I (still) receive the digest, copied message without quoting characters
------------- QUOTE:
We have done a low level disk format using an ultimate
boot cd. Didn't output any errors. Did this on both
drives in the system. Took a very long time.
Then, tried to install the OS. Received a panic on
installing the comp set, ffs_valloc dup alloc.
Reconfigured to have all install go to one drive.
Same error, different inode. Tried all on other drive,
same error, different inode. Kept trying it over and
over. Always panicked on comp set. Always same error
of ffs_valloc dup alloc. Always a different inode.
I am unable to copy in the actual error. I just have
this on a monitor in the room. No console capability.
Same dmesg as before in this thread. I can post again
if needed.
My question is, to debug this, or fix it, do I need
to start swapping out cables, hard disks, motherboard,
etc? Any hints or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
JohnM
------------ /QUOTE
John, since you were able to boot the ultimate boot cd and run both
drives completely, I don't think any hardware is the culprit. Your CD
drive, Hard Drive(s), memory, etc all work under that OS.
My mindset is now leading to some bug that OpenBSD is doing (probably)
with the ATA controller. Probe from the ultimate boot cd to see what
ATA controller it is using, and then find what OpenBSD is finding the
ATA controller to be. A minor model difference could be the culprit
(model 1234 versus model 1234a, for example).
Bug may not be the right word, but it's what's coming to mind. Not to
steer away from OpenBSD, but if the three big BSDs all have trouble, we
might be able to limit what might be the problem. FreeBSD operating
system runs on a live CD either with their disc1 (install disk, look
for the "fixit" option and then select "CD/DVD") start running things
like dd and etc to run data on the drive. Nothing valuable there now
anyway, is there? Maybe using a *rand device under /dev
NetBSD doesn't have (AFAIK) a live-cd, but i'm pretty sure you can
escape to shell from their installer. Run similar/same tools. get
dmesg from both Free and Net while you're on it. save it to external
medium (usb stick, floppy). Compare the findings to OpenBSD's dmesg.
Basically, it boils down to the fact that one OS ran for several hours
with CONSTANT hdd activity with no errors. I think it's a software
problem, including drivers into the software category.
Thanks!
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