LILO and MBR failure

[Wingnut]

Sys Information:
Duel Boot, Win98se/RH Linux 6.1
/Dev/hda1 Primary/Master 20 GB Maxtor HD for Win98
Secondary/Slave 8.4 GB Maxtor HD for Linux
Partitions are:
/Dev/hdd1 - /boot
/Dev/hdd5 - /
/Dev/hdd6 - <Swap>

I did a fresh install of RedHat Linux 6.1, and after install was complete, there was no LILO boot: prompt, and my screen was covered in 0's and 1's.
I can fix it by installing Windows, but this is my 2nd try installing Linux, and nothing seems to work. I can use my Linux/Windows boot disks, but I need a permenant fix.

LILO was installed to the MBR on my 20gb hd(i assume, anyway, where else could it put it? http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif )

[This message has been edited by Wingnut (edited 30 December 2000).]

[mdwatts]

Is your Linux boot partition beyond the 1024 cylinder limit (around 8GB)? If so, then you will need to get the latest version of lilo that supports booting past the 1024 point.

[Wingnut]

My boot partition is hdd1, the first partition on my linux drive, and I only had 1027 cylenders, so it's gotta be something else.
I'm going to try telling lilo to use linier mode, I have no idea if my drive is linier though, my BIOS is set to AUTO so thats no help, and I can't find _ANY_ specs on my drive.

[ddecot01]

You could always use Loadlin ...

[Stuka]

Sounds like LILO isn't finding the linux drive right...can you boot from a floppy and cat /etc/lilo.conf? Did you check your cables? A loose cable did the same thing to me once....

[sssadams]

check your /etc/lilo.conf file.At the top it should say /boot=/dev/hda which points to the mbr on your first hard dirve.Also make shure it has a windows part
other=/dev/hda1
label=win
table=/dev/hda
so you can boot into windows.If that is all fine and your linux entry is pointing to your /boot partition then run /sbin/lilo as root to install it.

[bdl]

DO NOT REINSTALL LINUX OR WINDOWS!!!

Whew, having said that....

It's usually something to do with LBA and lilo not getting along, so you may try either one of these in your lilo.conf file:

lba32

-or-

linear

These allow lilo to run in lba32 and linear modes respectively, and they are mutually exclusive so you can only use one at a time. Try 'linear' first, it almost always works in these cases. So this example lilo.conf should be all you need:

## example lilo.conf
## 00-DEC-31


boot = /dev/hda #installs lilo on the first HDD

linear # this is it

prompt # menu
timeout = 50 # 5 second timeout

default = linux # menu defaults to linux
vga = normal # video config

# windows
other = /dev/hda1
label = windows
table = /dev/hda

# linux
image = /boot/vmlinuz # or your kernel name
root = /dev/hdd5
label = linux
read-only

## eof

Reboot your system, use the linux install disk and when you get to a point where you're going to start the install, stop and hit CTRL-ALT-F2 and get to a virtual terminal. Once there, run these commands to mount your current linux partitions and reinstall lilo.

linuxprompt# mount -t ext2 /dev/hdd5 /mnt
linuxprompt# mount -t ext2 /dev/hdd1 /mnt/boot

linuxprompt# cd /mnt
linuxprompt# vi etc/lilo.conf
(you are going to edit your current lilo.conf file and add the 'linear' option, you may have to use a different editor depending on your distro boot disk....check the /bin dir for editors, usually vi is included)
linuxprompt# sbin/lilo -r /mnt -C etc/lilo.conf
(this will rerun lilo and points it to the freshly edited and saved lilo.conf file)

Reboot. You should now see the lilo menu.

If you have no luck with the above procedure, you can always boot into windows again by doing the old dos 'fdisk /mbr' trick and start over, but I wouldnt recommend it. Another good tip: grab yourself a copy of Tomsrtbt boot disk (http://www.toms.net/rb/) or you can always use the Slackware boot/root disks in a pinch, they work perfectly for this sort of emergency.
I hope this all makes sense to you, and once you've done it a few hundred times it will http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/wink.gif

Good Luck.....


[This message has been edited by bdl (edited 01 January 2001).]

[Wingnut]

Thx for the sample config file. I'll try messing around with that, if I can't get that to work,, I have been looking at loadlin, so at least I have a backup plan.