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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!news.uoknor.edu!ns1.nodak.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!uw-beaver!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!cyber2.cyberstore.ca!vanbc.wimsey.com!deep.rsoft.bc.ca!giant!a09878 From: a09878@giant.rsoft.bc.ca (Curt Sampson) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Installing NetBSD 0.9 after MS-DOS Date: 17 Jan 94 07:20:11 GMT Organization: MIND LINK! Communications Corp Lines: 39 Message-ID: <a09878.758791211@giant> NNTP-Posting-Host: giant.rsoft.bc.ca I'm trying to install NetBSD on a system that already has a small DOS partition. I want DOS to boot by default; I'll boot NetBSD by loading the bootstrap programs from floppy disk and then loading the kernel from the hard drive. Unfortunately, I'm not having much success. My procedure is this: install a 25 MB DOS 6.0 partition on my 100 MB disk. Then use the Linux fdisk program to set up a partition on the remainder of the disk and set the type to 0xa5 (as described in the NetBSD install document). Then boot NetBSD, give it the disk size, calculate the size of the NetBSD partition, give it that number as the partition size, and calculate the size of the DOS partition and give it that number as the offset into the disk. Then the install script does the disklabel, which asks me if I want to overwrite a disk with DOS partition information on it. Here things seem to get a bit wierd. If I'm using my disk in untranslated mode (1282 cylinders, 4 heads, 40 sectors) and I say 'no', it seems to write the disklabel just fine and I set things up normally. DOS still boots fine, but I can't use the bootblocks from a floppy to boot the kernel on my hard drive because the boot program claims the disk label is bad. (I can still mount the disk and fsck it if I boot the kernel from a floppy, though.) If I'm using my disk in translated mode (1024 cylinders, 5 heads, 40 sectors) and I say 'no', the label never gets written and I can't continue. If I say 'yes' in either mode, my partition table gets trashed and I loose the DOS partition. Has anyone any advice? cjs -- Curt Sampson a09878@giant.rsoft.bc.ca Fluor Daniel 604 691 5458 1444 Alberni Street Vanouver, B.C., V6G 2Z4 "Do not expect fairings."