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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news1.oakland.edu!vtc.tacom.army.mil!ulowell.uml.edu!wang!news.kei.com!news.mathworks.com!news.alpha.net!uwm.edu!lll-winken.llnl.gov!enews.sgi.com!sgiblab!rahul.net!a2i!jimi.a2i!jimi From: "C. A. Piepenbring" <jimi@rahul.net> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc Subject: Re: Geometry Translation on IDE 1.2Gb Date: 14 Jun 1995 06:44:19 GMT Organization: Lame... Lamer... Lamest... Lines: 67 Message-ID: <3rm0g3$f0i@hustle.rahul.net> References: <3rhvl0$ge2@hustle.rahul.net> <3rk8fj$5pa@tribune.usask.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: jitter.rahul.net NNTP-Posting-User: jimi Bradley W Mazurek <bwm260@skorpio3.usask.ca> wrote: >Not quite. I was getting the exact same error with my 1.08Gb drive, >so I assume the same fix will work. My solution did require more complete >partition editing tools than were available through pfdisk. The disk >editor included in PC Tools was excellent. > OK.. I used Norton Utils which wasn't too bad either. :) >First, I had to change the IDE translation mode in my BIOS. Rather than >using LBA, I used Standard CHS. When I went in to reparition the disk for >DOS, DOS reported that the drive was only 523Mb (1023cyl, 64h, 63sec/tr), >rather than the true geometry (2100cyl, 64h, 63sec/tr) but I didn't worry >about it. Next I created my DOS partition. I partitioned the disk so that >cylinders 1-999 were DOS. That left cylinders 1000-1023 for NetBSD. Lots >of room! :) Anyway, on a hunch, a friend and I were hoping NetBSD didn't >look at the ending cylinder entry (1023) of the partition table. Next I >calculated the length of the partition from 1000-2100, put this into the >partition table using the disk editor. The numbers weren't consistent in >the parition table, but DOS ignored the Non-DOS partition, NetBSD was >happy...and we've (DOS, NetBSD and my remaining hair) all lived happily >ever after.... > Your advice was very helpful. I ended up using 0-1015 (500meg for DOS) and 1016-1022 (actually 1016-2448 for NetBSD). It got rid of the bad geometry error and created the disklabel and wd0 partitions where it should... not stomping DOS. Now, however, I am seeing one other problem I hope you may have run into. When I do the install, it reports that "wd0 does not have a disklabel", but then proceeds to write the superblock and create the partitions and /etc/fstab normally. If I execute "disklabel wd0" after the install completes, it shows the correct info with partitions a-e. When I reboot with the kernel disk and invoke copy_kernel, it fails because once again "wd0 has no disklabel". An invocation of disklabel at this point shows a bad disk label. Using Norton utils, I snooped on cyl 1016 (the start of my BSD partition) and found the disklabel on sector 2 where it should be. For some unknown reason however, when I reboot with the kernel it is looking on cyl 0, sector 2 for the disklabel. My partition table is normal with only the two entries for bigdos (0-1015) and netbsd (1016-1022). If I copy the disklabel to cyl 0, sect 2, the copy_kernel succeeds, but an attempt to boot from the fixed disk (wd0) results in an infinite loop saying "Error: c: -11134 h: -1 s: -1" (Numbers may not be exact) This says to me that somehow BSD is trying to access a SERIOUSLY screwed up CHS on the disk. Brilliant, I know. :) Any ideas on why BSD is looking on cyl 0 for the disklabel in the first place when the only A5 partition on the disk is pointing to cyl 1016? >This post has been like a recount of a horrid, horrid 2 weeks of my life. > Heh... and mine is getting there. But thanks to your help and I lot of research, trial & error, and hacking around, the problems are slowly parting to reveal a nearly working OS. :) >Some good did come out of it though. > Yeah.. I now know more about the partition table that I thought I ever would. :) -- Chris Piepenbring -=- jimi@rahul.net Rotating .sig of the day club