OpenBSD 3.6 won't boot
 

Hello,

I know this might sound stupid for a lot of you BSD experts... but I followed the "How To" on openbsd.org on how to install 3.6 line by line.... All my messages were the same at every step, up until after:

Making all device nodes...done.
Installing boot block...
boot: /mnt/boot
proto: /usr/mdec/biosboot
device: /dev/rwd0c
/usr/mdec/biosboot: entry point 0
proto bootblock size 512
/mnt/boot is 3 blocks x 16384 bytes
fs block shift 2; part offset 3069360; inode block 152, offset 4136
using MBR partition 1: type 166 (0xa6) offset 3069360 (0x2ed5b0)
done.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your OpenBSD install has been successfully completed!
To boot the new system, enter halt at the command prompt. Once the
system has halted, reset the machine and boot from the disk.
# halt
syncing disks... done

The operating system has halted.
Please press any key to reboot.



After reboot it comes up with Disk Boot Failure, Insert system disk and press enter.

The install seems to go as planned on http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html


no errors, no weird things, but every time i install I det disk boot failure. Is there something that the 'how to' guide left out? remember, I am following it line-for-line. Also, the 'how to' doesn't say wether I need the disk or not afterwards...


It almost seems like there is no boot loader or something? Can someone help a BSD newbie find out what is wrong?

P.S.
My package selection is "all" if that matters.

Does your OpenBSD 3.6 shares with other OS in your disk?

No, It's a stand alone machine...

I don't know why it won't boot. the packages even seemed to be installed and all, I just can't get it to boot :-(


one hard drive. Set up exactly like the 'how to' page. exact specs....

If this is a stand alone machine, why is your root filesystem ~1.5GB into the disk?

The first thing I would check is that your OBSD partition is flagged active. Sounds like it's not. If it is set active, try to install a new bootstrap

I don't know... llike I said, I just copied what the openbsd page said line for line...



I am about to give up on trying out OpenBSD at this point. I just can't figure out how to get this booted....


I mean SuSE works alright for me, Mandrake, Debian, ect. Even freeBSD is cool.
But OpenBSD just won't work.

Following http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html


Is there anything they are leaving out?

OMG I'M ONLINE!

lol... I got it up... fdisk -u wd0 to update the mbr... :-(

lol


well, it's up now.... lol...

4.12.2 - My i386 won't boot after install
Your install seemed to go fine, but on first boot, you see no sign of OpenBSD attempting to boot. There are a few common reasons for this problem:
No partition was flagged active in fdisk(8). To fix this, reboot the machine using the boot floppy or media, and "flag" a partition as "active" (bootable). See here and here
No valid boot loader was ever put on the disk. If you answer "Y" to the "Use entire disk for OpenBSD?" question during the install, or use the "reinit" option of fdisk(8), the OpenBSD boot record is installed on the Master Boot Record of the disk; otherwise, the existing master boot code is untouched. This will be a problem if no other boot record existed. One solution is to boot the install media again, drop to the shell and invoke fdisk(8) to update the MBR code from the command line:
# fdisk -u wd0

Note: the "update" option within the interactive mode ("-e") mode of fdisk will not write the signature bytes required to make the disk bootable.
In some rare occasions, something may go wrong with the second stage boot loader install. Reinstalling the second stage boot loader is discussed here.


P.S.

Woot! I can finally use it after 3 mo. or trying... lol....

Yes, it's because you didn't answer "Y" to "use the entire disk?" during install (most likely).

I'm also thingking about that.

I have even tried installing 3.5 in a newer server hardware with SATA drives and I just say "yes" on use the entire "wd0" for OpenBSD.

No pains at all.