Making my system boot to the linux part by default

[GNU/br0wni3]

hi!

I just installed Linux RH 7.1 on my toshiba satellite 1750 laptop.

all is cool, except that i told LILO To install in the boot sector of the linux partition, not in the MBR of my HD. Hence, i have to use a boot disk to log in to linux. What do i have to modify in order to make Lilo load instead of winME, like, prompting the OS selection screen?

thanks! :)

[PLBlaze]

In your /etc/lilo.conf look for line that says default = Linux or similar and modify the entry...of course you will need to substitute Linux for your vmlinuz image or whatever is defined to boot the Linux OS.Hope this helps.

[GNU/br0wni3]

um i dont think that would work, as the problem is that during the installation, i installed LILO not to the HD's MBR, but to the linux partition portion of the HD, so, when booting, LILO never gets called, as i told the system to boot to the MBR by default, not to the linux portion.

am i correct? or not...

:confused:

thanks...

[Linuxcool]

If you want lilo to run when you boot up, you'll have to edit the boot= line in lilo.conf. Right now it probably says something like this boot=/dev/hd??. the ' ?? ' indicate the hard drive letter and partition number. To put lilo in the MBR so that it will run on boot up eliminate the partition number so it looks like this boot=/dev/hd?. Then rerun lilo. Also, you'll have to put an entry in lilo.conf for windows like this:


other=/dev/hd??
label=winme
table=dev/hd?


Replace the ' ?? ' and ' ? ' with the correct information.

Since this is a laptop, you probably only have one drive so your new entries will probably look like this:


boot=/dev/hda


other=/dev/hda1
label=winme
table=/dev/hda

You might need some other changes so post a copy of you lilo.conf.

[ 23 September 2001: Message edited by: Linuxcool ]

[GNU/br0wni3]

Thanks a lot for the input. heres a copy of my lilo.conf:

boot=/dev/hda2
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
linear
default=linux

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2
label=linux
read-only
root=/dev/hda5

other=dev/hda1
optional
label=winME


will modify it like you said and see what happens...

thanks again for your help! :D

BTW: RH 7.1 es mucho bueno. ;)

[ 23 September 2001: Message edited by: br0wni3 ]

[GNU/br0wni3]

Hey, guess what..

i did some tweaking to lilo.conf, and now lilo shows up with the OS selection screen.

the weird part now is that if i select winME to load, it starts loading, and then hangs. after a little more tweaking, i noticed that it did finish loading if i selected "safe mode". But no "normal mode" loading at all.

then i gave it a try, and selected the "step by step" confirmation option. i gave Y to everything, and voila, i could load into my winME normally.

the strange part is that it always hangs , and i have to do a step by step confirmation in order to load into winME.. any ideas why?

thanks!
camilo olea

[Linuxcool]

Did you make the changes that I suggested? You could try adding table=/dev/hda to your windows section of lilo.conf. Could you post a copy of your lilo.conf file?

[GNU/br0wni3]

my lilo.conf:

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
linear
default=linux

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.2-2
label=linux
read-only
root=/dev/hda5

other=dev/hda1
optional
label=winME
table=/dev/hda

it works beautifully now. the strange part is the problems winME has to load. the laptop powers off when triying to load winME after i select it from the LILO menu. Then if i try again, i can load it in safe mode. Another reboot, powers off at loading normally again. Reboot, step by step confirmation, Y to everything. voila.

what the hell is this? :confused:

thanks!

[Linuxcool]

I believe the problem that you're having now has something to do with automatic power management (apm?). I know nothing about that. You'll have to make another post about that problem.

[GNU/br0wni3]

Ok.. will ask at our next LUG meeting anyway..

Linuxcool: thanks for all the help! :cool: