From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Feb 6 13:15:44 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA05795 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 6 Feb 1997 13:15:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from phaeton.artisoft.com (phaeton.Artisoft.COM [198.17.250.211]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA05790 for ; Thu, 6 Feb 1997 13:15:41 -0800 (PST) Received: (from terry@localhost) by phaeton.artisoft.com (8.6.11/8.6.9) id OAA17832; Thu, 6 Feb 1997 14:11:52 -0700 From: Terry Lambert Message-Id: <199702062111.OAA17832@phaeton.artisoft.com> Subject: Re: DOS partition trouble To: bde@zeta.org.au (Bruce Evans) Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 14:11:52 -0700 (MST) Cc: durham@w2xo.pgh.pa.us, hackers@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <199702060616.RAA09563@godzilla.zeta.org.au> from "Bruce Evans" at Feb 6, 97 05:16:25 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > >Twice now, I have removed a DOS partition > >from a disk with both DOS and FreeBSD > >partitions and been unable to boot FreeBSD. > >... > >I had tried running the partition editor when I had no DOS > >partition and it gave all indications of sucessfully writing > >out the boot block, but would not boot until I remade the > >DOS partition. Trying to mount the root directory from the MFS > >on the boot floppy gave a "bad super block" error. > > For SCSI disks with at least ncr controllers, this could be caused > a DOS partition that ends on a cylinder boundary and FreeBSD partition > that doesn't. When you remove the DOS partition, the controller's BIOS > will have problems determining the disk geometry. What? The BIOS examines the disk to get the geometry? How do you put something on the disk in the first place, then? I was under the impression that fictitious geometry was *always* an artifact of the BIOS's idea of geometry, not the oter way around. Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.