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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!asstdc.scgt.oz.au!nsw.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!iol!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!awfulhak.demon.co.uk!not-for-mail From: brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk (Brian Somers) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Western Digital 2.5GB IDE HD doesn't work under FreeBSD ! Date: 30 Apr 1996 15:07:15 +0100 Organization: Coverform Ltd. Lines: 66 Message-ID: <4m56qj$nc@anorak.coverform.lan> References: <aak2.830530576@ra.msstate.edu> <4m3dua$3db@uriah.heep.sax.de> X-NNTP-Posting-Host: awfulhak.demon.co.uk X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] J Wunsch (j@uriah.heep.sax.de) wrote: : aak2@Ra.MsState.Edu (Atif Ahmad Khan) writes: : >I just bought a Western Digital 2.5GB hard drive and it doesn't : >seem to work under FreeBSD ! : >I went ahead and downloaded Mr. BIOS from www.mrbios.com and : >that solved the problem. : But you're aware that FreeBSD does use the BIOS just only for 10 : seconds after you turn on your computer? It's 0xDEADBEEF after : this... : >Now FreeBSD is getting the right parameters and doesnt give me an : What are ``the right parameters'' in your book? The ones printed on the label on the undercarriage of the disk. : Basically, tell your BIOS anything you like. Make sure FreeBSD has : got the very same idea about the number of sectors per track, and the : number of tracks per cylinder. There's no such thing like ``the right : geometry'', at least, you cannot express it in terms of a uniform : C/H/S value. (The inner cylinders have less sectors per track than : the outer ones.) : Make sure your root file system (where the boot file named /kernel : resides) is quite well below where the BIOS believes its 1024-cylinder : high watermark is. : If your drive is dedicated to FreeBSD, try the ``dangerously : dedicated'' mode: select ``A)ll FreeBSD'' in the partition editor, and : answer the next question with ``No''. (You'll be ask once more if you : really want this.) This makes the FreeBSD slice start right at sector : 0, using the entire disk (to the best of its knowledge), and one of : the consequences is that you don't have to care for _any_ geometry of : your drive anymore. : Needless to say, i wouldn't waste my money in a poor and braindead IDE : interface when buying a 2.5Gig drive, but you did it... I dunno, this is the first EIDE disk I've bought. It's actually for a non-freebsd system (os/2) 'cos I think my 2940W is screwing up os/2. It may thump the cpu every time it wants to transfer a character, but it only costs £205 here (for 2.5Gb) in the UK. A 2Gb scsi costs about £270. One thing I don't understand.... If I say that the drive has 15 sectors, 37 heads and 102 tracks, and this works controller-wise, does that mean that the OS tells the controller the geometry that it wants to use ? This is the only way that makes sense to me - the controller decides based on the "required geometry" where to actually write the data, and as long as the "required geometry" is the same, the controller will map this to the "physical geometry" in the same manner each time. : -- : cheers, J"org : joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de -- http://www.sax.de/~joerg/ -- NIC: JW11-RIPE : Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-) -- Brian <brian@awfulhak.demon.co.uk> Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour....