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#! rnews 3705 sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.uwa.edu.au!classic.iinet.com.au!news.uoknor.edu!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!paladin.american.edu!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!uunet!tcsi.tcs.com!agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!newshub.nosc.mil!news!passion.nosc.mil!usenet From: lima <lima> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Cannot mount root during install? Date: 10 May 1995 21:41:17 GMT Organization: NRaD, San Diego Lines: 71 Message-ID: <3orbtt$su9@passion.nosc.mil> References: <3o4lp2$b2i@nntp1.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: apple.nosc.mil Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.03 9000/750) X-URL: news:3o4lp2$b2i@nntp1.u.washington.edu tzs@u.washington.edu (Tim Smith) wrote: >I'm having some problems trying to install FreeBSD 2.0. I'm trying to >install on my second IDE drive. I'm deviating slightly from the [snip] >Here's what I did: > > 1. Boot from the floppy. > 2. Make the FreeBSD partition with fdisk. > 3. Use disklabel to specify my root and swap areas in the > FreeBSD partition. > 4. Tell it to proceed. > >It seems to successfully make the BSD filesystem, and copies a bunch of >stuff to it. It then tells me to reboot to start from the hard disk and >finish the installation. > >At this point, I reboot from the floppy, and type "hd(1,a)/kernel" >at the boot prompt. It loads the kernel from the hard disk, and >is very happy until it gets to the point where it should mount the >root. Then it panics with a "cannot mount root" message, and I've >got to reboot. > >Anyone have any ideas? > >--Tim Smith I had *exactly* the same problem. The only thing I can think of now is that perhaps FreeBSD "will install perfectly fine on a second drive" as long as it's a SCSI drive -- unfortunately I have two IDE drives: wd0: Western Digital Caviar AH2700 [sic] ~700 MB wd1: Western Digital Caviar AH31200 [sic] ~1.2 GB I tried the following (without success -- any tips are appreciated!): - put each drive on thier own primary IDE channel (per instructions for my el cheap-o VLB 4HDD controller card) resulting in BSD "seeing" the drives correctly, but same cannot mount root problem AND making my other OSs non-bootable. I figured the later problem was due to possibly broken controller, as I never tried using both IDE channels at once. - tried to install to BSD slice on first HD -- this slice begins after primary DOS partition (504MB). When it went to reboot, the boot manager could not boot off of that partition presumably because it began beyond cylinder 1024 (my idea). I really didn't want to repartition the first slice, and I had doubts about my controller card, so... - bought a *new* VLB I/O Controller. This one has on-board BIOS, and allows driver-less access to >528MB drives. I thought, "this is just what I need." NOW, DOS fdisk sees both drives in their entirety just fine. BUT...FreeBSD boot floppy will not even proceed with the kernel startup -- it just goes right into a system reboot immediatly upon system probe sequence. I only see that '|' -> '/' -> '-' thing change once or twice, then...reboot. I/O Controller is: SIDE jr. Pro (jumperless) Dual IDE Channel (Mode 3/4/5), ANSI ATA 3.1 compatible 2 16550AF UARTS, NS16C550 compatible ECP/EPP/SPP/Bi-Directional, IEEE 1284 compliant 2.88MB FDC BIOS version 2.0B 01/95 I *really* like this new I/O controller. Any ideas why FreeBSD pukes on bootup now (will it not work with controllers that have BIOS)? I'm also using FreeBSD 2.0 (CDROM), on Intel 486-66 8MB S3-805VLB system. -- John D. Lima lima@nosc.mil