4.9, 5.1 boot failure after install

[danl at solvnet.net]

We finally have mail working again. I heard a number of responses. 
though none was the actual solution, corporately they massaged one 
to being. From one guy who installed redhat, to someone using the 
live disk, to adjusting bootstraps I still couldn't get to the file system, 
even after installing slackware. Problem is the hologram was writing 
over the error prompt. It wasn't until I used the raid device format and 
attempted to install that I got a readable error "not close enough to 
boundary edge" that I caught on that I probably had a geometry 
problem. I installed slackware but that didn't work. 

Out of frustration I installed windows 2000 and successfully replaced it 
with 4.9. I then tried to replace that with 5.1 and it failed. I then tried to 
reinstall 4.9 and that failed. I then went back to installing windows 
2000 then replacing it with 4.9 and writing the geometry down. On the 
next attempt to install 5.1 I saw the geometry changed and the install 
failed. I attempted to reinstall 4.9 and it failed. I again reinstalled 4.9 
changing the geometry to what I'd written down and the install was 
successful.

The geometry chosen by windows worked. Now I don't know if it is the 
best economy (could be windows huge blocks wasting space on small 
files) but it does work. Here's the rub, this geometry is a lucky guess 
on 17G drives, what about when I replace them with 50 or 80G drives. 
How do I figure out the proper geometry? I'd like to setup 5.1 before I 
commit this box to the network, but it needs a different geometry that I 
couldn't guess. Is there a requirement standard? A special offset at the 
start of the disk space?

any help much appreciated.

Dan


To:             	danl at solvnet.net
Copies to:      	freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
Send reply to:  	freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
Subject:        	Re: 4.9, 5.1 boot failure after install
From:           	Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local at be-well.ilk.org>
Date sent:      	27 Dec 2003 10:11:21 -0500

> danl at solvnet.net writes:
> 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I had 4.9 release working and did a clean install of 5.1 release over 
> > the 4.9 and ended up with boot failure after install. Using allBSD 
> > partition and standard MBR I get a missing operating system error. If I 
> > use the FreeBSD boot I just get "default F1" and a beep. Now trying to 
> > install the 4.9 gives the same results.
> > 
> > I'm using a Mylex DAC960ptl (accelraid 250) with the primary disk 
> > setup as JBOD. I set the bootable disk as active but everytime I go 
> > back to config fdisk the flag is not set. 
> > 
> > I then upgraded and flashed the RAID card, reformatted the disks and 
> > tried a 4.9 install, again with the same results.
> > 
> > Is there an issue with the DAC card geometry or BIOS? Or a subtle 
> > quirk that isn't documented yet?
> 
> Sounds more like you're not using the option to actually write out the
> results to disk.  (W)rite, maybe?