Software:Lilo:Freezing at boot

[ggforrest]

Hello,
I am having a bit of a problem. I did a "rpm -F *.rpm" of the rpm files I got here:

ftp://ftp.linux.cz/pub/linux/redhat/linux/updates/6.2/en/os/i386/

Now the system won't boot at all. I get the following on boot:

LILO boot:
Loading linux.

Then it freezes. I was using kernel 2.2.19 (I think that is right, I'm going from memory). It is on a 486 / 16 MB laptop in a base station. I hadn't done updates in more than a year and up2date kept giving me a SSL_Connection error (eventhough I tried all the fixes I found in the google searches) so I decided to do it this way and it killed the system.

Does anyone have any idea what might have caused this? More importantly how do I go about fixing it?

Thanks,
Greg

[Sepero]

I don't have much time right now. Will someone(mods? :D) explain to this guy how to use tomsrtbt or knoppix to boot-up, then chroot to his main drive, then run lilo again. He installed a new kernel.

[Sepero]

Geez, nobody replied to this poor guy? :rolleyes:
ggforrest, first thing you need to do is download an alternate GNU/Linux source to boot from. Download knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php) if you're on a fast connection or using a reiserfs. If you're on a slow connection, download tomsrtbt (http://www.toms.net/rb/)(toms root/boot). After that come back and tell us which one you've got.

P.S.
When you come back, we will need to use 'chroot'. If you have a working system on "/mnt/hda6", then 'chroot' allows you to change "/mnt/hda6" into "/". So you can literally change your entire operating environment. The only thing that will stay the same is your kernel.

[ggforrest]

Thanks for your reply. I downloaded the toms root/boot since knoppix seems to require a bootable CD drive which this system doesn't have (it has an old non-ide CD drive).

Now what should I do? If you don't have time, is there a site that tells what to do?

Thanks,
Greg

[Sepero]

Actually, now that I'm refreshed, I think we might be able to bypass the whole 'chroot' process.

Ok, what you will need to do now is:
1. boot with the floppy
2. when it asks for boot parameters, type in
root=/dev/hda5 (or whatever partition your GNU system is installed on)
3. after it finishes booting, you will need to log in as root
4. run 'lilo' from the command prompt

If lilo gives you problems, then you will need to edit your /etc/lilo.conf file. There are lots of sites that will help you configure lilo.

good luck

[ggforrest]

Hi

I didn't see anywhere to enter boot parameters. Can you be more specific where I enter this?

Also my floppy drive seems to be on its last legs (and it is one of those proprietary drives so I can't just buy a new one). It keeps giving me error 0x04, 0x08, or 0x10 when it is trying to load the image. This makes it hard for me to figure it out since I have to try about 25 times before I get it to work properly.

Thanks,
Greg

[ggforrest]

okay, I got it to boot to a prompt and I mounted the drive and edited lilo.conf to have the correct kernel number. What else should I do? I can't seem to run lilo because it is using the floppy to boot.

Thanks,
Greg

[ggforrest]

Yay! I got it to work. I figured out the chroot thing you were talking about. Thanks for all your help!

Greg

[Sepero]

After you have the drive mounted, I think all you have to do is:
chroot /mounted/drive

Then you should be able to run programs(lilo) from your "real" root partition.

[DMR]

[Solved]

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