noud de brouwer wrote:
> 
> on the 386 i do :
> disklabel -w -r /dev/wd1a maxtor130
> newfs /dev/wd1a
> newfs: /dev/wd1a: not a character-special device

% ls -l /dev/wd1a
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    0,   8 Jul 26 19:31 /dev/wd1a
^
shows that wd1a is a block device, so try

% ls -l /dev/rwd1a
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    3,   8 Jul 26 19:31 /dev/rwd1a
^
rwd1a which is a character device.

> on a 486 with:
> but this one, after crashing later on in the day
> doesn't fsck or mount the disk after a reset.

Is there a line like

/dev/wd1a /other_disk ffs rw 1 2

in your /etc/fstab ?


Good luck,

 Patrick