Discussion:
The other problem : AHCI unbootable
(too old to reply)
Manish Jain
2016-06-25 04:56:39 UTC
Permalink
Hi,

While installing FreeBSD 10.3 amd64, I tried switching from IDE to AHCI
in my BIOS's boot configuration. But when I do this, the installer
installs the OS on the hard disk, and then the system is unbootable -
the BIOS screen hangs with the message : boot record missing.

Can anyone please tell me what might be the problem ?

Regards

Manish Jain
Dave
2016-06-25 12:10:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Manish Jain
While installing FreeBSD 10.3 amd64, I tried switching from IDE to AHCI
in my BIOS's boot configuration. But when I do this, the installer
installs the OS on the hard disk, and then the system is unbootable -
the BIOS screen hangs with the message : boot record missing.
Can anyone please tell me what might be the problem ?
Not sure exactly what you are saying your process is, but switching between AHCI and IDE without a full and clean install will cause you problems. Solution. Don't do it.

This advice applies at least to WinXP too. That tends to reboot while the Windows logo is on screen no matter which way around you do it. ie if you install in IDE mode it will reboot if change to AHCI mode. Same happens if you install in AHCI mode and then try to boot in IDE mode.
Warren Block
2016-06-25 12:23:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dave
Post by Manish Jain
While installing FreeBSD 10.3 amd64, I tried switching from IDE to AHCI
in my BIOS's boot configuration. But when I do this, the installer
installs the OS on the hard disk, and then the system is unbootable -
the BIOS screen hangs with the message : boot record missing.
Can anyone please tell me what might be the problem ?
Not sure exactly what you are saying your process is, but switching between AHCI and IDE without a full and clean install will cause you problems. Solution. Don't do it.
This has not been a problem for me with FreeBSD. The drivers and
operating system are resilient enough to detect which mode is available
and just use it. AHCI is preferred, though, giving a roughly 5-15%
speed improvement.
Post by Dave
This advice applies at least to WinXP too. That tends to reboot while
the Windows logo is on screen no matter which way around you do it. ie
if you install in IDE mode it will reboot if change to AHCI mode.
Same happens if you install in AHCI mode and then try to boot in IDE
mode.
I can't recall about XP, but later versions do have AHCI drivers
available. If the machine is to be dual-booted, that will limit the
modes available to what works with the most limited operating system.
Using FreeBSD as a single operating system and running the others as VMs
with VirtualBox is one way around this.
Warren Block
2016-06-25 13:29:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Manish Jain
While installing FreeBSD 10.3 amd64, I tried switching from IDE to AHCI
in my BIOS's boot configuration. But when I do this, the installer
installs the OS on the hard disk, and then the system is unbootable -
the BIOS screen hangs with the message : boot record missing.
Can anyone please tell me what might be the problem ?
I have seen some systems do that not because of AHCI but because they
have mistake preconceptions about GPT.

Setting (or clearing) the active attribute can fix this, at least for
FreeBSD:

gpart set -a active ada0

Loading...