*BSD News Article 15561


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From: buhrow@cats.ucsc.edu (Brian Buhrow)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: ST506 ERROR FINDING/MAPPING FOR 386BSD (HOW DO YOU DI IT?)
Date: 4 May 1993 00:56:00 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
Lines: 32
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1s4ev0INN9dc@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hobbes.ucsc.edu
Summary: I can't get the filesystem to fsck cleanly or consistently
Keywords: Try, try, try,  formatting winchester, error mapping, error

finding,


Hello again news friends.  I'm having a whale of a time getting the 386bsd
binary distribution installed on my hard drive.  I've tried installing it
per the instructions given in the installation notes on the tiny 386BSD
diskette, and, that failing, tried using the manual instructions given in
this or the announce news group.
The problem seems to be getting the error spots on the hard disk out of the
386BSDD filesystem.  I'm using an RLL Micropolis 1325 with 8 heads, 1024
cylinders, and 17 sec/track.  I tried with 26 sec/track, but my results
were even worse.
I used a low-level formatter/surface analyzer to compile a list of
defective spots on the disk.  I compiled 31 errors, not including those on
the defect list published on the top of the drive, and locked them, as well
as those of the manufacturer, out.  
I then partitioned the drive into a 27MB DOS partition , and a 40MB 386bsd
partition.  The DOS partition reports bad sectors as being present and
locked out.  So, all files are safe there.
	However, when I use 386BSD, it installs fine, but then won't boot all
the way from the hard drive.  Specifically, it lists the devices in the
machine and then hangs.  Sometimes it boots, allows me to install files,
and then reports i/o errors on those files.  Other times, it doesn't report
such errors, just that files become corrupt.
After about 30 attempts at installing the OS, 10 down-loads of the binary
distribution, countless re-partitioning sessions, etc. I'm beginning to
dispair of the ability to install this software on this machine.  
Are people using this software with ST506 drives?
How can I map out these areas since they're not getting mapped out
automatically?
	Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!
-Brian