Problem OBSD i386 install
Problem Obsd 3.2 I386 Install
Thursday, 23 October 2003 22:29 Hrs
❝ To: misc@openbsd.org Subject: problem 3.2 i386 install From: peter renshaw Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 22:29:18 +1000

An email from misc@openbsd.org, 'problem 3.2 i386 install' from 2003.

To: misc@openbsd.org
Subject: problem 3.2 i386 install
From: peter renshaw <goonmail@netspace.net.au>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 22:29:18 +1000
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.5) Gecko/20031013 Thunderbird/0.3

    Hi all,

        I'm having fun installing OpenBsd 3.2 using an official CD [0] to a
    low-end i386 [1].  Post installation the machine will not boot.  The install
    steps I've tried include ...

    1. zero out HD/MBR
    2. boot via floppy (no problems)
    3. fdisk (error reported)
    4. disklabel (error reported)
    5. install software (error reported)
    6. post install (correct error set boot blocks)

        I've installed the 3.2 CD on higher end machines but this
    particular machine is a *problem child*. I suspect bios is the problem.
    (see hardware description [1]) Does anyone have any suggestions other
    than get new HW or installing another os ?

    Hardware, fdisk, disklabel, hexified boot & indicated
    references, [#] below. This post has been mirrored [2].

    Regs PR


    P R E   I N S T A L L
    1. RTFM
    -------
    *FAQ, 4, 8 and 14 [3].
    -4.3.1 ... 4.3.8
    -4.10.3
    -8.9
    -8.19 (yet to try)
    -14
    *man pages
    -disklabel(8)
    -fdisk(8)
    -boot_i386(8)
    -installboot(8)
    -biosboot(8)
    *cdrom docs
    -INSTALL.chs
    -INSTALL.i386
    *google search
    -various combos of keywords [4].

    2. confirm HD and CHS
    ---------------------
    *confirm cylinder, head, sector (chs) printed on hard drive (HD)
     and on Western Digital (WD) website [5].


    I N S T A L L  S T E P S
    1. zero out HD/MBR
    ------------------
    *zeroed out HD (WD Lifeguard diagnostics, DLGDIAG for dos/win),
     [6], [7].
    *check supported hardware list [8].


    2. boot via floppy (no problems)
    --------------------------------
    *boot via fd0 using floppy32.fs (CDROM will not boot)
    -install method cd0


    3. fdisk (error reported)
    -------------------------
    *select default, "do you want to use all of wd0 [No]"
    -intention is to use entire disk for installation but avoid 4.10.3,
     pt 2,  "No valid boot loader was ever put on the disk".
    *fdisk error reported [9].
    -"fdisk sysctl (machinedep.bios.diskinfo) device not configured".
    *reinit
    *quit
    *fdisk wd0 yields ...

     Disk: wd0    geometry: 989/15/56 [830760 Sectors]
     Offset: 0    Signature: 0xAA55
             Starting       Ending       LBA Info:
      #: id    C   H  S -    C   H  S [       start:      size   ]
     ----------------------------------------------------------------------
      0: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
      1: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
      2: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
     *3: A6    0   1  1 -  988  14 56 [          56:      830704 ] OpenBSD


    4. disklabel (error reported)
    -----------------------------
    *intention is very simple install first with 2 partitions, 1 root and
     the other swap disk [10].
    *disklabel reports error, "cant get disk bios device not configured".
    *delete any existing partitions, leaving c.
    *add "a" wd0a 800000 sectors [11].
    *add "b" wd0b leftover sectors.
    *quit saving change.
    *disklabel wd0 yeilds ...

     # /dev/rwd0c:
     type: ESDI
     disk: ESDI/IDE disk
     label: WDC AC2420H
     flags:
     bytes/sector: 512
     sectors/track: 56
     tracks/cylinder: 15
     sectors/cylinder: 840
     cylinders: 989
     total sectors: 830760
     rpm: 3600
     interleave: 1
     trackskew: 0
     cylinderskew: 0
     headswitch: 0        # microseconds
     track-to-track seek: 0    # microseconds
     drivedata: 0

     16 partitions:
     #        size   offset    fstype   [fsize bsize   cpg]
       a:   800000       56    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16     # (Cyl.0*- 952*)
       b:    30704   800056      swap                          # (Cyl.952*- 988)
       c:   830760        0    unused        0     0           # (Cyl.0- 988)


    5. install software (error reported)
    ------------------------------------
    *set hostname.
    *do not config network (yet).
    *set passwd
    *install from cd0 sans x-server [12].
    -[X] bsd
    -[X] base32.tgz
    -[X] etc32.tgz
    -[X] misc32.tgz
    -[X] comp32.tgz
    -[X] man32.tgz
    *set timezone
    *make device nodes
    *creating boot block displays following error [13].
    -"unable to get BIOS geometry must specify -h -s"


    6. post install (correct error, set boot blocks, uncertainty on path)
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    *failure requires following from '14.8 - Installing Bootblocks'.

