Installer automatic drive geometry detection problem
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I'm running 1.2.3 RC3, current snapshot. Problem seems to occur on various pfSense versions (2.0(current-7.2,8),1.2.3RC3,1.2.2)
Hardware: AsRock NetTop S330, but similar behaviour has been observed on other sata controllers.
pfSense livecd boots, detects HD, installs, and fails to start kernel
dmesg output (of a running system):
….
atapci0: <intel ich7="" sata300="" controller="">port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xffa0-0xffaf at device 31.2 on pci0
ata0: <ata 0="" channel="">on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1: <ata 1="" channel="">on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
…....
ad0: 152627MB <seagate st9160310as="" 0303="">at ata0-master SATA150
acd0: DVDR <slimtype dvd="" a="" ds8a3s="" ha24="">at ata0-slave SATA150
.....To work around the problem, installed pfSense, booted freeBSD livecd, ran freeBSD disk geometry tool - fdisk(finding a different disk geometry than pfSense) - updating the mbr/partition tables(???), then all works normally.
The BIOS has extremely limited configuration options and other suggestions from the Boot Troubleshooting Wiki didn't seem to work.
End assumption - pfSense utility doesn't seem to be detecting disk geometry properly in some cases.
Comments ???</slimtype></seagate></ata></ata></intel>
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It might be helpful to know:
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What version of FreeBSD was on the live CD?
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How did pfSense fail to start the kernel? (System froze or hung before starting the kernel? It reported an error before starting the kernel? Something else?)
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How were the two reported disk geometries different?
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What exactly did you change with fdisk?
I was under the impression that "modern" software used the LBA addressing mode of disks (disk is an array of blocks) and that CHS (Cylinder Head Sector) addressing mode had largely fallen into disuse, largely because theer is a varying number of sectors per track depending on where the track is on the disk surface (more sectors on outer tracks). (I'm guessing you tweaked CHS parameters somehow.)
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I too have with a pcchips, i can´t resolve, i change for intel moterboard and ready.
Yo también tenía el mismo problema con una placa pcchips, no me informaba correctamente la geometría del disco duro, probé con otro disco y el mismo problema, estuve todo un día cambiando las opciones del bios y nada, así que, como no podía perder mas tiempo tuve que cambiar de placa por una intel, y funcionó a la perfección
Disculpen Uds pero mi ingles es muy malo
My ingles is very bad