Thanks for the help everyone.  In the end, it turned out that sfdisk is 
indeed the culprit.  We created a 2.1T partition with fdisk, then asked 
sfdisk for the size and it said: -92,xxx,xxx.  Unfortunately, this means 
we have to either fix it or find an alternate solution to creating 
partitions.  If the word ``parted'' is on the tip of your tongue  I'll 
bet you haven't actually used the thing...

There were a few bugs of ours that acted as red herrings, but Linspire 
is now up and running on this system with ReiserFS 3 and kernel 2.6.5.

While I'm here, I have some other questions:

    * What is the time complexity of mounting a ReiserFS partition?  It
      seems to be proportional to the size of the partition?  Is it
      different for Reiser4?
    * Is there a tool to determine the type of file system on a
      partition without mounting it?

Cliff

Hans Reiser wrote:

> Clifford Beshers wrote:
>
>> Thanks Hans, but no need.  I found the page in the FAQ about three 
>> minutes after I posted.  I get so used to google finding me the right 
>> things, I occasionally forget to just go to the place I know should 
>> have the answers.
>>
>> So far, I know that sfdisk choked on creating the partition, but that 
>> fdisk succeeded.  After that the install proceeded normally, but the 
>> system didn't reboot.  I have to go get details on why, but my 
>> guessis either lilo or a missing module in the initrd.
>
>
> If you want us to research the problem source for you further, let us 
> know.  Be  suspicious of the device driver....
>
>>
>> Hans Reiser wrote:
>>
>>> Vladimir Saveliev wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, 2004-05-07 at 02:58, Clifford Beshers wrote:
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>> What are the current size limitations for 
>>>>> disks/partitions/filesystems
>>>>> with the following combinations?  My googling has produced
>>>>> inconsistent answers.
>>>>>        { linux 2.4.24, linux 2.6.5 } X { reiserfs3, reiser4 }
>>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://namesys.com/faq.html#reiserfsspecs
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>> We have a new machine with a 3-ware 8 port controller (looks like a
>>>>> scsi controller to the system, but actually drives 8 ide drives).  We
>>>>> have 8 x 300GB drives attached for a total > 2TB.
>>>>>
>>>>> Our IT guy has been unable to install Linspire on it (linux 2.6.5,
>>>>> reiserfs3).  I'm about to go look in more detail, but I thought I'd
>>>>> find out what the bounds were for sure.
>>>>>
>>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I assume mkreiserfs was not the reason why you guys failed to install
>>>> linux on your hardware. It works for > 2tb devices.
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Cliff
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>>
>>>>> This message contains information which may be confidential and 
>>>>> privileged. Unless you are the addressee (or authorized to receive 
>>>>> for the addressee), you may not use, copy or disclose to anyone 
>>>>> the message or any information contained in the message. If you 
>>>>> have received the message in error, please advise the sender and 
>>>>> delete the message.  Thank you.
>>>>>   
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  
>>>>
>>> Please provide exact answer to this question about what are V3 
>>> limits.  Vitaly, please assist.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>