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List:       openbsd-mobile
Subject:    Re: OpenBSD-mobile: Multi-OS Large Disk Install, Sony Vaio
From:       "Richard Johnson" <rdump () river ! com>
Date:       2000-11-27 19:15:17
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At 00:57 -0700 on 11/26/00, Gwendolynn ferch Elydyr wrote:
> Hola!
>
> I've got a Sony Vaio Z505-JS, and am trying to install OpenBSD on it, with
> limited success. Unfortunately, due to work constraints, I'm obliged to
> keep an M$ OS (Win2K Server, in this case) on my laptop.
>
> Hardware wise - 128Mb RAM, 650Mhz processor, 12Gb drive.
>
> The 12Gb drive is where the problem comes in. I've got Win2k installed on
> the first 8 gig of the drive, and it appears that OpenBSD isn't able to
> recognize that the drive is larger than 8 gig.
>
> Suggestions or SOLs would be appreciated.
>


I've worked around the BIOS problem with disk size reporting on my z505ls.
Here's what I posted last month:

 | Hard disk configuration -- This model Vaio has a 20GB disk, but the BIOS
 | reports the maximum (translated) cylinder number is 1023 instead of the
 | actual maximum of 2432.  LBA numbers are correct, which is noted by
 | fdisk.  Arranging the disk for OpenBSD install required manually running
 | fdisk with "-c 2432 -h 255 -s 63".  Configuration was then successful
 | with my various FAT-32 and Linux partitions (created with Partition
 | Magic, and edited/tweaked with Ranish Partition Manager) properly set up
 | automatically in the OpenBSD disklabel.

You should be able to get the actual translated cylinder max from boot time
messages (or from /kern/msgbuf if you miss it scrolling by).

I left DOS-2000 on its original FAT-32 partition at the start of the disk.
However, I resized that FAT-32 with Partition Magic to bring its top end
well below the (translated) 1024 cylinder boundary.  That's still necessary
(feh) to make OpenBSD's and Linux's root|boot partitions bootable on this
machine.


Richard

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