Re: can't install on my alphastation 200 4/233 (Avanti) - disk partition problem?
> 981115/root1440.bin as root1440.bin
> 981115/base14-x.bin as base14-x.bin (x = [1-6])
> 981115/avanti/resc1440.bin as resc1440.bin
> 981115/avanti/drv1440.bin as drv1440.bin
>
> then I use rawrite2 to transfer each of these *.bin files
> to a 1.44Mb floppy diskette, and now I enter:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ****************
> Confused State 1
> ****************
>
> what are the alias names for these disks?
>
> resc = rescue diskette, right? but is this the same as the kernel?
For Alpha, yes. On other architectures, the root filesystem sits on this disk
too, and they don't have a root diskette.
> first I boot the rescue diskette, then it asks for the root diskette?
>
> which of these diskettes are equivalent to the "vmlinux.gz" diskette?
Rescue
> which one is the ramdisk?
This is the root diskette. The root filesystem is loaded into the ramdisk from
it.
[lots deleted]
Everything looks good up to here. Your harddisk isn't clean enough for cfdisk
to work with it. Unfortunately, cfdisk is a bit picky...
> ->next : partition a hard disk (I need swap and native partitions)
> select drive to partition: /dev/sda
> FATAL ERROR: Bad primary partition
> Press any key to exit fdisk
>
> I can't enter anything besides /dev/sda in the drive field,
> and it always results in FATAL ERROR: Bad primary partition
>
> so, I'm going to try the alternate: do without a swap partition
> but, this is to no avail, because if I can't partition my hard disk,
> then I can't mount anything, and then I can't install the system.
> Do I re-run the NT cd:\alpha\arcinst program and delete everything?
>
> Is my harddrive (8.x Gb) too large for the Debian "fdisk" program?
> Is there a maximum limit for the physical drive size?
Since you are going to clean the disk anyway, the easiest way to fix this is to hit Alt-F2 to get the other terminal (hit enter to get a shell), and erase the partition table. Do
# dd < /dev/null > /dev/sda count=2
(The dd is a bit dumb, I don't remember if it understood the count option. If not, just let it run for a bit and then Ctrl-C it.) After this, you should be able to rerun the partition disk step.
/Anders
--
-- Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong.
Anders Hammarquist | iko@cd.chalmers.se
Not system administrator at DjungelData | Hem: +46 31 47 69 27
Chalmers University of Technology, G|teborg, Sweden | Mob: +46 707 27 86 87
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