Can't boot NanoBSD on an Alix board

[Lyle Scott III]

On Dec 9, 2007 12:34 PM, M. Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:

> In message: <5a1835cd0712090859r94e8375yb254ae193ee6d9f7 at mail.gmail.com>
>            "Lyle Scott III" <portcitycs at gmail.com> writes:
> : and how might i do that on my flash card?  I read a little about
> boot0cfg
> : (man pages) and see the option -o packet  .. is this what i need?
>
> Yes.
>
> : how would i go about setting this in my flashcard that is mounted in
> another
> : freebsd system?
>
> There's two supported ways.  First, you can plug it into a PC Card <->
> CF adapter and use that in a PC Card slot.  Second, you can plug it
> into a USB flash reader.  In the first case, you'll get a device
> that's adX, and in the latter you'll get one that's daX.
>
> boot0cfg -o packet /dev/adX
> or
> boot0cfg -o packet /dev/daX
>
> should then do the trick (where X is the actual device).
>
> : i read that packet mode == LBA mode BIOS setting?  is this true?
> : (
> http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2004-January/018907.html
> : )
> : if so, LBA does not work either.  The same result happens.
> :
> : i nudge in the right direction would be much appreciated :)
>
> If LBA mode doesn't work, then you have to figure out what the exact
> geometry is for the device.  You'll need to set this geometry on the
> flash by having the partition end exactly on a cylinder boundary so
> that the BIOS and FreeBSD will be in sync as to the geometry of the
> device.  This may mean you'll need to recreate it after
> repartitioning.  If you used a usb flash reader, you will almost
> certainly get the wrong geometry (I've never had one that got it
> right, due to the fictious geometry used by CAM or umass for the
> device, I think).
>
> Warner
>
> : On Dec 8, 2007 10:48 PM, M. Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:
> :
> : > In message: <
> 5a1835cd0712081917i17f55b5cy59b396cb1cd7f4da at mail.gmail.com>
> : >            "Lyle Scott III" <portcitycs at gmail.com> writes:
> : > : ok, i just upgraded the BIOS and  now it hands after choosing 1 for
> the
> : > : bootloader:
> : > :
> : > : 640 KB Base Memory
> : > : 261120 KB Extended Memory
> : > :
> : > : 01F0 Master 848A SanDisk SDCFB-512
> : > : Phys C/H/S 993/16/63 Log C/H/S 993/16/63
> : > :
> : > : 1   FreeBSD
> : > :
> : > : Default: 1
> : > : [FREEZE]
> : >
> : > Try using the packet mode of boot0
> : >
> : > Warner
> : >
>

Hm, well i am using a  usb flash card reader... but the ALIX board works
great when i put in the diskinfo information into the tinybsd setup
script... but i guess this is different.
I tried 'boot0cfg -o packet /dev/da0' but with no luck.  With that setting i
tried CHS and LBA mode on the alix board, both with the same result.

So i guess this is the GEOMETRY problem you were talking about (and have
since read quite a few pages about).

I'm afraid i don't exactly understand the part about
"You'll need to set this geometry on the flash by having the partition end
exactly on a cylinder boundary so that the BIOS and FreeBSD will be in sync
as to the geometry of the
device."

I get what you are saying, but i'm not quite sure i understand how to do
that.  I specified the info from diskinfo -v /dev/da0 and put it in a
myconf.conf file for NanoBSD... i thought that would take care of it.

hostname# diskinfo -v /dev/da0
/dev/da0
        512             # sectorsize
        512483328       # mediasize in bytes (489M)
        1000944         # mediasize in sectors
        488             # Cylinders according to firmware.
        64              # Heads according to firmware.
        32              # Sectors according to firmware.

hehe sorry never had to deal with such a lowlevel problem!  i'm learning..
i guess i can go pick up a pccard adapter of some sort.  I am trying to keep
this off my laptop, so would a PCI flash card reader work properly  with
writing the proper geometry?

-- 
Lyle Scott, III
http://www.lylescott.ws