# Grub freezing after an install, partition table not visible



## ixterm (Dec 17, 2010)

hello

after searching through the forum, I get the same issue as few users after installing FreeBSD 8.1
my disk architecture is :

1 (primary) - NTFS for Windows XP
2 (extended) - (contains a FAT and linux partitions)
3 FreeBSD partitions

Grub files are located under linux (and grub is mapped on the MBR) and the first partition is active
during the FreeBSD install process, I specified not to install Bootmgr, I wanted to keep grub
but after the restart :

```
loading stage1.5
Grub loading, please wait ......
```
and it hangs

I tried different things. I booted from various Solaris/opensolaris CDs which contain grub
I type "C" to get a shell, then I start to type "kernel (hd0, "

so now, if I press the TAB key to display available disks, it hangs at "kernel (hd0, "   and I have to do a ctrl+alt+del to exit

however, when I boot with a linux rescue CD or boot Solaris CD, the partitions are accessible by launching "fdisk", no error message

It's like, the FreeBSD install process has damaged the partition table


I booted with the Windows XP install CD, it hangs at finding the disks


Now at the step :  

```
"WARNING: It's safe to use a geometry of 155061/16/63 for ad4 on computers with modern BIOS versions. if this disk is to be used on 
rather old machines, however, it's recommand to ensure that it does ont have moer that 65535 cylinders, or more than 255 headers or more than 
63 sectors per track.

would you like that to keep using the current geometry?"
```
I chose "Yes"

Should I reinstall FreeBSD and choose "No" for this question ?


if we assume the partition table is damaged, and cant be read by grub, why am I able to see those partitions properly using liveCDs ?


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## ixterm (Dec 20, 2010)

I finally solved the issue
the root cause of all that mess was :


```
"WARNING: It's safe to use a geometry of 155061/16/63 for ad4 on computers with modern BIOS versions. if this disk is to be used on 
rather old machines, however, it's recommand to ensure that it does ont have moer that 65535 cylinders, or more than 255 headers or more than 
63 sectors per track.

would you like that to keep using the current geometry?"
```

I chose "No"
then I keep on reinstalling FreeBSD

now, all my partitions are visible from grub at boot time

I want to know how this "geometry" issue had caused such problems  (I was about to reformat the entire disk)


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