Disappointed with version 6.0

[Alex Zbyslaw]

Chris wrote:

>[K8V-X SE]
>Sounds harsh, a low end board may have performance problems and less
>capability but it shouldnt justify an operating system not working, or
>are only high end boards supported?
>  
>
I have this board, and it works for what I do with it (single SATA 200Gb 
disk + built-in ethernet - under 5.4 i386).

Having said that, this board is a low-end piece of crud and I wouldn't 
recommend it to anyone.  I intended to get the non-X version (because it 
was cheap with Gigabit ether, but got bilked by the supplier and didn't 
realise until I'd built the damn thing).  I've never used USB, or stuck 
multiple disks in it, so I have no idea if I would have the same 
problems as you; sorry.

If you want a better board without going all expensive-server, then my 
ASUS A8V deluxe (socket 939) has worked fine, though I've only used USB 
under windows.

Should cheap boards work?  Yes they should, and by and large they do.  
But a specific model of cheap board can easily have specific problems 
and there is no way for a project like FreeBSD to test every board on 
the market - they change too fast and there are just too many of 'em.  
FWIW, there are cheap boards which run really crap under Windows, as well.

My motherboard is
> >the ASUS K8V-X SE that I chose because it was listed as compatible at
> >the FreeBSD/amd64 Project:
> >
> >http://www.freebsd.org/platforms/amd64/motherboards.html

Are you running the amd64 version of FreeBSD?  If so, try the i386 version and see if that solves your problems.  You also have to take such compatibility information with a small pinch of salt.  Undoubtedly someone has reported that this motherboard booted amd64 version of FreeBSD just fine, but they might not have pushed every aspect of the board.

I haven't followed this thread that closely, but IIUC, in your shoes I would try the system with *just* the problem disk as a master (and the CD) and see if you can do anything with it.  (I think Ted suggested that already).  Also, since you seem to have gone for PATA - check your cable or try a different one - probably won't help but you have to try.

If you are getting to the point where the disk is recognised by FreeBSD then see what sysutils/smartmontools says about it.  Just in case.

--Alex