Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 21:42:43 -0800 (PST) From: Doug White <dwhite@riley-net170-164.uoregon.edu> To: Mitch Friedman <mitch@carroll.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Trouble with installing FREEBSD Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.951223211054.411D-100000@gdi.uoregon.edu> In-Reply-To: <199512240045.TAA05723@carroll.com>
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On Sat, 23 Dec 1995, Mitch Friedman wrote: I think you've had the same experience others have trying to install using a DOS installation. In short: This is not recommended for DOS versions >3.3. > I have a 250M C-disk which is my boot-up dos disk and a 1.08G d-disk, that I use desire to use for both unix and dos since it is big enough to hold dos based program, as well as unix stuff. Common enough, I have a similar configuration. >I used presizer, v.1.1.2 to partition the d-disk into a 600 mb Dos >partition and a 400 mb non-Dos partition, for UNIX-FreeBSD. I admit I >was a little to ambitious and wanted to load the bin, gnu, games, and >other source files. Source wouldn't be a good idea within 200mb. The binaries, yes, but not the source, unless you really need them. The only source I would recommend installing is the 'sys', which will allow you to reconfig your kernel. >Obviously the 400mb would not be enough. But Freebsd doesn't care, like >any other Unix o/s, and tried to load it. Oh, it cares all right! >Of course it wrote over into some parts of the Dos partition (how do I >know this...see below!)-no not a internet smile a real exclamation pt and >a parenthesis- Classic problem explained above. > When the Freebsd installation program realized that it ran out of >space, it finally crapped out. So, I chose the quit option...what else >could I do? Meanwhile, there is an incomplete installation of UNIX on my >d-disk (part of it in an inconsistant state since it probably wrote into >the Dos partition). So, the quit option begins the disk resynching >process and began to reboot the pc. That is ok. The extra junk won't hurt anything. > My pc did not reboot properly! No boot manager, no dos, no Unix...NOTHING!!!!!! Just an error message stating that computer could not load the o/s. It wasn't trying to reboot into dos, it was trying to reboot into unix, but couldn't because the installation was not complete. No, what happens is that the fdisk program resets the 'active partition' bit to the disk containing FreeBSD. If the install program dies, however, it doesn't reset this bit. You really needed to go into MSDOS fdisk, select the "set active partition" option and select your DOS disk. It's too late now, but helpful information for the future. >Anyway, I rebooted with a dos >diskette and guess what?!? My d-disk was gone! I checked with fdisk and >presizer to see what the hell was going on with my d-disk Well, my 1.08G >d-disk turned into a 507 mb d-disk, in which only 478.5 mb could be >reconfigured or formatted into a d-disk and 28.5 could be reconfiged to >an extended dos partition (weird, huh?). The remaining 580 or so mb is >an incomplete installation of unix, in which my computer believes is a >bootable partition with a complete version of an o/s. Oooh, this is NOT good. This would indicate one of two things: 1) The partition table got munched and needed to be rewritten. 2) that your 1gb disk had a special boot program on it to allow your system to support the extra big disk. You may have seen some notice on boot, possibly from "MICRO HOUSE INTERNATIONAL" and/or having you "hold ctrl to boot from a floppy...". Unfortunately, by installing the boot manager, you overwrote this program. This is bad, since I have never seen a way of ressurrecting this program. You would have to contact your local retailer or the manufacturer of the disk to get this program reinstalled. > Anyway, I spent six hours trying to recover my @$%@$!!~#%$^&@$%&$ >d-disk. I could not regain the lost partition with presizer or fdisk! >Re-formatting did squat! Until I took the disk utilities that came with >my d-disk, re-initialized the d-disk, powered my pc down and up, reformat >the d-disk. Then and only then was I able to recover my d-disk in >total!!!! However, since I had to re-initialize and re-format my disk I >subsequently blew-away some important programs, such as TRUMPET and >EUDORA and other internet goodies that I painstakingly down-loaded. I >spent a good portion of the night redown-loading this stuff!! Backups, backups, backups... > This should not have happened!! Is there a back-out or fail-safe >utility that can be used in case something like this happens, in which I >can recover my disk with out destroying it. Unfortunately, it's called a backup program and rescue disk. >Is there a switch that can be used with presizer to look at the total >disk, instead of the dos partition? Is there a switch or utility that >can be used with the installation that can warn me when I attempt to >choose something that will take up to much space on my disk? I don't quite understand your first request, if you want to resurrect your old DOS partition, use DOS FDISK, delete the FreeBSD partition, then use presizer to grow your dos partition again. The install program assumes you know how much space you've got on your disk to use, and won't try to overrun your available space. > > HELP!!!! I WOULD REALLLLY LIKE TO RUN THIS THING, BUT I WILL NOT LOAD IT UNTIL I AM CONFIDENT THAT I WILL NOT DAMAGE MY COMPUTER, DISK, OR SANITY!!!! OTHERWISE, I WILL HAVE TO RETURN THIS PIECE OF SOFTWARE AND ASK FOR A FULL REFUND!!! > > HELP!!!!!!!!!SOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > Mitch Friedman Some suggestions: 1) Before installing any major software, including operating systems, make backups of your critical software, and partition table. If you don't have Norton Utilites or something similar, this would be a good time to buy them. 2) Make sure you completely understand the procedure for installation. The file INSTALLATION or <F1> from the sysinstall program would be good places to look. 3) Try to use an install method OTHER than by using a DOS partition. FTP, CD-ROM or floppies are good ways. (I personally have loaded freebsd from floppies and ftp, and both work flawlessly.) 4) Since your system requires the EDIE patch program, don't use the boot manager. You'll be stuck using a boot disk and typing "wd(1,a)/kernel" every time you want to use the freebsd partition, but it should work. It doesn't seem to work with a second disk anyway, from my experiences, but this is varied it appears. 5) If you have any questions, consult the FAQ or us. Doug White | University of Oregon Internet: dwhite@gladstone.uoregon.edu | Residence Networking Assistant http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | Computer Science Major
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