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Title says it all. I'm a Windows guy, and a bit out of my element here, but a client has an old Solaris machine hosting a Database.

The machine turned off for a yet as unknown reason (probably power failure) and upon turning the machine back on, I received a blue screen, and a message that says "Requested Cylinder is beyond range of BIOS geometry."

I don't know what this means, but a little preliminary research suggests it could be a problem with the partition table?

Also, I've heard that it's possible to boot a Solaris installation that rests on a hard drive by using a bootable CD/DVD/Floppy.

How can I determine the best fix for the error message AND/OR how can I boot the machine back up again and get them functional while we determine a replacement plan.

Thanks in advance.

JohnJennings
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    try changing the bios access mode for the drive from 'normal or user' to 'large or LBA'. that will solve your issue. you have partitions set using wrong size of clyinders – ostendali Oct 28 '15 at 18:05
  • Can you tell me a bit about where to find this setting? In the event that doesn't work, how can I go about 'duct-taping' a boot together? – JohnJennings Oct 28 '15 at 18:14
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    it is in the bios where else it can be. I don't know what kind of server or which bios you have, so you will need to navigate a bit in the bios and find the drive/disk access mode. Make sure that the root and the boot slice of the Solaris partition are within the 1024 cylinder boundary using the BIOS geometry reported for your disk and you should be fine. – ostendali Oct 29 '15 at 10:24

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Related to BIOS & error you see. Sounds like the BIOS is unhappy with a drive or the drive config. Perhaps a bad drive?

Based on you seeing a BIOS error, suspect its an x86 box. You haven't provided much information for anyone to give you guidance. But sounds like an x86 issue not even hitting the boot drive, so booting with a COTS recovery tool may help determine the possible hw issue. You could also try booting off a Solaris DVD, which would require some poking at the system to determine a possible recovery method.

sleepyweasel
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