     # cd /mnt/usr/mdec
     # cp boot /mnt/boot
     # ./installboot -v -h15 -s56 /mnt/boot biosboot wd0

    *is this right? I see many references [14] to
     something like ...

     # cp boot /boot
     # /usr/mdec/installboot -v -h15 -s56 /boot /usr/mdec/biosboot wd0

    *halt
    *reboot


    6. reboot (error reported)
    --------------------------
    *machine boots, following ...

     Using  drive 0 partition 3
     reading boot ...
     probing: pc0 com0 com1 mem[640k 15M a20=on]
     disk: fd0
     >> OpenBSD/i386 BOOT 1.29
     Open(hd0a:/etc/boot.conf)
     Cant read disklabel

    *I interact ...
     boot> machine diskinfo
     Disk    Bios#    Type    Cyls    Heads    Secs    Flags    Checksum
     fd0    0x0    *none*    80    2    18    0x4    0x0

    *and again
     boot> machine boot hd0a
     failed to read disk label

    *hexify bootblock [15]


    dmesg:
    ------
    OpenBSD 3.2 (RAMDISK) #97: Thu Oct  3 20:06:10 MDT 2002
        deraadt@i386.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/RAMDISK
    cpu0: Intel 486DX4 ("GenuineIntel" 486-class)
    cpu0: FPU,V86
    real mem  = 16367616 (15984K)
    avail mem = 11632640 (11360K)
    using 225 buffers containing 921600 bytes (900K) of memory
    mainbus0 (root)
    bios0 at mainbus0: AT/286+(fd) BIOS, date 04/18/94
    pcibios at bios0 function 0x1a not configured
    bios0: ROM list: 0xc0000/0x8000 0xc8000/0x4000
    isa0 at mainbus0
    isadma0 at isa0
    pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5
    pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
    pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
    wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard
    vga0 at isa0 port 0x3b0/48 iomem 0xa0000/131072
    wsdisplay0 at vga0: console (80x25, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
    wdc0 at isa0 port 0x1f0/8 irq 14
    wd0 at wdc0 channel 0 drive 0: <WDC AC2420H>
    wd0: 16-sector PIO, CHS, 405MB, 989 cyl, 15 head, 56 sec, 830760
        sectors
    atapiscsi0 at wdc0 channel 0 drive 1
    scsibus0 at atapiscsi0: 2 targets
    cd0 at scsibus0 targ 0 lun 0: <SONY, CD-ROM CDU311, 3.0i> SCSI0 5/cdrom
        removable
    wd0(wdc0:0:0): using BIOS timings
    cd0(wdc0:0:1): using BIOS timings
    npx0 at isa0 port 0xf0/16: using exception 16
    pccom0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
    pccom1 at isa0 port 0x2f8/8 irq 3: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
    fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0/6 irq 6 drq 2
    fd0 at fdc0 drive 0: 1.44MB 80 cyl, 2 head, 18 sec
    biomask 4040 netmask 4040 ttymask 4042
    rd0: fixed, 3560 blocks
    root on rd0a
    rootdev=0x1100 rrootdev=0x2f00 rawdev=0x2f02


    fdisk:
    ------
    Disk: wd0    geometry: 989/15/56 [830760 Sectors]
    Offset: 0    Signature: 0xAA55
             Starting       Ending       LBA Info:
     #: id    C   H  S -    C   H  S [       start:      size   ]
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     0: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
     1: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
     2: 00    0   0  0 -    0   0  0 [           0:           0 ] unused
    *3: A6    0   1  1 -  988  14 56 [          56:      830704 ] OpenBSD

    disklabel
    ---------
    # /dev/rwd0c:
     type: ESDI
     disk: ESDI/IDE disk
     label: WDC AC2420H
     flags:
     bytes/sector: 512
     sectors/track: 56
     tracks/cylinder: 15
     sectors/cylinder: 840
     cylinders: 989
     total sectors: 830760
     rpm: 3600
     interleave: 1
     trackskew: 0
     cylinderskew: 0
     headswitch: 0        # microseconds
     track-to-track seek: 0    # microseconds
     drivedata: 0

     16 partitions:
     #        size   offset    fstype   [fsize bsize   cpg]
       a:   800000       56    4.2BSD     1024  8192    16     # (Cyl.0*- 952*)
       b:    30704   800056      swap                          # (Cyl.952*- 988)
       c:   830760        0    unused        0     0           # (Cyl.0- 988)


    hexified bootblock
    ------------------
    0000000: eb3c 904f 7065 6e42 5344 0000 0201 0000  .<.OpenBSD......
    0000010: 0000 0000 00f8 0000 0000 0000 1000 0000  ................
    0000020: 0000 0000 0000 2900 0000 0055 4e49 5820  ......)....UNIX
    0000030: 4c41 4245 4c00 5546 5320 342e 3400 66ea  LABEL.UFS 4.4.f.
    0000040: 5300 0000 c007 7265 6164 696e 6720 626f  S.....reading bo
    0000050: 6f74 00fa 31c0 8ed0 66bc fcff 0000 fbb8  ot..1...f.......
    0000060: c007 8ed8 8ec0 8ee0 8ee8 66be 4600 0000  ..........f.F...
    0000070: e8bd 00b8 0040 8ec0 6631 db67 8a0d 6e01  .....@..f1.g..n.
    0000080: 0000 0fb6 c9be 6f01 51b0 2ee8 af00 fcad  ......o.Q.......
    0000090: 89c1 ac88 c6ac b402 50cd 1373 1a66 bea8  ........P..s.f..
    00000a0: 0000 00e8 8a00 eb3a 0d0a 5265 6164 2065  .......:..Read e
    00000b0: 7272 6f72 0d0a 0058 660f b6c0 c1e0 0901  rror...Xf.......
    00000c0: c359 e2c4 66be ed00 0000 e863 0031 f6fc  .Y..f......c.1..
    00000d0: 26ad 26ad 3d01 0b74 1766 bee4 0000 00e8  &.&.=..t.f......
    00000e0: 4e00 faf4 4261 6420 6d61 6769 630d 0a00  N...Bad magic...
    00000f0: fa67 660f 0115 6801 0000 0f20 c066 83c8  .gf...h.... .f..
    0000100: 010f 22c0 66ea 0c7d 0000 0800 b810 0000  ..".f..}........
    0000110: 008e d88e d08e c08e e08e e8bc fcff 0000  ................
    0000120: 0fb6 c250 680d d001 c0ea 2000 0400 0800  ...Ph..... .....
    0000130: 6650 fcac 84c0 7412 e802 00eb f666 5066  fP....t......fPf
    0000140: 53b4 0e31 db43 cd10 665b 6658 c300 0000  S..1.C..f[fX....
    0000150: 0000 0000 0000 0000 ffff 0000 009f cf00  ................
    0000160: ffff 0000 0093 cf00 1800 507d 0000 0311  ..........P}....
    0000170: 0b04 2801 0b05 3825 0009 1000 0000 0000  ..(...8%........
    0000180: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    0000190: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001a0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001b0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001c0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001d0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001e0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
    00001f0: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 55aa  ..............U.
    0000200: 0d0a                                     ..


    notes:
    ======
    [0] http://www.lsl.com.au/ search for openbsd
    [1] hardware:
        cpu        486DX4
        ram        16Mb
        board    VL/I-486SV2GX4
        bios    04/18/94 SIS-85C471-I486SVG00 Award V4.05G
        hd        WDC A2C420H
        chs        989/15/56

    [2] mirrored at http://slashdot.org/~goon/journal and
        http://www.netspace.net.au/~goonmail

    [3] ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/doc/obsd-faq.txt
    [4] google searchs include ...
        *machinedep.bios.diskinfo
        *cant get disk bios device not configured
        *openbsd 3.2 i386 install
        *SIS-85C471 openbsd i386 install
        *VL/I-486SV2GX4 openbsd i386 install

    [5] http://www.wdc.com
    [6] http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#windlg
    [7] also used "dd if=/dev/zero of=/wd0 bs=512 count=1"
    [8] INSTALL.i386 on 3.2 cdrom
    [9] fdisk sysctl (machinedep.bios.diskinfo) device not configured.
    [10] build PPPo gateway with firewall,
        http://www.realo.ca/BSDinstall.html recommends using
        simple setup with root and swap only.

    [11] wd0a assign arbitrary 800000 sectors (391 Mb) to "/"
        on final setup "/" will be == 373 Mb, wd0b swap == 32 Mb.
        this is a naive setup for swap. The following post suggests that
        "16Mb ram swapping in a *gateway/firewall system* is not likely"...
        http://groups.google.com.au/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&th=
               3c43002ab8d1d43e&rnum=17

    [12] comp32.tgz will b removed later for security reasons.
    [13] this is covered in '4.10.3 - My i386 won't boot after install',
        and 14.8 - Installing Bootblocks - i386 specific.

    [14] installboot(8) and install faq, 4.8 - Installing Bootblocks - i386
         specific.

        # cd /usr/mdec; ./installboot /boot biosboot sd0
        # cd /usr/mdec; ./installboot -h<heads> -s<secs> /boot biosboot sd0

    [15] copy bootblock to disk and hexify using Vim and *hexman* by
         Peter.Franz, http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/

        # mount -t msdos /dev/fd0a /mnt/mnt/
        # dd if=/dev/rwd0c of=/mnt/mnt/wd0label bs=512 count=2


    "$Id: problem_description,v 1.9 2003/10/23 12:22:45 sah Exp $"
    <!-- #vim:tw=72:ts=8 -->
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