Unable to write data on disk

[YipKei Kwok]

Hi,

We continue our work today and here are our discoveries.

1. There is no hardware problem with our machine.
Originally, we suspected that there might be some hardware problem
with our machine, or drives. That's why we tried to install Linux
(Debian 3.1) on our HP zx6000 machine. The results was that we were
able install Linux on _both_ of the hard drives that we have
seamlessly. It shows that there is no hardware failure with our
machine.

2. sysinstall not able to detect more than 1 drive
Linux detects both 73GB U320 hard drives while the FreeBSD sysinstall
see only 1.

3. problem with swap partition
If we create both / and swap filesystems on a single disk, we get the error
ERROR: Unable to write data to disk da1!

But if, for experimental purpose, we used the whole disk space for
swap. We got the following error.
Couldn't make filesystems properly. Aborting.

Our workaround solution:
We used the whole disk drive for / and the disk was labelled
successfully and so was the whole installation process. Then, we will
later mount swap to a new drive.

Regards,
Yipkei

On 12/11/06, YipKei Kwok <yipkeikwok at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Marcel,
>
> I tried FreeBSD 6.1 today, I still get exactly the same error after
> defining partitions.
>
>
>
> ERROR: Unable to write data to disk da1!
>
>
> I referred to the errata for 6.1 at the following URL.
> http://www.freebsd.org/releases/6.1R/errata.html
> Here is a similar error, I think, posted.
>
>
>
> (2006/05/27, updated 2006/06/01) On FreeBSD/alpha, sysinstall(8)
> sometimes does not allow a disk to be labeled. The disk is presented
> in sysinstall(8) but actions like Auto do not result in a disklabel
> being presented. One workaround is to boot the install CD, then select
> Fixit. From the Fixit# prompt, run disklabel(8) manually. For example:
> disklabel -rw da1 auto ensures a valid disklabel is written onto da1.
> Reboot from the install media. sysinstall(8) will now detect a valid
> disklabel on the disk and allow it to be partitioned to your
> preference.
>
>
> Although it states that it happens on FreeBSD/alpha, I tried to fix my
> problem using the same way. After I selected Fixit, I picked option 4
> (Start an Emergency Holographic Shell) from the following menu.
>
> X               Exit                     Exit this menu
> 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
>
>
> Then, I got the following messages.
>
> DEBUG: Doctor: I can't set the controlling terminal.
> Type ``exit'' in this fixit shell to resume sysinstall
>
> sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
>
>
>
> No matter I tried `disklabel' or `bsdlabel', the following error
> message was shown.
>
> disklabel: not found
>
> or,
>
> bsdlabel: not found
>
>
> If the solution provided in the errata does not apply on IA-64, that's
> OK. What I want is to have my disk partitioned and have my Itanium
> machine installed with FreeBSD.
>
> I am looking forward to hear from you. Thank you very much!
>
> Regards,
> Yipkei
>
> On 12/8/06, Marcel Moolenaar <xcllnt at mac.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Dec 8, 2006, at 3:32 PM, YipKei Kwok wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I have a problem when installing FreeBSD 5.2 on my HP zx6000 Itanium
> > > machine.
> >
> > If FreeBSD 6.1 is a viable option for you, I would try that instead
> > of 5.2. The installation problems should have been fixed in 6.1.
> >
> > --
> > Marcel Moolenaar
> > xcllnt at mac.com
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
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> http://www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/~ykwok/
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> ykwok2 at utep dot edu
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>


-- 
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this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world." - John 16:33 NIV

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-- 
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http://www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/~ykwok/
email addresses:
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ykwok2 at utep dot edu
ICQ UIN:    2309842
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