Disk dimensions reported incorrectly

BigBadPenguin · 01-16-2005, 08:06 AM

Hi guys, hope you have fun with this one, I'm out of ideas.

I've installed Slackware9.1 on a (really old) IBM thinkpad 380D. Installation went without a hitch, and the disk was correctly identified as 2GB throughout.

The disk was partitioned, as part of the install, very simply: 1899.24MB for / and 214MB for swap.

However, when I run df -h the size of /dev/hda1 is reported as 764MB, with 516MB used. fdisk, cfdisk and the kernel all recognise the correct dimensions of the disk.

I've tried lba32 in lilo.conf as well as linear. I've also explicitly stated the disk's dimensions there, to no avail.

The only other problem with the system is that when I boot up I get the following warnings from LILO:

Code:

BIOS data check
Map file write; BIOS error code = 0x99
successful

Map file write; BIOS error code = 0x99

I've googled and searched LQ about this problem, and also looked for LILO and IBM BIOS error codes for the 380D. Neither seem to include the code 0x99...

Some information:

Code:

# uname -a
Linux button 2.4.22 #8 Tue Sep 2 17:51:33 PDT 2003 i586 unknown unknown GNU/Linux

# fd -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda1             764M  516M  249M  68% /

# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 2113 MB, 2113929216 bytes
64 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 = 2064384 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1         920     1854688+  83  Linux
/dev/hda2             921        1024      209664   82  Linux swap

# dmesg | grep hda
hda: IBM-DTNA-22110, ATA DISK drive
hda: attached ide-disk driver.
hda: 4128768 sectors (2114 MB) w/96KiB Cache, CHS=1024/64/63
 hda: hda1 hda2

# more /etc/mtab
/dev/hda1 / reiserfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0

# more /etc/fstab
/dev/hda2        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/hda1        /                reiserfs    defaults         1   1
/dev/cdrom       /mnt/cdrom       iso9660     noauto,owner,ro  0   0
/dev/fd0         /mnt/floppy      auto        noauto,owner     0   0
devpts           /dev/pts         devpts      gid=5,mode=620   0   0
proc             /proc            proc        defaults         0   0

# more /etc/lilo.conf | grep -v ^#
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
linear
disk=/dev/hda
        sectors=63
        heads=64
        cylinders=1024

 vga=771
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/hda1
  label = Linux
  append="hd=1024,64,63"
  read-only

[ /proc/partitions agrees with `fdisk -l` output ]

# more /proc/ide/hda/geometry
physical       4096/16/63
logical         1024/64/63

This last thing looks a little strange, but i can't say i understand it.
Anyway, although the system runs smoothly, 250MB is pretty much useless; I haven't even installed X yet, so I'd really like to solve this problem. Many thanks for any ideas! I'd be happy to provide more info if necessary.

Cheers
-Edd

BigBadPenguin · 01-30-2005, 01:06 PM

<bump>!
No ideas anyone?

polypagan · 09-26-2005, 06:34 PM

I got here googling lilo 0x99 error. Sorry no one has come up with an answer, have you?

I too have a thinkpad (560). I have Damn Small 1.5 on it and lilo gives me that same series of messages. I do not see any loss of disk space, tho' (I think I have exactly the same drive, same geometry anyhow). My feeling is that you have two problems that may or may not be related.

I sure would like to hear from someone who can decipher this.

best,
polypagan (Daniel)

dannyl · 09-26-2005, 10:57 PM

My guess is the video card is not well supported. I have the same 0x99 error on a TP 760XL running Slackware 10.2 with 2.6.13 kernel. Also had it when running earlier versions. As for the drive issue I have no idea. I read some where (not sure now where) that earlier versions of Xfree86 worked better with the Trident cards, but I could never get it to install with 9.1 and later versions of slackware.

bobby_hawk · 02-18-2006, 10:51 AM

I'm running an IBM 380ED, P166mhz, 81megs ram, 3gig hard drive. I installed the most recent BIOS update, 2000 time frame. That made my CD player work as a boot CD.

I have the same: Map file write; BIOS error code = 0x99

On this same machine I started with RH9 then went to Slackware 10.2. This is my learning Linux machine. I have installed, re-installed and partitioned and re-partitioned a couple of times. I recently installed Ubuntu. This machine is too slow for a graphical interface. I went back to Slackware with just the Text / Character interface, no X Windows.

The IBM seems to be working fine even with the 0x99 error.

If someone figures it out please let me know too.

Bob

polypagan · 02-19-2006, 02:26 PM

Here are a couple of ideas, which may or may not be useful:

switch to grub. I haven't tried this on my ThinkPad, but at least you'd be likely to get a different error!

And, if you want a GUI on that tp, try damnsmall. It runs pretty well on my 560 with 24MB RAM! It seemed like I needed to switch to XFree86 (from Xvesa) to get good colors, but with more knowledge and experience (and a newer model ThinkPad), that might not be the case.

If you can boot from CD, try the live CD. If you can't make a bootfloppy and try it anyhow. It can install (like Knoppix) to harddrive, either compressed or not and is almost Debian.

My TP is a print/ntp/dhcp/local web and FTP server. It stays on 24/7 and consumes a max of 31 Watts!

best,
Daniel