Linux-System Commander Success-Finally!

[Tuzinor]

Dumb luck on my part! Have gone round and round on forums & tech support for System Commander and Mandrake.For anyone interested please see this link for the beginning of this problem-http://forums.zdnet.com/group/zd.Linux/community/community.tpt/@thread@8903@F@1@D-,D@ALL/@article@mark@8903?EXP=ALL&VWM=&ROS=1&OC=75 -I have an ASUS A7V Motherboard with both a built in ATA 100 controller & a built in ATA 66 controller-(I have my first two hard drives on the ATA 100-with it's own Bios- which I boot from -my third hard drive is on the ATA 66 controller).I kept getting "LI" when booting with System Commander- tried installing Linux-Mandrake 7.2 on the second hard drive- first partition & the third hard drive -first partition-always got "LI".I could boot into Linux via floppy or in the case of the third hard drive I could boot directly into it if I changed my boot sequence.My recent conversation with a senior tech for System Commander thought that the problem was that Lilo was not seeing past the 8gb limit-being that SC was installed on the first 30gb hard drive with Windows 98SE and my latest Linux install was on the third hard drive. He suggested putting Linux on my first hard drive right after my 5gb Windows partition.Did so-Still got "LI"! As you will note in my previous threads I posted some links about how Lilo sees the BIOS Disk= calls differently than my motherboard does.I kept trying to add those lines in along with the parameters for the ATA 100 controller in the Liloconfig file. Would run /sbin/lilo-always get a syntax error message- usually ? marks would asppear in the Append = line.According to what I read I would add the Disk= & Bios= lines just after the boot=/dev line.
By Dumb luck as I was looking at my latest cut & paste effort with Liloconfig I noticed after I had removed the Bios= line I had left in the Disk=line in but farther down-as a shot in the dark I decided to keep it there and add the Bios=line there and try it.Success!
It seems that after all the screwing around that I have done that the placement of the Device= & BIOS= lines is the key.Below is my latest Liloconfig- I hope this helps anyone who has an ATA 100 controller and anyone trying to use System Commander with Linux.
Dave

boot=/dev/hde5
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
vga=normal
default=linux
keytable=/boot/us.klt
disk=/dev/hde
bios=0x80
lba32
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
menu=scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux
root=/dev/hde5
append="hdd=ide-scsi ide2=0x8400,0x8002 ide2=autotune ide0=autotune
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux-non-fb
root=/dev/hde5
append="hdd=ide-scsi ide2=0x8400,0x8002 ide2=autotune ide0=autotune"
read-only
image=boot/vmlinuz
label=failsafe
root=/dev/hde5
append="hdd=ide-scsi ide2=0x8400,0x8002 ide2=autotune ide0=autotune"
read-only
other=/dev/fd0
label=floppy
unsafe

|
:)

[ovf]

Congratulations on your hard earned success.

[brasso]

I was really glad to hear of Tuzinor's success with his SystemCommander/Linux boot. That's because I've been hoping to make my own work one day. I'm on RH7. 2 IDE disks. 1 SCSI disk:
disk 1: 8G IDE Primary Master hda
disk 2: 9G SCSI install finds it, but it's
ignored when I boot RH7 - I think.
disk 3: 20 G IDE Primary Slave hdb
(I've lined up the disk 1,2,3 order in the BIOS, and DOS letters them that way)
Dell PII 350

My IDE disks run straight from the motherboard BIOS when booting, unlike Tuzinor's sexy ATA100.
I tried to copy Tuzinor's lilo.conf, here's what I came up with:
boot=/dev/hdb1
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
vga=normal
default=linux
#keytable=/boot/us.klt
disk=/dev/hdb
bios=0x80
lba32
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
#menu=scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16-22
label=linux
root=/dev/hdb4
#initrd=/boot/initrd-2.2.16-22.img
read-only

other=/dev/hda1
label=dos

Nope, it doesn't boot, 'LI' same as before.
But... I find it interesting that I had to comment out Tuzinor's 2 statements about the keyboard and the menu in order for the /sbin/lilo to work. I guess Tuzinor isn't using RH7, so that's why they work on his but not on my RH7? I had thought that the LILO thingie was the same on all distros. Also I left out his "append" statement because I thought it pertained to his ATA100 gear. Also I have a /boot partition, instead of just the / that he does.

Here's what I've been guessing happens when I run /sbin/lilo:
The lilo in the /sbin directory parses the lilo.conf file for legitimacy, turns those statements into a .com or .exe or some lo-down and dirty assembly language type program that can communicate with the BIOS. Then it dd's that little 528 byte program into the MBR, or in my case, the BR (boot record) of hdb1.

So... finally, my question. I don't expect anybody can help me make it boot, I'm resigned to using loadlin, but could anyone make clear what that /sbin/lilo process is doing? I'd like to hear from somebody who knows for sure, but some of you guys can make better educated guesses than I can. And am I correct in that the lilo IS different between distros?
Earl

[bdg1983]

There is a way to get it to work. I've seen some posts here on booting from the 2nd drive and I seem to remember something about remapping the drives in lilo.conf.

Sorry I don't have the answer for you, but if you search around a bit, you may find the solution.

[Tuzinor]

Brasso- which disk is RedHat on and which disk is System commander on? If you're using the SCSI disk in either case then you need to get the address parameters in for Lilo to see the drive.Good luck- Dave