kchen@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu (01/05/88)
I just got version 1.2 MINIX and tried to run it on my PC/XT clone. However,
I found that if my hard disk (20MB, using WD controller) is on my PC, I can
not boot MINIX from floppy drive at all! The message I got is:
"kernel panic: can not find partition table for winchester 0"
and if I tried to check the hard disk file system, I got something like:
bad magic number in superblock.
Since everything will be fine if I take the hard disk out of the system
and using only two floppy drives, I think my PC is compatible for running
MINIX and I can not figure out what could be the problem.
I also tried some hard disk partitioning program posted before (and the
fdisk), but the result is still the same. Can someone point to me what
could be the problem? Is there anyone who has similar experience?
Thanks!
Kuang-Chien Chen kchen@p.cs.uiuc.eduast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (01/07/88)
In article <91200003@uiucdcsp> kchen@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes: > > >I just got version 1.2 MINIX and tried to run it on my PC/XT clone. However, >I found that if my hard disk (20MB, using WD controller) is on my PC, I can >not boot MINIX from floppy drive at all! I get lots of mail of this sort. Perhaps it is worth posting a generic answer. If you are working on a noname clone and are having strange problems, the first thing to do is go find a friend with a different brand of machine, preferably a real IBM if you can find one (or at least a clone on which MINIX is known to work). If it works on the friend's machine, at least you know that your floppies are ok and the problem has to do with clone incompatibilities. When it won't boot at all, the first thing that comes to mind is a nonstandard controller. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)