disk oddities on amd64...

[fbsdmail at dnswatch.com]

Greetings,
 Well after using the correct DVD to install FreeBSD on my nice new AMD
MD && CPU. I discovered it wasn't possible to complete the install using
the official DVD.
preface:
DVD/RW on usb2 wire (pass)
FreeBSD target drive on SATA2/3 port using SATA2 500Gb drive
additional drive (untouched by install) UATA/133 40Gb PATA

The install process:
Boot to install DVD (no problem)
Choose "standard" install (no problen)
Proceed to FDISK && DISKLEBEL (no problem)
Choose "install media" (OOPS! the DVD disappeared!)

I finally succeeded by eventually choosing FTP as install media after
FDISK && DISKLABEL.

But what is really odd about this, is that when I accidentally chose
the i386 DVD in an earlier attempt to install to this system. I had
zero trouble, and nothing has changed in the BIOS settings, or my
procedure - save using the correct DVD this time. ;)

In both cases FBSD echoed the BIOS representation of the drive numbering.
In both installs the order was the same - both BIOS && FBSD.

Now that I have it installed & have built/installed world && kernel, I
am experiencing an additional problem w/ drive identification that I
didn't experience w/ the i386 version. But I'll post that in a different
thread.

Thank you for all your time and consideration.

--Chris


-- 
kern:
FreeBSD 8.1-PRERELEASE  amd64
MB:
MSI 880GMA-E45 (socket: AM3)
CPU:
AMD Phenom X3 440 (3 core) @3.5Ghz
RAM:
2 4Gb CORSAIR DDR3 DualChannel PC1600