From owner-freebsd-questions Wed Sep 10 10:23:15 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA14584 for questions-outgoing; Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:23:15 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pooh.cdrom.com (pooh.cdrom.com [204.216.28.222]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id KAA14572 for ; Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:23:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (support@localhost) by pooh.cdrom.com (8.8.7/8.7.3) with SMTP id KAA14964 for ; Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:21:59 -0700 (PDT) Delivery-Date: Sat, 06 Sep 1997 16:22:38 -0700 X-Received: from hil-img-9.compuserve.com (hil-img-9.compuserve.com [149.174.177.139]) by pooh.cdrom.com (8.8.7/8.7.3) with ESMTP id QAA09832 for ; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:22:37 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: (from mailgate@localhost) by hil-img-9.compuserve.com (8.8.6/8.8.6/2.5) id TAA03428 for support@cdrom.com; Sat, 6 Sep 1997 19:22:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 19:21:57 -0400 From: Bryan Batten Subject: FreeBSD 2.2.2 Won't Boot To: Walnut Creek Message-ID: <199709061922_MC2-1F6B-C018@compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline ReSent-Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:21:55 -0700 (PDT) ReSent-From: Murray Stokely ReSent-To: questions@freebsd.org ReSent-Message-ID: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by hub.freebsd.org id KAA14573 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Hi, I'm calling in for help with respect to a boot problem I'm having with FreeBSD 2.2.2, which I purchased from you in CD-ROM format (Invoice # 07970569). Briefly, the installation seems to go off without a hitch; but when I try to boot the newly installed system, I get the message: "No bootable partition". I've been trying to get this thing going off and on for the last two weeks without success. I had the same problem with 2.1 and eventually gave up, thinking that that version's lack of extended partition support might be the cause. My hardware is a component built Pentium 90 with 32 MB of memory, a SCSI adapter, an Ethernet adapter, a Mitsumi CD-ROM, and 2 x 1GB EIDE disk drives. The physical geometry of these drives is 2100 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors. The BIOS reports the geometry as 525 cylinders, 64 heads, and 63 sectors. Each drive is divided into three primary partitions and an extended partition which is further subdivided into logical partitions reserved for various OSes. I'm trying to install FreeBSD on the 3rd primary partition on drive 0. The basic partition layout has been created with Linux's fdisk. My system currently has Linux, SCO, OS/2, and MSDOS installed and working in the other primary partitions on both drives. I'm using V Communications' System Commander as a boot manager. I do the installation using a floppy boot disk made from boot.flp in the CD-ROM. (All that happens when I try using install from DOS is that the system just reboots and I end up back in the System Commander menu.) Using the boot floppy, I can do all the kernel configuration with no error indications. To set up the FreeBSD partition during installation, I delete the partition I've reserved for it, then manually create a new one. Since I'm using System Commander, I always choose "None" for the MBR choice. I also get thru disk labeling OK, and end up with a root ("/") slice and a swap slice on the primary partition I've reserved for FreeBSD. /usr and /var are mounted under / for now. After that completes, a bunch of files are copied from my CD-ROM - all without error indications - and finally, I'm asked to remove the floppy and reboot. On rebooting, I get to the System Commander menu, and select the FreeBSD option. After doing that, the message "No bootable partition" appears and the system just sits there. Using Linux, I've been able to get to the boot record on my FreeBSD partition and find that it contains the string "No bootable partition". I suspect I've missed some subtle requirement for FreeBSD, but am at a loss as to what it may be. I think it may be a geometry problem, but since OS/2, DOS, Linux, and even SCO boot without problems, I'm reluctant to change anything. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide here. Bryan