On Mon, Jan 26, 1998 at 08:40:44PM -0500, Bruce Walker wrote:
> 
> Funny thing: I have the very same problem (system won't boot from
> hard disk), and I checked: the NetBSD partition is marked Active.
> 
> My system is a 486DX4/100, 32M RAM, Vesa Local Bus Adaptec SCSI,
> 500M hard disk (and Sony SCSI CD, VLB ATI video).  I have re-run
> the installation in different ways several times now.  Each time
> I get a nicely installed system, all packages on the drive, but it
> won't boot.  It simply freezes immediately after the normal BIOS
> messages. I don't get the kernel version message or the booter
> stuff; just blankness.

I've seen these problems with other people too, and it seems to
happen for people with SCSI controllers (most notable adaptec,
but that could be a coincidence). It maybe a geometry problem.

Could you compare what the NetBSD fdisk reports as being the
"BIOS geometry" and what a DOS utility (or possibly the controller's
BIOS) report as geometry. This is not the "real" geometry, but
a faked one used in booting.

- Frank