*BSD News Article 39039


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From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: Re: Booting FreeBSD from 3rd HD
Date: 6 Dec 1994 21:50:49 GMT
Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman  Montana
Lines: 36
Message-ID: <3c2mbp$pqt@pdq.coe.montana.edu>
References: <3c2abl$pej@krel.iea.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: bsd.coe.montana.edu

In article <3c2abl$pej@krel.iea.com>, Jeong Lee <jeongl@comtch.iea.com> wrote:
>I've got a slight problem with FreeBSD 2.0R and it's that it doesn't like 
>to boot from a 3rd HD.  Here is my setup:

I suspect the  reason is because FreeBSD uses the BIOS to find and boot
the kernel, and most BIOS's only support 2 drives.  Some SCSI adaptors
(newer Adaptecs) use their own BIOS which give you support for > 2
drives, but I suspect when you mix and match IDE/SCSI you won't get the
IDE support you want.

>The only way I was able to boot off of the 3rd HD (2nd SCSI drive) was to 
>disable the IDE HD in CMOS and type in 'sd(1,a)/kernel' at the Boot 
>prompt.  I've tried 'hd(2,a)/kernel' and 'sd(2,a)/kernel' with all three 
>drive enabled and I am able to boot up the kernel; however, as soon as it 
>tries to mount the root directory it will either look for the /dev/wd0a 
>or /dev/sd2a partition, respectively, and it will reboot because FreeBSD 
>is not on either of those drives.

This could be a problem with /etc/fstab or with your kernel.  You may
need to compile a custom kernel for yourself, and use a line like:

config          "kernel"        root on sd1 swap on sd1 dumps on sd1

>For some reason 'sd(1,a)/kernel' doesn't seem to work when all three 
>drives are enabled.  My guess, is that it is looking at the 2nd drive 
>which is the 1st SCSI HD.

It should work, but see my original statement.


Nate
-- 
nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu     |  FreeBSD dude and all around tech.
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work #: (406) 994-4836       |  Unemployed, looking for permanant work in
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