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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Badblock scan at 2.1.5 install time renders disk unbootable ? From: ast@marabu.ch (Adrian Steinmann) X-Newsreader: Alexandra.app (Version 0.82) NNTP-Posting-Host: cuckoo.marabu.ch Message-ID: <32e0a8f0.0@www.instrumatic.ch> Date: 18 Jan 97 10:41:52 GMT Lines: 25 Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-paris.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!rain.fr!globalip.ch!www.instrumatic.ch!cuckoo.marabu.ch Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:33978 I was installing FreeBSD 2.1.5 minimal on a 325MB IDE drive in a Compaq Prolinea 466. The first install went great (I used the full disk including block 1, i.e., losing "compatibility with other OSs"). When I booted, I saw badblack messages and so I said, OOOPs, lets reinstall using that "scan for bad blocks option" in the disklabel menu. The scan worked - it found two bad blocks and entered them in the maintenance blocks, the install went fine again, but when I rebooted, the system hung right after the "Boot:" prompt with a never ending stream of "Error: Cyl 616 Hd: ?? Sector: ??". So I installed (with badblock scan) again with the first block "Compatible with other operating Systems" and the FreeBSD BootBlockManager. This time, the never ending loop was the infamous "Default F?" disk geometry problem (I had used 324/32/64). Finally, I decided to reinstall as I had done first: no bad block scan at install time, but then rebooted to the Fixit floppy and did the "bad144" from there, after which the system came up fine. So, does bad block scanning at boot time currupt the disklabel? BTW, the bad blocks were somewhere in the last third, that is, not in the label nor in the maintenance blocks. Adrian _________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Adrian Steinmann Steinmann Consulting Apollostrasse 21 8032 Zurich Tel +41 1 380 30 83 Fax +41 1 380 30 85 Mailto:ast@marabu.ch