Re: New Installation does not see entire Hard Drive

From: Bela Lubkin (belal_at_sco.com)
Date: 02/26/04

  • Next message: tony_at_pcunix.com: "Re: cannot open tar file." 
    Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:58:19 GMT
To: scomsc@xenitec.ca

    Don wrote:

    > > > I'm trying to to a installation of SCO Open Server 5.0.5. I have a
    > > > Maxtor 6E040L0 40GB drive but SCO is only seeing a fraction of the
    > > > drive. I've installed MaxBlast III although there was no mention of
    > > > any Easy BIOS install. Any suggestions?
    > > >
    > > > Here are the specs I see when I run through the install procedure and
    > > > after installation:
    > > >
    > > > MAXTOR-6E040L0 40GB
    > > > CHS: 16383 x 16 x 63 (8.46 GB)
    > > > LBA: 80293248 (41.11 GB)
    > > >
    > > > Disk Param Values
    > > > ======== =====
    > > > Cylinders 1024
    > > > Heads 255
    > > > Write Reduce 0
    > > > Write Precomp 0
    > > > Ecc 0
    > > > Control 8
    > > > Landing Zone 16383
    > > > Sectors/Track 63
    > >
    > > This geometry is equal to 8GB (1024 * 255 * 63 * 512).
    > >
    > > Try starting the install with:
    > >
    > > Boot
    > > : defbootstr biosgeom
    > >
    > > Does it come up with a more useful geometry?
    >
    > Unfortunately No. Can I change it during installation? Does anyone
    > know the correct geometry to use?

    There's no such thing as an absolute "correct" geometry. You just need
    a geometry that all the system's components are going to be able to
    agree on.

    Next things to try:

    First go into BIOS setup and make sure it's really using LBA mode, not
    CHS or "large" or whatever the BIOS calls it. If you find something to
    change, write down the path to it, the old and new values. Change it,
    boot, use "defbootstr biosgeom", look for a better geometry reflected in
    the "%disk" line on the hardware laundry list.

    If that doesn't work, try "defbootstr biosgeom=(4998,255,63)". Again,
    watch for it to be reflected in the hardware laundry list. 4998 is
    simply the largest number of supposed "cylinders" of 255 heads, 63
    sectors/track, which can be carved out of the true 80293248-sector size
    of the disk.

    >Bela<

  • Next message: tony_at_pcunix.com: "Re: cannot open tar file."

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: Stage 1 Boot failure
      ... >> switch on the disk itself, tell us what choices are available. ... >> choices that affect disk geometry. ... with the actual drives. ... > works fine al the way until I try to boot from the hard-disk, ...
      (comp.unix.sco.misc)
    • Re: 486 and RedHat 4.1
      ... The first stage boot loader has been ... The two-digit error codes indicate the type of problem. ... geometry mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters, ...
      (comp.os.linux.misc)
    • Re: Disk geometry from /sys
      ... I'm trying to know the geometry of my hard disk from a bash script ... The PC BIOS continues to ... The boot code needs to know what the ...
      (Linux-Kernel)
    • Re: Upgrade procedure/advice: boot sector
      ... >disk onto another disk of the same geometry using: ... when I try to boot from it I get ... This should always work *IF AND ONLY IF* the drives are exactly the same ...
      (Fedora)
    • Re: Hard drive geometry headache (slightly off topic)
      ... >> Now I had to move it to a new computer in which the bios ... but then the system wont boot. ... I have tried setting LBA/Large/CHS and booting and installing freebsd. ... fdisk always reports that the geometry is incorect. ...
      (freebsd-questions)