing Operating System at me. Is it safe to use the > latter option (it says not to in the HD manual). The Missing Operating System message comes from the DOG master boot record when it can't fing the OS bits it wants. In this case, I bet you've installed the Boot manager on the first disk, and hit F5 for the second disk, wherupon you're confronted with this message. It has _nothing_ to do with geometry; F5 just loads the MBR for the second disk, which is as confused as all hell, pukes and dies. You _should_ be able to set the FreeBSD partition on the second disk active in the partition editor, which should avoid this problem. Be aware that many DOS disk tools will view this as an inconsequential error, and silently unset it. A better idea is to install Booteasy on the second disk as well (get it out of the 2.0-RELEASE/tools/dos-tools directory). Then when you hit F5, you'll get another menu for the second disk, which will list DOS (which won't work) and BSD (which will 8). This _is_ a little laborious, but it _does_ work, and there's not really a better way around it, other than to create a (tiny) FreeBSD partition on the first disk (using fips or a similar partition-shrinking tool), and install a modified BSD bootloader in it to load from the second disk. I've done this before as well. > -Kevin -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] My car has "demand start" - Terry Lambert [[
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