alpha/61940: Can't disklabel new disk from FreeBSD/alpha 5.2-RELEASE sysinstall

[Matthew X. Economou]

The following reply was made to PR alpha/61940; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: "Matthew X. Economou" <xenophon at irtnog.org>
To: <phk at freebsd.org>
Cc: <freebsd-gnats-submit at FreeBSD.org>, <obrien at 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 at irtnog.org> - Unsafe at any clock speed!
 I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian heritage! (http://www.subgenius.com)
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