C
Conrad
Greetings and thanks to all who replied.
Per the really helpful suggestions:
(see conclusions below)
1) Set BIOS to LBA instead of auto - it still shows
CHS values that add up to 137.4 (or so)GB, but...
2) Installed Win2K, creating an 8GB NTFS partion, then
downloaded SP4 and did the enable LBA registry mod.
3) Windows shows the disk as 160GB instead of 137GB - yeah?
4) Went to control panel, Admin tools, Computer Management,
Storage, Dis.... oh heck, you get the idea, and created
three more 30GB FAT32 partitions.
5) Formatted the FAT32 partitions - a waste of time, as it
turns out.
6) ran chkdisk and defrag on all 4 partitions - just to see
if they griped - no problem.
7) booted FreeBSD install - again it griped about geometry,
and again, it wouldn't let me put in any values that
it would accept.
8) Installed FreeBSD on a 20GB partition (or slice as FreeBSD
calls it)
9) SPECIFICALLY did not make that slice/partition bootable (active)
10) SPECIFICALLY did not request any MBR modification or bootloader
install (in the past, on triple-boot with Win/BSD/Linux, I let
Linux do the dirty boot work - it always finds the FreeBSD
partition)
11) Rebooted - and FreeBSD booted? HUH? I asked it not to make
the partition active and asked it not to touch the MBR or
install any kind of boot manager - but I'm looking at a FreeBSD
boot screen. OK, I must be crazy or sleep-deprived - try again.
12) Tried Win2k FIXMBR FIXBOOT from the repair console - no love
still boots into FreeBSD.
13) Reboot Win2K CD - delete all partitions - I must have missed
something on the FreeBSD install. Start over at step (2)
14) This time I make really sure FreeBSD is not setting the
partion active (bootable). I make sure that no bootmanager
is installed.
15) Reboot - FreeBSD again - WTF?
16) Win2K again - delete all partitions again. Install. Service
pack 4 - LBA registry fix - create FAT32 partitions.
17) Reinstall FreeBSD - same results. OK, I'm stubborn.
18) Boot Linux CD - it complains that the partition table is
totally hosed and offers to install Linux4Win on one of the
FAT32 partitions - instead, I take the totally destructive
option and start repartioning from ground zero.
19) On a hunch, I ask for a slightly larger (8.1GB) NTFS partition
at the start of the disk - recreate 3 30GB FAT32 partitions
after that - leave a FreeBSD hole of about 20GB and do the
rest as Linux partitions.
20) Voila - after installing Linux, I reboot, and Lilo is asking me
whether to boot Linux or Windows. I select Windows, and
it actually boots.
21) I run the checkdisk utility on the NTFS partion, and run
defrag just to see if anything complains. No gripes
22) Format the 3 FAT32 partitions under windows - no gripes.
23) Move some data around to all three FAT32 partitions -
run error check and defrag - no complaints.
Conclusions: I don't have any, except: There's some legacy
code still running around in BIOSes out there, patched to
various degrees. The whole FreeBSD boot thing is weird - I
KNOW FreeBSD can handle big drives on some not-so-modern
motherboard/BIOS machines - but I don't know how well it
"plays with others" under those conditions - the machines
I know about running on ald motherboards were dedicated FreeBSD,
I've not had any similar problems before setting up multi-
boot machines, but maybe I've just been lucky.
Windows works - Linux works - and I have a hole in my hard-
drive reserved for FreeBSD - which I'm a little nervous about
right now. Maybe later.
Again, thanks for your time - if you have any further
thoughts I'd love to hear them.
Thanks,
Conrad
Per the really helpful suggestions:
(see conclusions below)
1) Set BIOS to LBA instead of auto - it still shows
CHS values that add up to 137.4 (or so)GB, but...
2) Installed Win2K, creating an 8GB NTFS partion, then
downloaded SP4 and did the enable LBA registry mod.
3) Windows shows the disk as 160GB instead of 137GB - yeah?
4) Went to control panel, Admin tools, Computer Management,
Storage, Dis.... oh heck, you get the idea, and created
three more 30GB FAT32 partitions.
5) Formatted the FAT32 partitions - a waste of time, as it
turns out.
6) ran chkdisk and defrag on all 4 partitions - just to see
if they griped - no problem.
7) booted FreeBSD install - again it griped about geometry,
and again, it wouldn't let me put in any values that
it would accept.
8) Installed FreeBSD on a 20GB partition (or slice as FreeBSD
calls it)
9) SPECIFICALLY did not make that slice/partition bootable (active)
10) SPECIFICALLY did not request any MBR modification or bootloader
install (in the past, on triple-boot with Win/BSD/Linux, I let
Linux do the dirty boot work - it always finds the FreeBSD
partition)
11) Rebooted - and FreeBSD booted? HUH? I asked it not to make
the partition active and asked it not to touch the MBR or
install any kind of boot manager - but I'm looking at a FreeBSD
boot screen. OK, I must be crazy or sleep-deprived - try again.
12) Tried Win2k FIXMBR FIXBOOT from the repair console - no love
still boots into FreeBSD.
13) Reboot Win2K CD - delete all partitions - I must have missed
something on the FreeBSD install. Start over at step (2)
14) This time I make really sure FreeBSD is not setting the
partion active (bootable). I make sure that no bootmanager
is installed.
15) Reboot - FreeBSD again - WTF?
16) Win2K again - delete all partitions again. Install. Service
pack 4 - LBA registry fix - create FAT32 partitions.
17) Reinstall FreeBSD - same results. OK, I'm stubborn.
18) Boot Linux CD - it complains that the partition table is
totally hosed and offers to install Linux4Win on one of the
FAT32 partitions - instead, I take the totally destructive
option and start repartioning from ground zero.
19) On a hunch, I ask for a slightly larger (8.1GB) NTFS partition
at the start of the disk - recreate 3 30GB FAT32 partitions
after that - leave a FreeBSD hole of about 20GB and do the
rest as Linux partitions.
20) Voila - after installing Linux, I reboot, and Lilo is asking me
whether to boot Linux or Windows. I select Windows, and
it actually boots.
21) I run the checkdisk utility on the NTFS partion, and run
defrag just to see if anything complains. No gripes
22) Format the 3 FAT32 partitions under windows - no gripes.
23) Move some data around to all three FAT32 partitions -
run error check and defrag - no complaints.
Conclusions: I don't have any, except: There's some legacy
code still running around in BIOSes out there, patched to
various degrees. The whole FreeBSD boot thing is weird - I
KNOW FreeBSD can handle big drives on some not-so-modern
motherboard/BIOS machines - but I don't know how well it
"plays with others" under those conditions - the machines
I know about running on ald motherboards were dedicated FreeBSD,
I've not had any similar problems before setting up multi-
boot machines, but maybe I've just been lucky.
Windows works - Linux works - and I have a hole in my hard-
drive reserved for FreeBSD - which I'm a little nervous about
right now. Maybe later.
Again, thanks for your time - if you have any further
thoughts I'd love to hear them.
Thanks,
Conrad