Memstick image differences between 8.x and 9.x

[Thomas K.]

On Sat, Oct 08, 2011 at 04:38:09PM -0400, Glen Barber wrote:

> Thomas, can you please zero out the beginning of the 1024 bytes of your
> memory stick, as follows (please take care to note the actual device for
> your memory stick, and change '/dev/da0' below, as appropriate):
> 
> 	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 bs=1024 count=1
> 
> Then re-write the memory stick per the instructions in the Handbook.
> Newly added to this section of the Handbook was a note to ensure the
> device is _not_ mounted (either manually, or automatically).

So you want me to clear the first 1K bytes, and then write the whole
image back to the pen drive, did I get this right? If so, I don't understand
what we're trying to archive here, maybe you could explain?

Anyway, I read it wrong the first time and did the following: I just cleared
the first 1K of the stick as it was (with BETA3 image on it), and then put
it in when rebooting the box and pressing F12 to get to the boot device list.

Without the GPT it showed up in the list, but of course was unbootable when
choosen.

I then wrote back the 1K with "dd if=FreeBSD-9... of=/dev/sde bs=1024 count=1"
and verified the stick to be ok with a cmp(1) of the device file vs. the image
file, so the pendrive is in the fresh state it should be.

When plugging it in under Linux I get the following:

================================================================================

[232309.636200] usb 1-1.1: new high speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd
[232309.730109] scsi9 : usb-storage 1-1.1:1.0
[232310.729101] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Ut165    USB2FlashStorage 0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[232310.904549] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[232310.905449] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] 3948544 512-byte logical blocks: (2.02 GB/1.88 GiB)
[232310.906657] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Write Protect is off
[232310.906663] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
[232310.907303] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Asking for cache data failed
[232310.907308] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Assuming drive cache: write through
[232310.909803] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Asking for cache data failed
[232310.909808] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Assuming drive cache: write through
[232311.031811] GPT:Primary header thinks Alt. header is not at the end of the disk.
[232311.031825] GPT:1339319 != 3948543
[232311.031827] GPT:Alternate GPT header not at the end of the disk.
[232311.031829] GPT:1339319 != 3948543
[232311.031830] GPT: Use GNU Parted to correct GPT errors.
[232311.031845]  sde: sde1 sde2
[232311.034154] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Asking for cache data failed
[232311.034160] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Assuming drive cache: write through
[232311.034165] sd 9:0:0:0: [sde] Attached SCSI removable disk
[232312.081344] ufs was compiled with read-only support, can't be mounted as read-write

================================================================================

Notice the GPT stuff. Of course that's because there can't possibly be an
alternative GPT header at the end of the disk unless it's size is the same
as the image size.

As suggested I fixed it with parted and tried to boot from it again.
No joy.

I'm starting to believe this box just doesn't know GPT and the BIOS can't
handle it at all. This is an Acer AX3960 Core i7 from maybe 6 months ago.

Does anyone if the other BSDs have images using GPT, so I might verify?


Regards,
Thomas