[Westwales] Windows 1: Linux 0

[Phil Summers]

Your problem lies with the fact that the basic PC BIOS architecture
is flawed and cannot access any disk beyond 8GB capacity (at best).

So...changing distributions is not going to help you when it is the
way each distro is being installed that is the problem (ie the
partitioning scheme you are using).

A simple google search provides plenty information on Grub Error 18:

Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block address beyond
the end of the BIOS translated area
<snip>

(http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#Error_18)

The solution?

Create a small boot partition within the first 1000 sectors of the disk - you
seem to have a partitioner - this will do the job nicely (only needs to be 100
meg or so).  The boot partition will allow the bios to boot the kernel, from
which point your software raid driver in the kernel can handle the rest.  That
said - I don't see any point in doing a 2 disk RAID system unless all you're
doing in mirroring (and in any point, you'll take a peformance hit then), plus
I'm sure you're data isn't sooo important that you need to mirror.

Advice?  Just use the two disks as two disks and forget the silly RAID thing,
it's not worth the tears when it goes wrong (which it *will*).

Phil




Robert Savage wrote:

> 
> Ah So!,  as they say somewhere in the world, try another
> distribution.......I did that,  Ubuntu 7.04 (on the same DVD), this
> didn't recognize the RAID array and treated both drives as separate
> drives no point trying that one then........Gentoo 2007.0....again
> failed to boot and the latest test was with Fedora 7 which again
> couldn't  boot up.  Gave up and bought some ear plugs.  :-)
> 
> My conclusions from all this is that SATA drives are only any use as a
> secondary RAID array when the main O/S is installed on a normal IDE
> drive.   Am I right in this thinking or do later motherboards handle
> SATA differently?  What is Error 18 anyway?
> 
> Cheers All
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
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-- 
Dr Phil Summers MEng MBCS                      Tel: +44 (0)1970 628438
Programme Manager                              Fax: +44 (0)1970 628429
See3D, Llandinam Building,                     Mob: +44 (0)7967 828305
UWA, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB                     phil at see3d.co.uk