# new build - hd wont partition /dev/ads01b



## momo33 (Oct 18, 2011)

Today I took delivery of my new bits. Mobo is a gigabyte ga-g41mt-s2p rev 1.4, processor is a intel E6700: 4Gig of ram. The hard drive is an old Maxtor diamondmax sata 300G that works fine in windows. 

After putting it all togther I realised I had no PATA conns so I took the hd of off my windows machine after deleting the partition on it. I then proceeded to install FreeBSD via the usb image that I downloaded. I can not seem to get the hard drive to partition, and hence I am unable to install FreeBSD on my nice new machine. I follow the sysinstall and press A to automatically create the partition which seems to work, then I go to the label part and again press A and then to the install disk manager, after which it tries to write to the drive and fails. I get the following error message.

```
unable to find device node for /dev/ads0s1b in dev  creation of filesystem aborted.
```

I have googled to no avail, I have (as I am sure the mods can check), tried to search for the particular answer on the forum, and I found this page on the forum that seemed to be relevant butI do not think helps.

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=23947&highlight=hard+drive+installation

I then went back to the man pages and read this section


> 3.15. Are there any restrictions on how I divide the disk up?
> 
> Yes. You must make sure that your root partition is below 1024 cylinders so the BIOS can boot the kernel from it. (Note that this is a limitation in the PC's BIOS, not FreeBSD).



Now I do not know what this means. Does it mean my / [partition must be below 1 gig?  I do know that this is driving me mental, I was all gung ho for installing my nice new box today and nothing but frustration is forthcoming. If it is this maybe someone could suggest in what % I partition this infernal drive.

Thank you for any help.

momo


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## wblock@ (Oct 18, 2011)

Was Windows 7 on that drive?

Often, this can be cured by erasing the first few blocks of the drive.  Unfortunately, sysinstall does not provide a way to do that.  mfsBSD does, but only has a CD image.  The 9.0-whatever install images are also live CDs that provide a command line, and there's a memory stick version of them.  ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/r...MAGES/9.0/FreeBSD-9.0-BETA3-i386-memstick.img

Download that, boot it, and choose "Live CD" when it starts.
I strongly suggest that the target disk be the only disk connected to the machine when you do this, it makes it much less likely to erase something accidentally.
Figure out what device it is, probably /dev/ad0 or /dev/ada0.
*CAUTION, THIS WILL ERASE THE EXISTING PARTITION TABLE:*
`# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada0 bs=512 count=35`

Then reboot and start the 8.2 install.


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## momo33 (Oct 18, 2011)

Thank you weblock, This drive is the only drive in the system, and it did indeed have windows 7 on it originally however not the os itself, it was merely a drive in the system with files on it. I do not have a cd drive on this system currently as I did not realise it had no PATA on it when i purchased it. I am now downloading the .img file you suggest and will try as directed.

I have my fingers crossed and will pray.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Oct 18, 2011)

I've found the error to most often occur when three modules are missing during the v8/v9 sysinstall that used to be present during the v7 sysinstall.  (Search the forum for geom_mbr.ko...). **If** that fix applies, it may work; one can also use fdisk's -f (partition layout from a file), then bsdlabel/newfs maybe... (sometimes the question seems to pop up on the freebsd-questions list, but I don't know if searching that would find a solution quicker, or if the fixes above already fixed it.)


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## wblock@ (Oct 18, 2011)

GParted might be easier, but I'm not sure how it deals with GPT, or rather how to blow away a GPT partition scheme instead of just the partitions inside it.


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## momo33 (Oct 19, 2011)

Well I tried everything suggested but it still will not load 8 or remove/write the partition ( sorry rather tired now so excuse idiot descriptions) however it did load up 9 which I do not want. So I dont know what to do now.


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## wblock@ (Oct 19, 2011)

From 9.0, live CD or shell should work:
`# gpart destroy -F ada0`
`# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada0 bs=64k count=100`

If that doesn't do it, something else is going on.


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## momo33 (Oct 19, 2011)

wblock@, please let me know where you live, I want your precise current location so I can come and kiss your feet. 2 days of frustration and you solved it for me, you are a guru of the highest order in my eyes. 

THANK YOU.

Garry AKA momo


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## wblock@ (Oct 19, 2011)

Aw shucks.  Thanks for the compliments, but it's all just stuff relayed from people who helped me, like jb_fvwm2 and others.  If you want to say thanks, help someone else out, FreeBSD-related or not.


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