Subject: Re: 1.3: "Missing operating system"
To: Olaf Seibert <rhialto@polder.ubc.kun.nl>
From: Frank van der Linden <frank@wins.uva.nl>
List: port-i386
Date: 02/07/1998 01:36:47
On Sat, Feb 07, 1998 at 01:04:05AM +0100, Olaf Seibert wrote:
> I just installed 1.3 on a test pc with a SCSI disk connected to an
> Adaptec 1542 controller. 
> 
> NetBSD detects 2756 cyl, 8 head, 94 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 2074880 sectors.
> 
> Sysinst objected to this (more than 64 sectors) and REQUIRED me to
> enter some other geometry. However, the geometry as reported by the
> BIOS (according to sysinst) was identical. So sysinst would not accept
> the values it suggested I should use. Irritation #1.

The BIOS values can not always be determined correctly by sysinst. In
this case, it noticed that it had it wrong, because > 64 sec/track
is an impossible BIOS geometry.

You should find out what the BIOS really uses, by, for example, 
running the pfdisk program from DOS and see what it reports (from DOS
it's easy to get the BIOS geometry; from NetBSD it's harder because
there might not be a way to match something like "sd1" to "BIOS disk
#N"). It is unfortunate that sysinst can't always get it right, but..
It's also documented in the INSTALL doc.

You need to find out what your adaptec BIOS really uses, do a re-install,
when it asks if the geometry is OK, choose 'no', and specifiy the geometry
that you determined.

- Frank