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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!solace!nntp.uio.no!news.cais.net!bofh.dot!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.bctel.net!news.island.net!usenet From: myoung@cr.island.net (Michael Young) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Installation fails on root file system init... Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 16:33:22 GMT Organization: Island Internet Inc. - (604) 753-2383 Lines: 37 Message-ID: <4ni9pr$mms@cliff.island.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: slip1.cr.island.net X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 I am making my first attempt at installing FreeBSD 2.1.0 RELEASE and am hitting a snag during the hard disk initialisatin process. The system is an AST Premium 386DX with 6MB RAM, an 88MB IDE WD hard drive, 1.44MB (A:) and 1.2MB (B:) floppy drives, a couple of serial ports and an NE2000 network card. Nothing particularly exotic, as you can see. The boot floppy correctly identifies all the hardware, and goes to the installation menu. I'm instaling a simple "User" configuration (52MB). The entire disk is given a single FreeBSD partition as I don't intend to use it for anything else. It has three labels: a 20MB chunk for the root file system, a 20MB chunk for swap space, and the rest for the /usr file system. So far, so good. The hard disk init. begins and the hard disk light flashes at 3-4 sec intervals as the root file system is initialised. After about 15-20 mins the init. process halts and reports a "Command returns 36", or words to that effect (I don't have the system nearby). And that's as far as it'll go. So, here are my questions: - Is this machine too weak / too old to run FreeNSD? - If not, would a BIOS upgrade help? - Is an 88MB hard disk too small for the "User" config? - If so, what is the minimum amount of disk space needed? - Is there a workaround for the mysterious 36 error? Any help, advice, comments would be greatly appreciated. Useful e-mail responses will be posted on this newsgroup. -- Michael Young <myoung@cr.island.net>