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Cannot make partition startable

Started by fjeffkirk, 2011.03.25, 03:32:10

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fjeffkirk

Any and all help would be appreciated

First off I am letting you know I'm completely new at os2. The only reason I even use it is because of where i work. The computer at work which runs os2 has crashed. The hard drive crashed but we were able to salvage most of the data. Now we must install os2 onto a new hard drive. I installed a 7 gb hard drive in the machine since it hasn't used up more than 3 gbs in 10 yrs of working. And I went through the installation process without a problem. The fdisk utility was a pain but I worked my way through it, and maybe thats why my problem lies. See it installs the operating system without a problem and says remove disc and press enter to finish installation. It then restarts and says no operating system found. I'm leaning towards something to do with making the hard drive startable but in the fdisk program i can never click the link that could make it startable. So right now I have a computer hooked up to a 50000 dollar machine thats useless until we can get the computer working that operates it. I was wondering if third party software could make the partition bootable or do I have to do something in fdisk that i did not know. I only have one partition installed and thats the primary. Do i need a boot manager or logical drive installed. Please help.


Jeff

ivan

Hi Jeff,

Can you confirm that it is the same computer and the only change is the hard disk.  I ask because if it's a new computer as well there might be other things we need to look at.

The other things - which version of OS/2, Warp3, Warp3 connect, Warp4, WSeB etc, all have slightly different requirements to install.  What type of hard disk IDE or SCSI and if SCSI what controller is used?

Get back to us with information and we should be able to walk you through the process.

ivan

Radek

First of all, I am joining Ivan: which version of OS/2 are you using? Warp 3 (up to late fixpacks) and Warp 4 (up to FP6) cannot install to a 7 GB disk without patching installation diskettes. You will need to patch installation diskettes with Daniela's HD drivers (files dani*.zip on hobbes.nmsu.edu). The dani* drivers allow you to use 7 GB disk even in Warp 3, but you will need some older version of the driver (for example 1.7.0) with W3. W4 will run with all versions of the driver except the latest ones (1.8.5 and later). eCS comes with Daniela drivers and it will install on a 7 GB disk.

Next, which disk layout you want to achieve? Are you installing Boot Manager? Are you planning to create more partitions on the HD?

If you are installing installing Boot Manager then you need to install BM, create a partition, make the partition bootable and add the partition to the Boot Manager menu. Otherwise, the Boot Manager will not find the partition after reboot. If you are not installing BM then create a partition and make it bootable. This should be enough.

I recommend creating only one partition (the one where you are installing) and doing the rest after completing installation. You will have more comfort from the running OS/2 than from the installer.

RobertM

#3
Jeff, failing the suggestions being made providing a solution, I am available as an outside consultant (for a fee) to get the system working. Eventually, you may find it's simply time to bring in someone well versed in OS/2. I am not that far from where I suspect you are.

http://www.aibpc.com/index.php/os2-warp-warp-server-support/

Best,
Robert


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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RobertM

#4
Quote from: Radek on 2011.03.25, 14:28:49
First of all, I am joining Ivan: which version of OS/2 are you using? Warp 3 (up to late fixpacks) and Warp 4 (up to FP6) cannot install to a 7 GB disk without patching installation diskettes.

Probably not correct in THIS scenario. Warp *3* (as updated in Warp Server  v4) will install on larger drives than that in certain scenarios (many scenarios of this particular nature where a high end (for it's time) machine of this sort is being used). You are missing the point that this is a system designed to control some automated or manufacturing or monitoring system. Various IBM systems of it's age worked on larger drives... PARTITIONING is the key on the problematic ones (and not necessary on various other setups).

This especially applies to SCSI from my experience. I've used both 9GB Seagate and 36.4GB IBM drives as boot drives under Warp Server v4.


Quote from: ivan on 2011.03.25, 04:01:42
which version of OS/2, Warp3, Warp3 connect, Warp4, WSeB etc, all have slightly different requirements to install.  What type of hard disk IDE or SCSI and if SCSI what controller is used?

Assuming this is the same system, new hard drive.

This system will be a Warp 3 or Warp 4 system. Most systems of that nature are either OS/2 2.1 (not applicable based on drive size - note his comment about how much data they had on the failed drive - 3GB), the rest are split between Warp 3 (normally 60%+ chance), or Warp 4 (normally 40%- chance). At 10 years old, it would *seem* Warp 4 is the more likely candidate, though in this scenario, that may not be true since numerous machines like this came out on the same version of OS/2 for many years after a new version of the OS was released. Just as numerous ancient ATMs started on v1.3... and continued (for ages) to be replaced with brand new v1.3 machines.

This system is probably IDE. There were not many SCSI drives that formatted down to 7GB (the general size in that range was 9GB, which formatted to the 8.x or sometimes as low as 7.8GB range). There were a variety of short run IDE drives that were 7GB in size, including various 7.2GB drives that came pre-installed in various DELL systems that were used for such purposes.

If the system IS SCSI, then it will be a matter of determining the SCSI subsystem's boot limitations. They were generally 8GB (CANNOT format a boot partition to anything over 7.8GB, MUST be in the beginning of the disk - EVEN if Bootmanager is installed to kick off the boot process), or 4GB (approx 3.9GB boot partition, same rules), or 2GB (1.9GB boot part, same rules). These rules (for SCSI) apply to virtually every setup, for ANY version of OS/2 up to and including WSeB/Aurora v4.52 CP2 PF, for virtually all Adaptec and LSI Logic (and thus IBM and most HP systems) SCSI subsystems.

Most IBM/Adaptec cards of that age support up to a 7.8GB (partitioned size) boot partition. Numerous HP systems, non-IBM LSI Logic based systems, etc have different boot limitations. Those CANNOT be gotten around by ANY patch available. Many Adaptec based setup has an option that MUST be set to enable booting to over 2GB (1.9GB partition size). If that option is NOT set, then the boot partition is limited to 1.9GB (as the OS recognizes it).

These types/age systems, if they can install on the drive (as is his case), usually are installing to a partition beyond the boot capabilities of the BIOS (IDE or SCSI), or on the border of the BIOS' boot limitations - which results in the error shown.

The simple fix is to have a boot partition in the 1st 1023 cylinders (IDE) or within the boot limitations of the SCSI card (2GB/4GB/8GB depending on card).

Best,
Robert


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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ivan

Robert,  What you are saying is along the lines of my thoughts on what he most probably has, it's just that I get anoyed when people ask for help without jiving the information we need to help them - it's akin to what I normally get when people ring up 'my computer isn't working, what do I do?'  Gurrr!!!

ivan


RobertM

Quote from: ivan on 2011.03.26, 09:58:14
Robert,  What you are saying is along the lines of my thoughts on what he most probably has, it's just that I get anoyed when people ask for help without jiving the information we need to help them - it's akin to what I normally get when people ring up 'my computer isn't working, what do I do?'  Gurrr!!!

ivan

Agreed.

As Ivan & I noted... we aren't trying to be difficult - we're trying to point out the impossibility of properly diagnosing such problems without more information. My efforts are to point out the numerous scenarios there are, which is why, as Ivan noted, it is so important that you provide us with as much info as is possible.

There are numerous machines that will NOT boot on larger drives without patched/updated drivers... and then there are multiple machines by the likes of HP, IBM, Dell, Compaq, etc, that will. This in itself, presents a support problem. The root problem for one set of machines will be entirely unrelated to the root problem for the other set.


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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