Re: OpenBSD bad magic (fwd)

[jim <jjd@quebix.net>]

In case this is useful...

I had that "bad magic" problem on a Win98/Linux/OpenBSD box about two
months ago.  Basically I had a few extra gigs on my second HD (all Linux)
that I wanted to use to test out OpenBSD 2.6, so I wiped that drive by
letting OpenBSD do a "full-disk install."  I noticed that "full disk" only
meant 8 gigs, so I then proceeded to re-install Linux so I could regain
access to the other 12 gigs on that drive.  That somehow caused the "bad
magic."

I re-installed OpenBSD (with a non-full disk install) followed by a
re-install of Linux and everything worked fine.  Oh... I use LILO boot
loader.

Anyway... it's not just an NT thing.  =)

Good luck,
~jim



Dave Diller had the following thoughts:
# 
# Hmm... seems there were bouncing issues here around the time I sent
# this....
# 
# Update... just tried the installboot process again "mount /dev/wd0a /mnt;
# cp /usr/mdec/boot /mnt/boot; /usr/mdec/installboot -v /usr/mdec/biosboot
# wd0", still no dice under NTLoader. It used to work...
# 
# Any ideas appreciated :)
# 
# ----
# 
# Funny thing, now I'm having the same problem with 2.6.  The odd part is
# that it has been working fine via NTLoader for the last few weeks, I got
# it working with no undue difficulties. All I did today was install
# Netscape on the NTFS partition, and now all of a sudden I get 'bad magic'
# when trying to boot OBSD from NTLoader.  What could cause it to
# spontaneously stop working?  NTFS and the root partition are contiguous...
# BSD starting at around 4.5GB into a 9GB disk.  Could the contiguity have
# allowed NT to bleed a block or two into BSD somehow, corrupting a
# checksum? Makes no sense, but that is the only clue I've come up with -
# the contiguity of the partitions.
# 
# How do I redo the autodetect of the BIOS?  and set LBA?  This is a Dell
# PII 400.
# 
# I'm into it via the boot floppy, but that's not hopefully not a permanent
# solution.
# 
# -DaveD
# 
# 
# > In fact, I've got it working now. I went into the BIOS, redid the auto detect IDE HDD (as someone suggested, thanks) , set to LBA (this was default), booted with the install disk and boot -a at the boot> prompt and did:
# > 
# > # cd /usr/mdec
# > # cp boot /boot
# > # /usr/mdec/installboot /boot /usr/mdec/biosboot wd0
# > 
# > And rebooted, now it works fine. Hope this works for you.
# > 
# >        --Jason
# > 
# > On Thu, Feb 24, 2000 at 01:50:13PM -0700, Matt Smith wrote:
# > > Jason,
# > > 
# > > I'm having exactly the same problem -- I did the installboot like you did, even reinstalled the OS, with no joy... Please let me know if you get any off-list help!
# > > 
# > > Cheers,
# > > matt.
# > > --
# > > Matt Smith
# > > Director of Software Engineering, DoBox, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah
# > > ph: +1-801-652-5228
# > > email: matt@dobox.com
# > > 
# > > 
# > > ----- Original Message ----- 
# > > From: Jason N Cowell <jncowell@cyberspace.org>
# > > To: <misc@openbsd.org>
# > > Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2000 1:06 PM
# > > Subject: OpenBSD installation
# > > 
# > > 
# > > > Okay, I installed OpenBSD (on antoher box) but when i try to boot, it gives the error "bad magic" and hangs. Someone said something about using OS-BS, but I tried it and it just went thro the same porcess, ending up with the same error. I can boot only
# > > > by doing boot -a with the install floppy. 
# > > > 
# > > > I tried booting like that and then doing : /usr/mdec/installboot /boot /usr/mdec/biosboot wd0 but just got the same error again.
# > > > 
# > > > 
# > > > The system spec:
# > > > 
# > > > PII 400Mhz
# > > > 8GB IDE HD
# > > > 128MB RAM
# > > > Award Modular BIOS
# > > > 
# > > > Can anyone help please?
# > > > 
# > > > 
# > > >        --Jason
# > > > 
# > > 
# > > 
# > 
# 
# 

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