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List:       freebsd-stable
Subject:    Re: BTX halted boot failure during 4.6 install
From:       Doug White <dwhite () resnet ! uoregon ! edu>
Date:       2002-06-29 21:47:46
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On Fri, 28 Jun 2002, Mike Durian wrote:

> On Fri, 28 Jun 2002 17:05:51 PDT, Doug White <dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> >> I'll see what I can find.  How does it have some programs that require
> >> windows?
> >
> >It boots to Windows3.1 off the CD.  :-)
> >
> >We just got a metric ton of these CDs from a large purchase and can mail
> >one to you if you need it.
>
> I found one on a shelf.  M.04.00.  I think it was from 2001.  I was able
> to update the BIOS one small increment, but that was it.  Most of the
> firmware was up-to-date.  It did not fix my problem.

That's a pretty old one actually, the one shipping is M.04.05.

> >That is probably the problem. Try booting a DOS floppy and wipe & recreate
> >the table (if you don't care for whats on the box).
>
> Really?  Is this true across the boards?  People can't update Linux
> to FreeBSD when using certain adaptec controllers regardless of
> system type?

This is only a problem if you do not have a DOS partition table on the
disk. The Adaptec BIOS tries to grok it and screws up badly if it is not
there.

That's been a problem all the way back to the L440GX+ board.  if you
traced the BTX error the IP ends up in the Adaptec BIOS somewhere.

> I'm don't think I can take this risk unless I'm 100% sure I'll be
> able to bring FreeBSD up once I wipe Linux.  I don't mind clearing
> the disk, but I've got to have the machine up and running, be it
> Linux or FreeBSD.

Got a spare disk you could drop in then?

> Even if this is a BIOS error, it seems to me the BTX loader should
> be able to work around it.  After all, the other OSes can boot
> with the buggy BIOS.

Loader != LILO :)  Linux does have problems, but since they don't have
their own disklabel they generally get around it, unless you have an ext2
filesystem right on the disk instead of in a partition.  ('mke2fs
/dev/hda' will do that.)

Doug White                    |  FreeBSD: The Power to Serve
dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu     |  www.FreeBSD.org


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