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Date:      Sun, 8 Oct 2000 09:31:29 -0500
From:      Jim Graham <jim@n5ial.gnt.net>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD 4.1.1 refuses to see 30GB hard drive as > 2GB
Message-ID:  <20001008093129.A12623@n5ial.gnt.net>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10010081509050.495-100000@parmenides.utp.net>; from Janko van Roosmalen on Sun, Oct 08, 2000 at 03:44:27PM %2B0200
References:  <20001007213350.A2124@n5ial.gnt.net> <Pine.BSF.4.10.10010081509050.495-100000@parmenides.utp.net>

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On Sun, Oct 08, 2000 at 03:44:27PM +0200, Janko van Roosmalen wrote:

> By setting the BIOS translation modes to NORMAL the kernel boot messages
> showed the right geometry, fdisk agreed also and I was able to partition
> the disk.

Didn't work.  :-(

> When I moved this disk to a 150 MHz Pentium Pro ATX system, this did not
> work. I had to manually enter the geometry (user defineable) in the BIOS.
> You could check if your BIOS allows to enter an user defineable geometry.

Tried that.  Once again, FreeBSD ignores what's there and proceeds with
   ad1: 2014MB <Maxtor 53073H4> [4092/16/63] at ata0-slave using UDMA66
:-(

> fdisk has an option to set the disk geometry (option G) so you can coach
> fdisk to use another geometry.

Tried that, too.  The geometry is changed in fdisk, and at the top of the
screen, fdisk says it's a [larger than 2GB drive, depending on geometry].
Of course, it won't let me create a partition bigger than 2GB (i.e., only
that one line at the top of the screen sees the new settings), and when I
write the new settings, exit from fdisk (with or without a reboot at this
point), and go back in to fdisk, the old geometry is still there, and the
system insists that it's a 2GB drive.

I thought it was a cable problem (see previous message---the kernel
complains about limiting I/O to UDMA33), but the cable is the one that
came with the motherboard (ASUS K7V), and the motherboard docs clearly
state that it's for UDMA66 (two drives).

I tried making the 30GB drive the master, tried a new install to that
drive, etc., and still FreeBSD insists that it's a 2GB drive.

And through all this, my Win98 boot disk (a restore CD for a laptop)
quite happily sees 30GB, and is willing to format it as such.  This,
to me, suggests that the hardware is OK (or that Win98's boot disk is
ignoring something that it shouldn't be...).

Did I just waste $200 on a drive that I might not be able to use, and
also might not be able to return?

Later,
   --jim

-- 
73 DE N5IAL (/4)        | DMR: So fsck was originally called something else.
jim@n5ial.gnt.net       | Q:   What was it called?
ICBM / Hurricane:       | DMR: Well, the second letter was different.
   30.39735N 86.60439W  |       -- Dennis M. Ritchie, Usenix, June 18, 1998.



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