Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 02:13:34 +0100 From: Ross Kendall Axe <ross@axe.homelinux.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: /boot on a separate partition Message-ID: <42DC53BE.6040205@axe.homelinux.net> In-Reply-To: <20050718142635.E7170@border.crystalsphere.multiverse> References: <42DC1173.6020307@axe.homelinux.net> <20050718142635.E7170@border.crystalsphere.multiverse>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Luke Dean wrote: > > On Mon, 18 Jul 2005, Ross Kendall Axe wrote: > >> I am currently trying to get to grips with FreeBSD and am trying it out >> on an old Pentium machine. However, the machine's BIOS can't seem to >> read past 504MB, so I want to place the /boot directory in a small 25MB >> partition at the start of the drive. Setting up the partition with >> sysinstall is easy enough, but does anyone have any suggestions of how >> to diddle the bootloader to accept this configuration? > > All I would expect you have to do is use FDISK to make two partitions, > remembering to mark the first one as bootable. Then use disklabel to > create your slices. Make a /boot slice on the first partition, then > make a / slice and a swap slice on the second partition. > That should be all that's required for what you're trying to do. > A little over a year ago, I had to split up a drive to solve the same > problem you're having, but I went the "small /" route instead, so you > might be running into a problem I didn't have. > > Luke Dean > I created the partitions easily enough when installing the system. I created a single slice and, inside that, partition d as my small /boot partition and partition a as the root. The problem I'm having is trying to actually boot the system. On boot, the output (after the BIOS) looks like this: error 1 lba 1190783 No /boot/loader FreeBSD/i386 boot Default: 0:ad(0,a)/kernel boot: <short delay...> No /kernel FreeBSD/i386 boot Default: 0:ad(0,a)/kernel boot: The 'error 1' is presumably due to my dodgy BIOS, and 'No /boot/loader' happens because it's looking on the wrong place for the stage 3 loader. Undaunted, I type 'ad(0,d)/loader' to load the stage 3 loader. The loader appears to load properly, apart from the fact that is displays the message "can't load 'kernel". At this point, I type 'boot kernel/kernel', which successfully loads the kernel and produces a momentary 'twirling baton'. The keyboard then resets and the system hangs. Attempt 2: Change all occurrences of /boot/ in all text files in the /boot directory to /. Then, at the stage 3 loader prompt, type 'include /loader.rc' instead of 'boot /kernel/kernel'. Again, the kernel appears to be loaded successfully, and I get the standard boot menu with the ASCII beastie. However, the boot hangs as before, with a keyboard reset. Attempt 3: Try to load the kernel directly from stage 2 by typing 'ad(0.d)/kernel/kernel'. Fails with a register dump and the message 'BTX halted'. It's starting to look to me as though the stage 2 bootloader and kernel both want to be in the /boot directory on partition a. I'd love to be proved wrong :-) I'm using 5.4-RELEASE. Ross -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFC3FO99bR4xmappRARAvntAJ9Li1qQiwaOwWjPVS/rIUpAe/D5HgCgn3+h dqOa0NtBGzkctnk4B2JvSbE= =YdAF -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?42DC53BE.6040205>