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Message-Id: <200401261331.i0QDVv3O008882@www.freebsd.org>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 05:31:57 -0800 (PST)
From: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon+freebsd@irtnog.org>
To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
X-Send-Pr-Version: www-2.0

>Number:         61940
>Category:       alpha
>Synopsis:       sysinstall(8): Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    freebsd-sysinstall
>State:          closed
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:  
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Mon Jan 26 05:40:19 PST 2004
>Closed-Date:    Tue Feb 22 19:31:15 EST 2011
>Last-Modified:  Tue Feb 22 19:31:15 EST 2011
>Originator:     Matthew X. Economou
>Release:        5.2-RELEASE
>Organization:
IRTNOG.ORG
>Environment:
FreeBSD web1.irtnog.org 5.2-RELEASE FreeBSD 5.2-RELEASE #0: Sun Jan 11 01:06:36 GMT 2004     root@mithlond.btc.adaptec.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  alpha

>Description:
When presented with a disk that originally contained OpenVMS or Linux, the disk label editor executed by sysinstall in FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE cannot reinitialize the disk with a FreeBSD disk label.  Instead, it reports an error about there being no free space on the selected disk.
>How-To-Repeat:
Install OpenVMS on a hard disk, then attempt to overwrite it with FreeBSD 5.2.  The label editor will display the hard drive (e.g. "da0"), but the "A" command reports an error about selecting a drive with free space.
>Fix:
I can work around the issue if I boot FreeBSD/alpha 4.8-RELEASE.  Its version of /stand/sysinstall is capable of re-initializing the disk.  Rebooting back into the 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall now allows me to create and format BSD slices.
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:

From: "David O'Brien" <obrien@FreeBSD.org>
To: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon+freebsd@irtnog.org>
Cc: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 10:24:35 -0800

 On Mon, Jan 26, 2004 at 05:31:57AM -0800, Matthew X. Economou wrote:
 > When presented with a disk that originally contained OpenVMS or Linux,
 > the disk label editor executed by sysinstall in FreeBSD/alpha
 > 5.2-RELEASE cannot reinitialize the disk with a FreeBSD disk label.
 > Instead, it reports an error about there being no free space on the
 > selected disk.
 
 1. Please properly wrap you lines, by hand if necessary. :-)
 2. Please email phk@freebsd.org and ask him what part of your disk he
    needs 'dd'ed and sent to him to determine if this is something GEOM
    isn't taking into account.

From: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon@irtnog.org>
To: <phk@freebsd.org>
Cc: <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>, <obrien@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: RE: alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 08:04:26 -0500

 Hello,
 
 I recently tried to install FreeBSD onto a disk that originally
 contained OpenVMS.  The 5.2-RELEASE installer wouldn't let me label the
 disk, instead returning an error about needing to select a disk with
 free space.  I could label the disk with the 4.8-RELEASE installer (I
 don't have FreeBSD 4.9 handy or I would have tried it, as well).  Other
 people on comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc have reported similar problems with
 disks formerly containing VMS, as seen in this thread
 (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=3Den&lr=3D&ie=3DUTF-8&oe=3DUTF-8&thre=
 adm=3Duwu
 dolw6q.fsf%40irtnog.org&rnum=3D2&prev=3D/groups%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3D=
 UTF
 -8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26q%3Dfreebsd%2Balpha%2Bdisklabel%2B5.1%26sa%3DN%26tab%3
 Dwg).
 
 Please also refer to PR alpha/61940.
 
 What part of my disk do you need 'dd'ed in order to troubleshoot GEOM,
 in regards to labeling disks on the Alpha that have never had FreeBSD on
 them?  Alternatively, I can backup my FreeBSD installation and
 temporarily overwrite it with OpenVMS, if that will help you capture the
 relevant information.
 
 Best wishes,
 Matthew
 
 --=20
 Matthew X. Economou <xenophon@irtnog.org> - Unsafe at any clock speed!
 I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian heritage! (http://www.subgenius.com)
 "The reason that ed is the standard editor is to remind you that
 things could be worse, and once were." -- Tim Lavoie in comp.lang.lisp

From: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon@irtnog.org>
To: <obrien@FreeBSD.org>, <phk@freebsd.org>
Cc: <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: RE: alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2004 10:48:43 -0500

 I have more information regarding this problem report.
 
