Boot Issues with FC2

Wed Jun 23 00:49:55 UTC 2004

It's 16,383 cylinders - and this figure comes right off the hard drive label 
- not BIOS. It's also in bold print in the manufacturer's spec sheet.

I had to do the same thing in FreeBSD to make it install correctly - 
configure the geometry to show 16,383 - and that did the trick. I can't find 
where to do that in Fedora.

>From: "Mark Lanett" <mlanett at parrotchat.net>
>Reply-To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>To: "For users of Fedora Core releases" <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>Subject: Re: Boot Issues with FC2
>Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 17:43:48 -0700
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>
>I would be careful when deciding what the "true" CHS values are. 16384
>sounds like a translated cylinder count - it's too neat. You should 
>probably
>google "chs translation" to understand the different CHS tuples; also look
>at the physical hard drive, which probably has LBA CHS values printed on it
>rather than BIOS-translated ones.
>
>~mark
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Lonnie Santella" <lonniesantella at hotmail.com>
>To: <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 5:32 PM
>Subject: Re: Boot Issues with FC2
>
>
> > Okay - so I have something to start with - thank you very much. Fdisk
> > displayed 38792 cylinders, when it should be 16,383 cylinders. Now my 
>next
> > problem is: where do I declare that with Fedora?  When I choose to 
>manual
> > configure disk with Disk Druid - there's now place to edit the CHS 
>values.
> > How do I accomplish this?
> >
> >
> > >From: Jeff Vian <jvian10 at charter.net>
> > >Reply-To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> > >To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> > >Subject: Re: Boot Issues with FC2
> > >Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:23:35 -0500
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> > >
> > >
> > >Lonnie Santella wrote:
> > >
> > >>Can someone please take a shot at this?  seems like a fundamental
>problem,
> > >>but I've exhausted all my resources. All support docs seem to suggest
>the
> > >>same thing, which doesn't work: directories relative to /boot.
> > >>
> > >>Bottom line is, Red Hat 9.0 installs fine on same machine - but FC2
>always
> > >>produces the same problem (below).
> > >>
> > >>Here?s a quick review of my environment:
> > >>
> > >>(1) Always a COMPLETELY clean install ? using Drive Image utility to
>erase
> > >>all partitions and restore MBR.
> > >>
> > >>(2) Two machines, both Asus P4 clones with 1 GB RAM, and 1 Western
>Digital
> > >>20 GB hard drive each.
> > >>
> > >>(3) Both machines have subsequently loaded Redhat 9.0 and ran 
>flawlessly
>?
> > >>no problems at all.
> > >>
> > >>(4) I have two different ISO image CD?s from two different mirrors ?
>both
> > >>with verified MD5Sum?s and both producing the exact same problem each
> > >>time.
> > >>
> > >>So I?ve been trying to install FC2 ? I?ve just finished my 11th 
>attempt.
> > >>Following the advice of different threads and release notes, I always 
>go
> > >>back to a fresh install before trying anything new.
> > >>
> > >>To minimize variables, I keep the install as simple as possible. I
>choose
> > >>?Automatic Partition?, which creates a 100MB /boot on hda1, a 17GB ?/?
> > >>(root) on hda2, and a 2GB swap on hda3. I also choose a ?minimal?
>install
> > >>to eliminate possible variables from the other CD?s ? this way I only
>have
> > >>to use CD1.
> > >
> > >Try doing a manual partition.  Also verify that the bios is set to lba
>for
> > >these drives and that fdisk shows the correct lba CHS parameters for 
>the
> > >drives.
> > >
> > >
> > >>
> > >>Each time, the install itself is flawless. But after the first reboot 
>?
> > >>and naturally each time thereafter, immediately following the POST, I
>get
> > >>a black screen with the word ?GRUB? in the upper left corner. No
>response
> > >>to keyboard strokes or mouse movement at that point.
> > >>
> > >>I have to rule out hardware ? since this problem with FC2, I have
> > >>successfully installed and ran RedHat 9.0 and FreeBSD 4.10. I always 
>use
>a
> > >>tried and true utility to erase the hard drives of all partitions and
> > >>restore MBR before installing anything new. This guarantees a pristine
> > >>physical drive during the install.
> > >>
> > >>I compared the grub.conf files on each machine after the FC2 install.
>They
> > >>are identical. No big surprise there I guess. Then, just for further
> > >>comparison, I isolated one machine and wiped it clean, and loaded 
>RedHat
> > >>9.0. Then I compared it?s grub.conf to that of the FC2 install. Almost
> > >>identical except for the ?/? (root) and swap partitions. In each case
>the
> > >>/boot partition is always the first (hda1). In FC2, the ?/? root
>partition
> > >>is the second one (hda2) followed but the swap on hda3. But in RedHat
>9.0,
> > >>the swap is on hda2, followed by the / root on hda3. No big deal 
>there,
> > >>the grub.conf files compensate for this but looking to hda2 on FC2 and
> > >>hda3 on RedHat 9.0 as one would expect.
> > >>
> > >>Both grub.conf files from FC2 and RedHat 9.0 list an entry as follows:
> > >>
> > >>Root (hd0,0)
> > >>
> > >>? I?m not sure if having different root partitions should affect this 
>or
> > >>not, but it?s the same in both OS?s.
> > >>
> > >>One other thing I thought was odd is that on both machines, the 
>standard
> > >>FC2 install puts a strange format or partition table on the physical
> > >>drive; so much so that it takes a few extreme steps to wipe the
>partition
> > >>info off the drive. Normally I would just use the ?delete? function of
>the
> > >>utility, which works for all the RedHat dirstros and FreeBSD ? but in
>FC2
> > >>it generates and error stating that it can?t delete the partition. I
>have
> > >>to use a utility called ?bigfdisk? then put a dos partition on it, 
>then
> > >>delete the dos partition ? to get everything set back to a completely
> > >>empty hard drive.
> > >
> > >This is the clue that you may need to check the CHS values and do a
>manual
> > >partiton
> > >
> > >I suspect you are seeing the bug related to some mobo/bios and the lba
> > >parameters with the 2.6 kernel and partitoning.
> > >
> > >My MSI mobo had this problem and after I manually set the CHS 
>parameters
>on
> > >the disk it worked perfectly.
> > >
> > >I thought I had the link to the fix for this bookmarked but I can't 
>find
>it
> > >right now.
> > >
> > >Maybe someone can repost the link here.
> > >
> > >>
> > >>I?d really like to give FC2 a test run ? been looking forward to it.
>I?ve
> > >>read the release notes, and browsed for two solid days through news
> > >>threads and docs. I?m stuck, could you please help me out here?
> > >>
> > >>Thanks in advance,
> > >>
> > >>Lonnie
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >--
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> >
> >
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