Re: Boot loader doesn't see [root filesystem on] ATA disk after successful install

[Joel]

On Tue, 10 May 2005 22:23:28 -0700 (PDT)
(BBrian O'Shea <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
(B
(B> [...]
(B> There is a boot loader installed in the MBR of both disks, but I am
(B> trying to boot the IDE disk from the loader on its own MBR.  I didn't
(B> try booting the loader from the SCSI disk and then having it try to
(B> boot the IDE disk, but I don't think it would make a difference.  I'll
(B> give it a try tomorrow though, just for the sake completeness.
(B
(BFrom what little I've seen, it could be worth a try if you have the time.
(B
(B> [...]
(B> It can boot from the CD-ROM drive, which is on the same ATA controller.
(B> I have both the IDE disk and the CD-ROM drive set to cable select for
(B> their master/slave configuration.  Could this be the problem? 
(B
(BI am told that cable select is more reliable with modern cables, less
(Breliable with older cables. (UDMA being modern if I recall correctly.)
(BYou can search the web on "UDMA cable" to get quite a bit of information
(Bon the cabling and positioning issues. There's a site called, I think,
(Bpcguide, that is quite helpful.
(B
(B> I'll
(B> try explicitly setting the IDE disk to master and CD-ROM to slave.
(B
(BFrom what I've read and what I've experienced, putting hard disks and
(BCD-ROMs on the same channel is counterproductive. Boot problems and data
(Bproblems are said to be likely on many controller and drive combinations.
(B
(B> > If you can boot from the SCSI, check the dmesg there to see whether the
(B> > ATA controller is recognized by the older system. That wouldn't give an
(B> > absolute answer, but might yield a clue.
(B> 
(B> The older system can see the CD-ROM drive, so it must be recognizing the
(B> ATA controller.  I'll post the relevant dmesg output tomorrow though.
(B> 
(B> > I hear that it's usually best to just let freeBSD's formatting utilities
(B> > do what they think they should and not try to meddle with that. 
(B> 
(B> Oh, well.  Too late for that!  Maybe I can set it back to the old
(B> values. 
(B
(BWhen I was trying to set the geometry by hand, I found that fdisk and
(Bdisklabel would go back to the geometry they thought was best.
(B
(B> However, when I changed the geometry to what the BIOS thought
(B> was correct, the reported disk size was closer to the advertised size.
(B> In both cases though the symptom was the same.
(B
(BI thought I noticed something like that happen at one point while trying
(Bto set the geometry by hand, but I dom't remember the details.
(B
(B--
(BJoel Rees   <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
(Bdigitcom, inc.   $B3t<02qhttp://www.ddcom.co.jp> **
(B
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