On Thu, Dec 16, 2004 at 07:24:06PM +1100, ?o.O Jeremy O.o? wrote:
> Hey guys
> 
> Im a fairly inexperienced *nix style os user. I've played around with
> linux in the past but this is my first time with a bsd.
> 
> My computor config is as follows
> 
> hd1 20 gig windows xp partition
> hd2 40 gig partition + 40 gig ntfs partition
> 
> Now Ive tried to install nbsd 2 on the first 40 gig partition on the
> first 40 gig partition in the second harddisk.
> 
> My main problem is that i can not get nbsd to boot
> 
> I noticed that during installation that I was unable to set the netbsd
> partition to be active ie when partitioning in systinst, when i try to
> gptp the 'e' field to set it to be active, the highlighted part skips
> down to 'f'. Im not sure if this had something to do with it. BTW I
> said yes to the boot selector.
> 
> Now after installation nbsd didnt boot. i assumed that it maybe
> because that the boot selector was installed on the superblock of the
> second hardrive instead of the actual mbr (something slackware users
> would be fimilar with).
> 
> I decided to use the NT boot selector as a method of booting netbsd. I
> did the following
> 
> 1) boot into linux floppy distro
> 2) after the linux distro was loaded into ram inserted a blank floppy
> 3) fdformat -n /dev/fd0u1440
> 4) mkdosfs -v /dev/fd0u1440
> 5) mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
> 6) dd if=/dev/hdb of=/mnt/floppy/nbsd.bb bs=1 count =512
> 7) reboot into windows xp
> 8) copy nbsd.bb into c drive
> 9) editing boot.ini
> 
> When i try booting into nbsd this way, windows just gives me an error
> and restarts.
> 
> Now i decide that i will just use the nbsd install disk the install
> the boot selector in the actual mbr. i went through the following
> steps
> 
> 1) back up my current mbr ie "dd if=/dev/hda of=/mnt/floppy/mbr bs=1 count =512"
> 2) reboot with the netbsd cd
> 3) exit sysinst and enter into a shell
> 4) fdisk -B wd1
> 5) follow the promots
> 
> that didnt work neither so i tried doing
> fdisk -B wd0 for step 4
> 
> still, windows xp booted. I tried installing GAG but that couldnt
> recognise the nbsd partition. i tried to get GAG to just boot the
> second harddrive and that didnt work either.
> 
> I dont know what Im doing wrong. Is it something with making the
> partition active? does nbsd not work on a second harddrive etc?
> 
> Can anyone offer some advice? Thanks

To verify that your NetBSD slice is active

        fdisk wd1

My output from this command looks like this.

Partition table:
0: <UNUSED>
1: <UNUSED>
2: <UNUSED>
3: NetBSD (sysid 169)
    start 63, size 234441585 (114473 MB, Cyls 0-14593/81/1), Active

If your slice isn't active

        fdisk -a wd1

Check out the '-i' flag for 'fdisk'.  

	fdisk -i wd0
	fdisk -B wd0 

I've never had to use this flag in the past, but it looks like it may fix the 
mbr problem on the first disk, wd0.  Of course, backup any important
info before messing with the mbr.

-- 

Ian P. Thomas

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing 
to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.

	- William Jennings Bryan