 I tried installing 5.2-RELEASE on a AlphaServer 2000 5/250 with a Mylex
 DAC960 (KZPSC) RAID-5 array.  The array had been freshly initialized.
 FreeBSD successfully detected the array, but when I tried to label the
 volume, the volume was not even listed on the disk label screen.
 
 Obviously, the volume was devoid of any previous operating system
 install.  And again, I was able to work around this problem by putting
 the initial label on the volume with FreeBSD 4.8-RELEASE.=20
 
 Is there anything I can do that would help you debug this problem?  Now
 that I have a second machine, I can do whatever testing on it to help
 you discover the cause of this problem.
 
 Best wishes,
 Matthew
 
 --=20
 Matthew X. Economou <xenophon@irtnog.org> - Unsafe at any clock speed!
 I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian heritage! (http://www.subgenius.com)
 "The reason that ed is the standard editor is to remind you that
 things could be worse, and once were." -- Tim Lavoie in comp.lang.lisp

From: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon@irtnog.org>
To: <phk@freebsd.org>
Cc: <freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org>, <obrien@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: RE: alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 12:52:28 -0500

 I haven't received any update regarding my PR.  Can anyone tell me what
 additional data (if any) I can collect to further this along?

From: Ulrich Spoerlein <spoerlein@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de>
To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.org
Cc:  
Subject: Re: alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 18:08:02 +0200

 Sorry for throwing in a me too, but this issue is still present with
 5.4-RELEASE.
 
 This should really be mentioned in the alpha release notes.
 
 Ulrich Spoerlein

From: Anton Shterenlikht <mexas@bristol.ac.uk>
To: bug-followup@FreeBSD.org
Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.org
Subject: Re: alpha/61940: [sysinstall] Can't disklabel new disk
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:14:07 +0100

 	I suggest closing this PR. This topic has been discussed many
 times before and solution is very clear.
 
 	Instead I suggest adding some information on this under section
 4.2 "Common Installation Problems for Alpha/AXP Architecture Users" of
 "FreeBSD/alpha 6.2-RELEASE Installation Instructions"
 (www.freebsd.org/./releases/6.2R/installation-alpha.html).
 
 	I volunteer to write a few paragraphs on this along the following
 lines.
 
 thanks
 anton
 
 ******************************************************
 
 TITLE: Disklabel Editor cannot see disk
 
 1. Problem description.
 
 In some cases the FreeBSD installer (partitioning program, FDisk or
 Disklabel Editor) will not properly recognise the disk.
 In such situations one has to create a BSD label, typically by using Fixit
 (live) CD. Furthermore successful bsdlabel(8) operation might requre
 zeroing the first block on the disk with dd(1).
 
 The following is based on my experience of installing
 FreeBSD 6.2-RELEASE #0: Sat Jan 13 02:32:39 UTC 2007
 on AlphaServer DS10L 466 MHz Console V7.3-1, Feb 27 2007 13:17:58
 
 This server was previously running OpenVMS installed on Quantum Atlas 10k 18GB
 disk. Below is the output from the SRM SHOW DEVICE command showing
 the disk as dka0.0.0.17.0.
 
 >>>SHOW DEVICE
 dka0.0.0.17.0              DKA0       QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18_WLS  020K
 dqb0.0.1.13.0              DQB0                        CD-224E  9.5B    
 dva0.0.0.0.0               DVA0                               
 ewa0.0.0.9.0               EWA0              08-00-2B-87-42-31
 ewb0.0.0.11.0              EWB0              08-00-2B-87-42-4E
 pka0.7.0.17.0              PKA0                  SCSI Bus ID 7
 >>>
 
 This SCSI disk is connected to the standard  NCR 53C895 controller
 (see the output of the initialisation below, line with 'pka') ,
 supported by ncr(4) and a newer sym(4) drivers:
 www.freebsd.org/releases/6.2R/hardware-alpha.html
 www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ncr&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+6.2-RELEASE
 www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=sym&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+6.2-RELEASE
 
 I recorded and used only one CD from 
 ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/alpha/ISO-IMAGES/6.2/
 
 6.2-RELEASE-alpha-disc1.iso	 	533248 KB 	13/01/2007 	00:00:00
 
 I put this CD in the drive and boot from it:
 
 >>>boot dqb0
 Initializing...
 
 [...]
 
 da0 at sym0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
 da0: <QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_18_WLS 020K> Fixed Direct Access SCSI-3 device 
 da0: 40.000MB/s transfers (20.000MHz, offset 31, 16bit), Tagged Queueing Enabled
 da0: 17537MB (35916548 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 2235C)
 
 [...]
 
 Note that so far the disk is recognised correctly - lines containing da0
 in the devices list.
 
 Now proceeding further with Standard Installation I finally get to
 the Disklabel Editor which shows no disks: 
 
 ******************************** START SCREEN ********************************
 
                          FreeBSD Disklabel Editor
 
 
 Part      Mount          Size Newfs   Part      Mount          Size Newfs
 ----      -----          ---- -----   ----      -----          ---- -----
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The following commands are valid here (upper or lower case):
 C = Create        D = Delete   M = Mount pt.
 N = Newfs Opts    Q = Finish   S = Toggle SoftUpdates   Z = Custom Newfs
 T = Toggle Newfs  U = Undo     A = Auto Defaults        R = Delete+Merge
 
 Use F1 or ? to get more help, arrow keys to select.
 
 ********************************* END SCREEN *********************************
 
 Hitting C gives the following message at the bottom of the screen:
 
 	You can only do this in a master partition (see top of screen)
 
 and hitting A gives this:
 
 	You can only do this in a disk slice (at top of screen)
 
 If (in desperation) I hit other keys, like e.g. Z, or R, I get:
 
         +--------------------------- Message ---------------------------+
         |A signal 11 was caught - I'm saving what I can and shutting    |
         |down.  If you can reproduce the problem, please turn Debug on  |
         |in the Options menu for the extra information it provides      |
         |in debugging problems like this.                               |
         +-------------------------------------------------------(100%)--+
         |                         [  OK  ]                              |
         +-------------------[ Press enter or space ]--------------------
 
 and hitting enter or space halts the machine:
 
 
 Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `vnlru' to stop...done
 Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `bufdaemon' to stop...done
 Waiting (max 60 seconds) for system process `syncer' to stop...
 Syncing disks, vnodes remaining...2 0 done
 All buffers synced.
 Uptime: 8m1s
 
 halted CPU 0
 
 halt code = 5
 HALT instruction executed
 PC = fffffc00007f9a60
 Resetting I/O buses...
 >>>
 
 2. Solution
 
 It is necessary to create BSD label on disk. The easiest way to achieve
 this is with 'live' filesystem CD, which it this case is the same
 installation CD.
 
 First one has to choose 'Fixit' option in the sysinstall Main Manu:
 
 ******************************** START SCREEN ********************************
 
    +---------- FreeBSD/alpha 6.2-RELEASE - sysinstall Main Menu -----------+
    | Welcome to the FreeBSD installation and configuration tool.  Please   |  
    | select one of the options below by using the arrow keys or typing the |  
    | first character of the option name you're interested in.  Invoke an   |  
    | option with [SPACE] or [ENTER].  To exit, use [TAB] to move to Exit.  |  
    | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |  
    | |   Usage        Quick start - How to use this menu system          | |  
    | |   Standard     Begin a standard installation (recommended)        | |  
    | |   Express      Begin a quick installation (for experts)           | |  
    | |   Custom       Begin a custom installation (for experts)          | |  
    | |   Configure    Do post-install configuration of FreeBSD           | |  
    | |   Doc          Installation instructions, README, etc.            | |  
    | |   Keymap       Select keyboard type                               | |  
    | |   Options      View/Set various installation options              | |  
    | |   Fixit        Repair mode with CDROM/DVD/floppy or start shell   | |  
    | |   Upgrade      Upgrade an existing system                         | |  
    | |   Load Config  Load default install configuration                 | |  
    | |   Index        Glossary of functions                              | |  
    | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ |  
    +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+  
    |                        [ Select ]    X Exit Install                   |  
    +------------------[ Press F1 for Installation Guide ]------------------+  
 
 ********************************* END SCREEN *********************************
 
 the following screen appears:
 
 ******************************** START SCREEN ********************************
 
 
 
 
   +---------------------- Please choose a fixit option ----------------------+
   | There are three ways of going into "fixit" mode:                         |  
   | - you can use the live filesystem CDROM/DVD, in which case there will be |  
   |   full access to the complete set of FreeBSD commands and utilities,     |  
   | - you can use the more limited (but perhaps customized) fixit floppy,    |  
   | - or you can start an Emergency Holographic Shell now, which is          |  
   |   limited to the subset of commands that is already available right now. |  
   | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |  
   | |       X Exit       Exit this menu (returning to previous)            | |  
   | |       2 CDROM/DVD  Use the "live" filesystem CDROM/DVD               | |  
   | |       3 Floppy     Use a floppy generated from the fixit image       | |  
   | |       4 Shell      Start an Emergency Holographic Shell              | |  
   | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ |  
   +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+  
   |                          [  OK  ]       Cancel                           |  
   +------------[ Press F1 for more detailed repair instructions ]------------+  
     
