[Solved] Normal Install Failing at Creating Slice/partitions

dbolton · #1 January 5th, 2011, 23:21

Okay, I have never seen this one before and searching the error in the forum did not yeild a straight forward solution. Here's the history on installing OS's on my HP G60-125NR laptop.

Came with Vista, upgraded to Win7 over a year ago.
Three days ago loaded FreeBSD 8.1 (boot only iso) and all worked really well. Managed to get wireless going but had trouble getting xorg to configure correctly. Decided (probably a mistake here) to install PC-BSD, which I have played with in the past (when it was first announced). Again after playing with that install decided to go back to FreeBSD.

Standard install, disk slice editor, select A, use entire disk...great...moving to fdisk portion...add my partitions /, /var /data and a swap. Recieved the message"

Code:

Unable to find device node for /dev/ad6s1b in /dev! The creation of filesystems will be aborted.

Now, what gives? I previously installed FreeBSD from this exact same ISO and had no problem. What sort of kluge did PC-BSD (I know, not the right forum, just ranting a little here ;-) place on my file system?

Proceeding on, I Installed Windows 7 back onto the laptop without any problem however, when I boot FreeBSD again, I see the same file system layout as what was there with PC-BSD-even though it was erased and reformatted with the Win 7 install.

I need to delete all slice/partition information so I can re-install FreeBSD. Thoughts, ideas?

Thanks in advance!

**wblock@** · #2 January 5th, 2011, 23:53

This may be due to GPT partitioning on that disk. Partition information is kept not only at the start of the disk, but also at the end. Zeroing out the normal partition table won't get rid of it, but gpart(8) can do it:
# sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
# gpart destroy -F ad6

Of course the trick there is that you need FreeBSD for gpart. The FreeBSD livefs CD should work for that. No doubt there are Linux and Windows utilities also.

If you're desperate, and have a utility that will do it, zeroing several blocks at the beginning and end of the disk--or the whole disk--should also work.

dbolton · #3 January 5th, 2011, 23:59

Thanks Warren,
I was looking at this thread from the FreeBSD email list. Can I just hit single user mode and run the DD command or is it easier to just grab the LiveFS iso?
thanks,
David

**wblock@** · #4 January 6th, 2011, 00:06

If you can get to a command prompt, dd should do it. But if you can get to a command prompt, use gpart. There's a copy in /rescue if the normal one in /sbin won't work.

dbolton · #5 January 6th, 2011, 00:09

Excellent, will give it a go here in a bit. Thanks for the info!

dbolton · #6 January 6th, 2011, 00:56

Yep, had to download the livefs cd. Using that and Fixit, I run

Code:

# gpart destroy -F ad6

but it is coming back as an illegal option.

Code:

Options for: gpart destroy [-f flags] geom

gpart show and gpart list still show ad6 there. If I run a gpart destroy ad6 it just shows "device busy"

any ideas from here?

**wblock@** · #7 January 6th, 2011, 01:05

The -F option is apparently new (ish). Was that the 8.2-RC1 livefs CD?

dbolton · #8 January 6th, 2011, 01:17

No, the FreeBSD-8.1-RELEASE-amd64-livefs.iso is what I used.

dbolton · #9 January 6th, 2011, 01:26

Okay, I think I got it. After running a gpart show I saw ad6 followed by 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I ran this command:

Code:

gpart delete -i 1 ad6

to delete the first partition (I think) and followed it with running

Code:

gpart delete -i 2 ad6

Code:

gpart delete -i 3 ad6

Code:

gpart delete -i 4 ad6

Code:

gpart delete -i 5 ad6

And I was finally able to run:

Code:

gpart destroy -fF ad6

It now shows the ad6 slice without GPT assigned to it. Going to try to re-slice edit and re-fdisk this puppy now ;-)

dbolton · #10 January 6th, 2011, 01:34

Okay, still getting the error I mentioned in the first post,

Code:

Unable to find device node for /dev/ad6s1b in /dev! The creation of filesystems will be aborted

gpart show still lists ad6 as

Code:

=> 0  1  ad6  (none)  (233G)

followed by:

Code:

0  1    - free -  (512B)

I am still unable to completely remove this thing!

**wblock@** · #11 January 6th, 2011, 02:16

You could use the livefs CD to create the slice and partitions before booting an install CD. sysinstall will let you use existing partitions, you just have to assign mountpoints to them. The first part of Disk Setup On FreeBSD shows how to use fdisk(8) and bsdlabel(8) to create the slice and partitions.

dbolton · #12 January 6th, 2011, 03:00

So, I did use the livefs CD to create the slice and partitions, then booted to the install, but it ended in failure again. I read in another post that someone had a similar issue and used the previous version (7x), so I pulled out my 7.3 CD and booted the install disk. I am now able to label and edit the slices and partitions just fine and am moving on with the install.

