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From: Brian Bayorgeon <riff_one@athenet.net>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: FreeBSD install problems.....write error
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 19:03:03 -0500
Organization: Athenet Internet Services
Lines: 94
Message-ID: <31D472B7.446B9B3D@athenet.net>
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CC: mmatt@athenet.net
Hello. Is there anybody who could help me with this problem I'm having
installing FreeBSD 2.1
I prepare for a custom installation from a DOS partition by
downloading the FreeBSD 2.1 distribution from FreeBSD's ftp site. I
used WS_FTP95. I put the files and directories on my master drive
(Quantum Fireball 1080 MEG EIDE with one huge primary partition devoted
to Windows 95) like this:
c:\freebsd\bin
c:\freebsd\dict
c:\freebsd\floppies
c:\freebsd\games
c:\freebsd\info
c:\freebsd\manpages
c:\freebsd\proflibs
c:\freebsd\src
c:\freebsd\tools
c:\freebsd\xf86312
(I made sure all files were in the proper directories)
I am installing FreeBSD to my slave drive (a Seagate ST3290A 261.3 MEG
IDE) I intend to use the entire drive in one big partition for FreeBSD.
I used IDE_CONF.EXE found in the /tools directory on the ftp site to
confirm the drive geometry of the Seagate drive. It reported the same
results as FDISK and my hardrive's manual reported:
cyl - 1001
Heads - 15
Sectors - 34
Size - 261.3 MEG
I proceed with a Novice install selecting a custom install.
I let the installation program automatically set the following
directories on the Seagate slave drive:
part mount size newfs
wd1s1a / 32 MB UFS Y
wd1s1b <none> 43 MB SWAP
wd1s1e /var 30 MB UFS Y
wd1s1f /usr 144 MB UFS Y
I get a
"Write failure on transfer! (wrote -1 bytes of 10240 bytes)"
when the installation gets as far as /bin
This happens during every retry also.....ie: it doesn't seem to be one
bad file. The same error message then occurs in /dict and in /games
Then the installation is halted and I get this message:
Synching disks
Panic: ffs_valloc:
dup alloc
7 . 7 . 5 . 2 done
giving up
After that I forced to reset the computer.
I've searched FreeBSD's web site search engine for a possible answer,
but I really didn't seem to find a definite one. There are suggestions
that it may be a drive geometry problem, or a situation where there is
not enough space in the /usr directory. One posting said it was an
MS-DOS file incompatibility problem, while another said EIDE drives are
not supported in FreeBSD 2.1. I really don't know where to go from
here.
Here is my Hardware setup:
Dell XPS P133c
16 MEG EDO RAM
Intel Triton PCIset
Intel PIIX PCI IDE CONTROLLER
Two drives on the Primary IDE
master: 1.01 GIG Quantum Fireball EIDE (windows 95)(one partition)
slave: 261.3 MEG Seagate ST3290A (one partition for FreeBSD) (used
FIPS)(1001 cyls) (15 heads) (34 sectors)
I can give more details if asked. I appreciate any help you guys can
give me.
Thanks,
Brian