 
 
 ********************************* END SCREEN *********************************
      
 choose 2 and you get to the shell:
 
 ******************************** START SCREEN ********************************
 
 DEBUG: fixit: I can't set the controlling terminal.
 Waiting for fixit shell to exit.
 When you are done, type ``exit'' to exit
 the fixit shell and be returned here.
 
 sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 | You are now running from FreeBSD "fixit" media.               |
 | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
 | When you're finished with this shell, please type exit.       |
 | The fixit media is mounted as /mnt2.                          |
 |                                                               |
 | You might want to symlink /mnt/etc/*pwd.db and /mnt/etc/group |
 | to /etc after mounting a root filesystem from your disk.      |
 | tar(1) will not restore all permissions correctly otherwise!  |
 |                                                               |
 | Note: you can use the arrow keys to browse through the        |
 | command history of this shell.                                |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 
 Good Luck!
 
 Fixit# 
 
 ********************************* END SCREEN *********************************
 
 now do the following:
 
 Fixit# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=512 count=32
 32+0 records in
 32+0 records out
 16384 bytes transferred in 0.445921 secs (36742 bytes/sec)
 Fixit# bsdlabel -w da0
 
 which is actually copied from the examples in the bsdlabel(8) man pages.
 
 (In some cases you can run bsdlabel straight away. If that gives 
 you errors - run 'dd' first.)
 
 That's it, exit the shell:
 
 Fixit# exit
 
 Now, for some reason, BSD label will not be recognised unil you
 restart sysinstall:
 
   
            +------------- User Confirmation Requested -------------+
            | Are you sure you wish to exit? The system will halt.  |  
            +-------------------------------------------------------+  
            |                 [ Yes ]         No                    |  
            +-------------------------------------------------------+  
 
 As before:
 
 >>> boot dqb0
 
 and now finally you get to see the disk in Disklabel Editor:
  
 ******************************** START SCREEN ********************************
 
                          FreeBSD Disklabel Editor
 
 Disk: da0       Partition name: da0     Free: 16 blocks (0MB)
 
 Part      Mount          Size Newfs   Part      Mount          Size Newfs
 ----      -----          ---- -----   ----      -----          ---- -----
 da0a      <none>      17537MB *
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The following commands are valid here (upper or lower case):
 C = Create        D = Delete   M = Mount pt.
 N = Newfs Opts    Q = Finish   S = Toggle SoftUpdates   Z = Custom Newfs
 T = Toggle Newfs  U = Undo     A = Auto Defaults        R = Delete+Merge
 
 Use F1 or ? to get more help, arrow keys to select.
 
 ********************************* END SCREEN *********************************
 
 Delete the partition created by bsdlabel(8). After this proceed as
 in the Installation Manual.
 
 good luck!
 -- 
 Anton Shterenlikht
 Room 2.6, Queen's Building
 Mech Eng Dept
 Bristol University
 University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK
 Tel: +44 (0)117 928 8233 
 Fax: +44 (0)117 929 4423
Responsible-Changed-From-To: freebsd-alpha->freebsd-sysinstall 
Responsible-Changed-By: gavin 
Responsible-Changed-When: Tue Jul 13 13:49:09 UTC 2010 
Responsible-Changed-Why:  
Over to maintainer(s) 

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=61940 

From: Garrett Cooper <gcooper@FreeBSD.org>
To: bug-followup@FreeBSD.org, xenophon+freebsd@irtnog.org
Cc:  
Subject: Re: alpha/61940: sysinstall(8): Can't disklabel new disk from 
	FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:20:37 -0700

     alpha support has been removed in FreeBSD 7.x [1], so this should
 be closed as 6.4 is going EoL in the next couple of months [2].
 Thanks,
 -Garrett
 
 [1] http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/alpha.html
 [2] http://www.freebsd.org/security/
State-Changed-From-To: open->closed 
State-Changed-By: eadler 
State-Changed-When: Tue Feb 22 19:30:52 EST 2011 
State-Changed-Why:  
Alpha is no longer supported 

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=61940 
>Unformatted:
