>Number:         8309
>Category:       port-i386
>Synopsis:       Tekram scsi card shows weird geometry after formatted with NetBSD
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    port-i386-maintainer (NetBSD/i386 Portmaster)
>State:          open
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Wed Sep  1 19:05:00 1999
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Jun-ichiro itojun Hagino
>Organization:
	itojun.org
>Release:        NetBSD 1.4.1 (boot floppy)
>Environment:
	4G harddisk connected via Tekram DC390 scsi card

>Description:
	I have a harddisk with the following geometry, connected via Tekram
	DC390 SCSI card.
		525cyls/255head/63sectors

	After I format a harddisk by using NetBSD 1.4.1 (or 1.4) boot floppy,
	Tekram card will show weird geometry on bootstrap time (before NetBSD
	boot block runs), like:
		65535cyls/78heads/1sectors (value sometimes varies)
	and tekram card fails to find bootblock.  This behavior is repeatable,
	regardless of:
	- how I answer to "is it correct geometry" message from boot floppy
	- how I format ("use entire disk" or "share disk with other OSes")
	- which FDISK partition NetBSD partition resides

>How-To-Repeat:
	- grab a machine with TEkram DC390 scsi card
	- install NetBSD to harddisk with NetBSD boot floppy
	- reboot from harddisk, and you'll see weird geometry on Tekram
	  diag and boot failure
>Fix:
	Don't know.

	For testing purpose, I tried FreeBSD 2.2.8 boot floppy and it did not 
	show this symptom.

	My feeling is that, the information written on NetBSD bootblock
	is not compatible with Tekram card (and FreeBSD one is more
	compatible).
	- Is it Tekram problem or NetBSD problem?  Is Tekram special?
	  Anyway we can't pursuade Tekram to update firmware NetBSD side
	  needs to be modified somehow...
	- Do other guys experience this symptom?
	  no PR was filed for this I think.
	- Do you have any idea how to fix it?
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: