*BSD News Article 94015


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From: Vlad <roubtsov@uiuc.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: CDROM Installation Probs.
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 02:31:25 -0500
Organization: Baphomet's Throne
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Adam L. Simpson wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi... the scenario is this:
> I am installing 2.1.7.  I have tried the following:
> 
> I first tried via the cdrom... this failed because of the cdrom being ide i am
> assuming.. Do I need to go scsi with the cdrom drive?

I think the following is true: prior to v2.2.1 the kernel that was
packed inside the boot floppy didn't have atapi cdrom support switched
on, despite it being on in kernel.GENERIC. I have an IDE cdrom and I
have verified myself that it isn't recognized when booting into v2.1.5
install program but it _is_ recognized by v2.2.1 boot floppy. I am still
using v2.1.5 [so, to perform the abovementioned check I downloaded
boot.flp image for v2.2.1 from FreeBSD ftp site] and I know I wouldn't
have been able to install from a CD back then -- _even though_ the atapi
support was good enough in v2.1.5 already [at least for my Toshiba 12x].

If you insist on installing directly from CD, either get a SCSI cdrom or
FreeBSD 2.2.1 CD (which way is cheaper? :) 

> 
> I then tried xcopy to a dos partition on the d drive and tried to install it to
> the c drive wd0 which also failed.

Wait a sec, don't the pre-install instructions specify that for DOS
install you must have the ditribution in C:\FREEBSD ? (_not_ D: or
whatever).

> 
> I have tried the setup program that transfers the files to the drive and tried
> to install that way.... that too failed.

I am not sure what you mean above...

> 
> I guess the questions I have are:
> 
> 1.  Do you have any tips for me to enable this to suceed?

(A) I have installed different FreeBSD versions from DOS partitions
successfully several times. The distribution files _must_ be on C: DOS
drive [or should I say, 1st BIOS drive, i.e. drive # 80h ?]. (somebody
from the core team could confirm if the install program uses BIOS int
13h to read dist files from C: or not)

If this is not your case, could you swap drives at least temporarily so
that the one you're installing _on_ is _not_ c:? Later on you may swap
them back if necessary, but you may need to edit /etc/fstab to make sure
everything can be mounted in the new configuration. I have played with
such things and it is possible.

(B) Another important issue: BIOS translation for your IDE drives. You
_must_ switch it off for the drive you install _on_. If it's the same
drive that has distribution files for from-DOS install, you may have to
reformat it without translation. BIOS translation works around 1024
cylinder int 13h limit (and others). Go to your BIOS setup and check if
it says something like "LBA" or "Large" next to your drive types. What
you need is "CHS" or "Normal". You can read up on BIOS translation issue
in "EIDE .. FAQ", can't remember the link right now, get it from my
collection at http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/~roubtsov/ (in fact, read the
FAQ _before_ changing anything)

(C) If you stick to your v2.1.7 CD+IDE cdrom combo and hence must do an
install from DOS, either install on a different disk or on a second
partition of the same disk. In the latter case make sure your FreeBSD
partition starts at a cylinder # that is <1024 [because of the
translation issue again]. DOS fdisk will report a smaller disk size than
the actual size -- don't worry about it, FreeBSD will use the rest
correctly.

(D) Finally, don't specify "bad block checking" in disklabel or
partition editor for IDE drives -- it won't work, since you will have
switched BIOS translation off at that point and bad144 program does its
scan and then attempts to write a bad block map via int 13h at some
cylinder (the last one?) that is already inaccessible.

Whew... Confused even more now :) ?

> 2.  Is it simply replacing the ide cdrom with a scsi?

Not necessarly [see above].

> 3.  Have you had as much grief installing fbsd on your machines?  Will we
> alsways have this sort of hassle?

As far as my experience is concerned, the only unexpected part was that
bad block checking option mentioned in (D) above. Kind of annoying to
wait through the lengthy bad block scan only to see the install program
fail after that. Otherwise several installs from DOS partition or using
ftp went without a glitch.

> 
> Pentium Pro 200Mhz, 2 4Gb ide harddrives, 128Mb RAM, Toshiba 12x ide cdrom

Hey ,I've just noticed: you cdrom is the same as mine... Am I in trouble
with v2.2.1 :) ? Nah...I think not...Will order the CD some time soon... 

> my dos partition was 200Mb and the entire disk was 4gb.  I tried to so an
> install from wdo to wd1 so yes, we were on the second partition.  I 

No, no: wd0 and wd1 don't refer to different partitions -- they are
different drives. Say, I have 1 ide disk split into a tiny DOS partition
and the rest given to BSD, then DOS is wd0s1, while BSD's /usr, /var are
wd0s2f and wd0s2e and so on. FreeBSD "slice" scheme is explained in one
of help screens of the sysinstall program -- press F1 when in "FreeBSD
disklabel editor" and read all of it. Things appear confusing because of
terminology: DOS-fdisk-style partitions [the ones written in the
partiton table in the master boot record at the start of every hard
drive] <-> FreeBSD partitions [usual UNIX meaning].

> were errors displayed...
> 
> It put me in the mode of # and never asked me for login or anything... kindo of
> like files not being there or somthing..
> 

May well be the translation issue at work here.

> I appreciate the help..
> 
> Adam L. Simpson

Sure, let us know when you succeed.

Vlad.