Hi,

During upgrade to NetBSD 1.3.3 (i386), soon after the start, when it has
had a look at the disk, sysinst puts up one of those boxes framed with
"*". The frame partially obscures a message; the part I can see says:

    *****ld-NetBSD or FreeBSD. See installboot(8).
        *
        *

This appears to be a reference to the partition ID in the MBR. I checked
with fdisk. The first three partition are marked as "unused"; the third
has a sysid of 165 and flag value of 0x80. I believe that this means
NetBSD/active.

I can boot the system with the boot code on the sysinst floppy but not
directly, i.e. when I remove the floppy, the system hangs before booting.
While booting, the system complains about the sysid just before the first
kernel messages. I have tried "fdisk -i" and "fdisk -u"; I have also done
(from /usr/mdec) "installboot biosboot.sym /dev/rwd0a". No progress. I did
the installboot on the live system, should I do it from a floppy boot?

What is the correct sysid for NetBSD? I get the impression it has changed.

You may have noticed that I have had many questions about MBRs and such. I
come from a PDP, VAX, Alpha, and SPARC background. This WinTel stuff is
all new (and wierd) to me.

Thanks for your help and patience.

--------------------
Claude Marinier, Information Technology Group    claude.marinier@dreo.dnd.ca 
Defence Research Establishment Ottawa (DREO)    (613) 998-4901  FAX 998-2675
3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0Z4         http://www.dreo.dnd.ca