From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 7 08:40:26 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F46737B401 for ; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 08:40:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from msgbas2x.cos.agilent.com (msgbas2x.cos.agilent.com [192.25.240.37]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EAFEE43F3F for ; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 08:40:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from darrylo@soco.agilent.com) Received: from relcos1.cos.agilent.com (relcos1.cos.agilent.com [130.29.152.239]) by msgbas2x.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 995C820A7; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 09:40:25 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (mina.soco.agilent.com [141.121.54.157]) by relcos1.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EE74725; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 09:40:25 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (darrylo@localhost [127.0.0.1]) SMKit7.1.1_Agilent) with ESMTP id IAA24974; Mon, 7 Apr 2003 08:40:24 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <200304071540.IAA24974@mina.soco.agilent.com> To: Kit Mitchell In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 06 Apr 2003 15:23:17 BST." <20030406142317.GA55560@opal.hypostasis.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 1.7) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 08:40:24 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Thinkpad A31p recovery Partition X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Darryl Okahata List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:40:27 -0000 Kit Mitchell wrote: > Having just installed 4.8-RELEASE on the above, like > an idiot I re-wrote the MBR with the FreeBSD boot > manager. Is there a way of accessing the thinkpad > recovery slice to drop XP back on the slice I've > left for it? Or is it worth trying some other > paticular boot manager to do this? At this point, I think you'll just have to bite the bullet and get the IBM recovery CDROMs (IIRC, free within the first 30 days, and then something like $20-$30 after that). You probably don't want to hear this, but one "better" way to install FreeBSD on the A31/A31p (I've got an A31) is: [ The following assumes a (1) standard, unmodified, XP installation, (2) a FreeBSD recovery CDROM, and (3) some system that you can access via the network (you'll need it to temporarily hold a file, as the A31/A31p doesn't have a floppy). ] 1. You're going to configure the A31/A31p to use XP's native boot manager to boot either XP or FreeBSD (because of this, you do not have to change the boot sector). To understand how this works, and what you have to do, read the following: http://bsdatwork.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=3 (Also read the OpenBSD section for additional WinXP info.) http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/disks.html#NT-BOOTLOADER 2. Repartition the disk using a program like PartitionMagic or BootIt. If you use BootIt, YOU MUST NOT INSTALL IT; you just boot the BootIt CDROM, and CLICK "Cancel" TO ENTER MAINTENANCE MODE -- DO NOT INSTALL BOOTIT. Once you're in maintenance mode, you can click on the "Partition Work" icon to resize partitions. 3. Install FreeBSD, but DO NOT INSTALL ANY BOOT MANAGER. Leave the boot sector alone. The one thing you must not do (as you have unfortunately discovered) is replace the boot sector (boot sectors, actually, as the IBM recovery code seems to exist in multiple sectors). 4. Enable networking on FreeBSD. Once you've got it working, copy /boot/boot1 (or other file, as mentioned in the above URLs) to the other system accessible via the network. 5. Boot the FreeBSD recovery CDROM, and enter recovery mode. Use fdisk to change the active partition back to the original (non-recovery) XP partition. 6. Boot XP, and then use the instructions in the above URLs to set up XP's bootloader to select between XP and FreeBSD at boot time. You'll need to use the file that you saved in step #4, above. At this point, you should be able to choose between booting either XP or FreeBSD. -- Darryl Okahata darrylo@soco.agilent.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day.