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Date:      Tue, 22 Dec 2015 14:55:34 +0000
From:      John McDonnell <mcdonnjd@pcam.org>
To:        FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   RE: POS system trashing hard drives during install
Message-ID:  <BLUPR07MB32104F7060C5274DB841958BAE50@BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com>
In-Reply-To: <BLUPR07MB3215DC6A24C81D223FD6EA3BAE40@BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com>
References:  <BLUPR07MB321C9B805585AB5A6456D0ABAE00@BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com> <alpine.BSF.2.20.1512172208100.4409@wonkity.com>, <BLUPR07MB3216D5F435ACE02480752CBBAE40@BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com> <A09B69E6B9C91963.1-0f9df8ab-2681-4d43-8ca6-2b8a2979e123@mail.outlook.com> <BLUPR07MB3215DC6A24C81D223FD6EA3BAE40@BLUPR07MB321.namprd07.prod.outlook.com>

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I just downloaded and booted from the NetBSD install disk and was presented=
 with a screen I haven't seen in FreeBSD in some time. NetBSD was unable to=
 match my hard drive to one detected by the BIOS. I remember when pretty mu=
ch every install of FreeBSD would prompt me with that message about the rep=
orted geometry not matching. I can't recall why the prompt no longer shows =
up in FreeBSD, but perhaps it could be behind the issues I'm having?

For comparision, here is what I have found about the geometry:

NetBSD reports:
Cylinders:   1023
Heads:           255
Sectors:           63

The BIOS by default is set to autodetect the mode for the hard drive and re=
ports these settings:
Cylinders:   19158
Heads:                16
Sectors:            255

Capacity: 40022MB

Changing to CHS mode gives the same results.
Changing to LBA mode reports:
Cylinders:   4865
Heads:           255
Sectors:           63

Capacity: 40018 MB

And last, changing to LARGE reports:
Cylinders:   1277
Heads:           240
Sectors:         155

Capacity: 40016 MB

Obviously none of these match what NetBSD is reporting. I then told the sys=
tem to accept NetBSD's recommendation of the geometry for the hard drive an=
d did an install. Upon reboot, I had no issues and booted right into NetBSD=
. So it seems that NetBSD, Linux and Windows all have no issues on this mac=
hine but whatever FreeBSD is doing with hard drives is the issue.

While NetBSD or Linux are suitable solutions, I really would prefer FreeBSD=
. Does anyone have any insight into what to try next? I don't mind doing a =
completely manual install from the shell if needed, though it has been a wh=
ile since I've done that. I usually use the installer for as much as possib=
le to simplify the process and only drop to a shell for possibly hard drive=
 set up and tossing some things into /boot/loader.conf when finished.

Thank you once again for your time.

--=20
John McDonnell
mcdonnjd@pcam.org



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