I am really confused as to why the same boot CD I used just four days ago worked perfectly, and yet after installing a different (but similar OS- PC-BSD), I had to go through such hoops. I did read in another post that the developers removed the DD UFS stuff. Not sure exactly how that is tied to this issue, just that I have a filesystem issue.

I have been using FreeBSD since 1998. I have always loved the simplicity (and speed of the installation) of it and the fact that I can run everything I need without a GUI frontend. With that said, it seems the winds of change are a blowin at FreeBSD. If it is no longer simplistic, users won't want to...well...use it.

**wblock@** · #13 January 6th, 2011, 03:07

sysinstall is going away for just this type of reason. It's old, and has lots of things that people complain about. pc-sysinstall is supposed to address almost everything that needed to be fixed.

jb_fvwm2 · #14 January 6th, 2011, 13:46

v8 defaults to omitting several drivers which would enable the
sysinstall to probably work. I've posted about it several times,
search on geom_label.ko geom_bsd.ko (if I recall) in the forums.
(taking my own advice: )
A simple search on

geom_mbr

bought up about eight or so of posts I've made already in
similar threads.

dbolton · #15 January 6th, 2011, 17:43

Thanks jb,
I will definitely look into it. @ wblock, hmmm I never had any complaints about sysinstall ;-) but can understand why the masses thought it was something they needed to complain about, especially if they are coming from a linux gui background. When is the pc-install taking over, or has it already been included in the 8.x versions?

As for the latest endeavor, I installed 7.3 and then tried doing an upgrade to 8.1, again no go with the partitions. I will try now with what has been posted as potential solutions for geom_mbr issues.

**wblock@** · #16 January 6th, 2011, 18:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbolton

Thanks jb,
I will definitely look into it. @ wblock, hmmm I never had any complaints about sysinstall ;-) but can understand why the masses thought it was something they needed to complain about, especially if they are coming from a linux gui background. When is the pc-install taking over, or has it already been included in the 8.x versions?

I don't think it will be in 8.2, but maybe 8.3. My concerns with it were mostly clarity in the user interface.

Quote:

As for the latest endeavor, I installed 7.3 and then tried doing an upgrade to 8.1, again no go with the partitions. I will try now with what has been posted as potential solutions for geom_mbr issues.

Please document what you do. A web search earlier shows this is a far more common problem than it should be. Based on searches here, jb_fvwm2 is saying to boot the install CD, break to the loader, load geom_mbr, geom_label, and geom_bsd. Then boot, and it should all Just Work.

dbolton · #17 January 6th, 2011, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by wblock

Please document what you do. A web search earlier shows this is a far more common problem than it should be. Based on searches here, jb_fvwm2 is saying to boot the install CD, break to the loader, load geom_mbr, geom_label, and geom_bsd. Then boot, and it should all Just Work.

Will do. I did exactly what jb mentioned in his post and also what jem mentions here but when typing boot, it hangs at da0 load...jem made some notes on his site which I will follow next.

I could just load the 7.3 and leave it there, but I typically like to run the current, current releases and not legacy, albeit I have several legacy versions running on productions servers.

I have always taken offense to folks who post here that "FreeBSD" broke my hardware, but I now feel their pain. Again, just odd how it worked flawlessly before. I am inclined to say pc-bsd broke my hardware, but in reality it's just not the case.

dbolton · #18 January 6th, 2011, 21:31

Warren et al,
I finally have FreeBSD 8.1 back on my laptop! I used a combination of your Disk Setup on BSD notes and jem's notes on the same. I usually try to avoid downloading the DVD iso but in this case it was a prerequisite to accomplishing the goal.

I only had to adjust for my particular partition layout and I am now off and running with getting apps installed.

Thanks again to all the BSD heads out there ;-)

**wblock@** · #19 January 6th, 2011, 21:47

Did loading the modules make the difference, or what?

dbolton · #20 January 6th, 2011, 22:15

No, after loading the modules and going to boot, it would hang while trying to load drivers for the built-in card reader. Using gpart, as you suggested, finally worked-but I had to go back and re-delete/destroy everything on ad6. I then used a combination of your notes and jem's notes to get the final resolution (you do a restore, I needed to install base).

jb_fvwm2 · #21 January 6th, 2011, 22:58

That issue or something similar wrecked an upgrade I did to a laptop
from v6 to v8. So I put in a new disk. While installing v8 I discovered all I had to do
would have been to partially remove the pccard-device from its slot
while booting. (Might not have been a pccard, something more
recent maybe).

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