# Geometry BS



## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

Long story short I have this one machine that FreeBSD seems to hate! (not the same machine as my other thread incase anyone was wondering, that machine is up and running!)

Months ago I tried to install FreeBSD 7 on it and got a geometry error when formatting disk, someone in ##freebsd on freenode ended up recommending me a geometry that worked, got the drive formatted, partitioned and FreeBSD installed.

Only downfall was it only actually booted 1 in 2 or 3 tries, the times is failed it spit out some geometry error I can't remember. So I went with Arch Linux and it worked great, acted as my LAN router for months. 

Recently I have come accross pfSense and really want to give it a go but I am running into this geometry stuff again during the install.

My first install went as follows

http://imgur.com/GV0oS
http://imgur.com/VqtuN
http://imgur.com/4O4mY
http://imgur.com/ePifr

Seemed to install fine but would not boot. So I try again and get the following:

http://imgur.com/IYgAe
http://imgur.com/2uhbf
http://imgur.com/E7dCo

I really have no idea what is going on, can anyone help? I am using pfSense-1.2.3-20090922-0023.iso.gz on a m7ncg 400 with a Hitachi Deskstar 7k80 80gb IDE


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## SirDice (Sep 23, 2009)

The geometry warning during sysinstall is not an error and you can usually ignore it.


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

Did you even read my post? It doesn't matter if I change geometry to what it recommends or leave it as it was. I either can't boot from HDD after install or can't even format/partition.


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## DutchDaemon (Sep 23, 2009)

Your original post only mentioned that you had indeed changed it instead of just ignoring the error and accepting the defaults. I've done countless installs with geometry warnings ignored, and none has ever failed (well, not for that specific reason anyway).


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

The screen shots show that I tried both.


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## DutchDaemon (Sep 23, 2009)

I was referring to FreeBSD, not pfsense (which has its own forums).


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/0C810B96385B2DBA86256E40006FB9F1/$file/d7k80_sp1.6.pdf said:
			
		

> 4.0 Drive characteristics
> 4.1 Default logical drive parameters
> Notes:
> 1. Number of cylinders: For drives with capacities greater than 8.45 GB the Identify Device information word 01
> ...



I tried the geometry listed there too, which did not match the recommended or current geom of drive.

Got another errorless install and then boot disk fail when I tried to boot from HDD.


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> I was referring to FreeBSD, not pfSense (which has its own forums).



As I said FreeBSD install gives me the exact same results so I don't see how it would not be relevant here (also considering pfSense IS FreeBSD...)


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## DutchDaemon (Sep 23, 2009)

pfsense is a _customized distribution_ of FreeBSD, with a different sysinstaller (how much it actually differs on a lower level I don't know, but it certainly might). 

If you say that you installed _FreeBSD_ on the default geometry as suggested by _FreeBSD_'s sysinstall I'll take your word for it. 

But that fact was not in your post, so SirDice's and my replies were based on that.

If you want to pursue installing pfsense and need support with that: http://forum.pfsense.org/

Addendum: I've seen a few examples of valid FreeBSD-based advice falling on barren soil because the thread starter was actually using a FreeBSD variant like PC-BSD, DesktopBSD, etc. Small as the differences may be, they may bite.


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## aragon (Sep 23, 2009)

With both sets of screen shots were you booting with the same hard drive installed?  It's really strange that two completely different geometries would be detected each time.

Anyhow, it sounds like you're setting up a system that'll run a single copy of FreeBSD only, ie. no multi-booting.  Why don't you rather setup your disk without partitions, in dedicated mode?  I think that might solve your headaches.

Try download the embedded pfSense image and dd it directly to your disk device (eg. /dev/ad0).


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> But that fact was not in your post, so SirDice's and my replies were based on that.





			
				dextro_ said:
			
		

> Months ago I tried to install FreeBSD 7 on it and got a geometry error when formatting disk, someone in ##freebsd on freenode ended up recommending me a geometry that worked, got the drive formatted, partitioned and FreeBSD installed.
> 
> Only downfall was it only actually booted 1 in 2 or 3 tries, the times is failed it spit out some geometry error I can't remember. So I went with Arch Linux and it worked great, acted as my LAN router for months.


I am also seeking support from pfSense but this is clearly a FreeBSD problem not just pfSense.


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

aragon said:
			
		

> With both sets of screen shots were you booting with the same hard drive installed?  It's really strange that two completely different geometries would be detected each time.
> 
> Anyhow, it sounds like you're setting up a system that'll run a single copy of FreeBSD only, ie. no multi-booting.  Why don't you rather setup your disk without partitions, in dedicated mode?  I think that might solve your headaches.
> 
> Try download the embedded pfSense image and dd it directly to your disk device (eg. /dev/ad0).



Yes, it is the same drive. Finally someone who sees what my problem is! Yes I am dedicating the entire drive to pfSense I will try and dd the embedded .img to the drive now.


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## aragon (Sep 23, 2009)

dextro_ said:
			
		

> this is clearly a FreeBSD problem not just pfSense.


In FreeBSD's and pfSense's defense, I'm inclined to think it's a BIOS issue.


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

dd'd it to the disk then tried to boot from it and got:

http://imgur.com/397Sv

it just hangs there


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## SirDice (Sep 23, 2009)

Something I forget every now and then.. Turns out some BIOS' trip over it. Did you mark the slice (aka PC/BIOS partition) active?


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## dextro_ (Sep 23, 2009)

How would I do that? :S


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## aragon (Sep 23, 2009)

In the case of dextro's latest attempt, there is no slice...

Dextro, do you have another motherboard you can try boot off that drive?


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## dextro_ (Sep 24, 2009)

I slaved the HDD into my desktop machine, created a VM with it as its disk and installed pfSense on it that way. Put the HDD back in the machine I wanted it on and booted from it without a problem, strange how I had to do that...


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