Very Computer

Hi,

I'm struggeling with my suse7.0 installation. I installed it on a 30GB Disk
in a partition that it completely
above the 1024 cylinder. I downloaded lilo21.6 and installed it. Now I like
to install lilo in the mbr but I
allways get the error message that I should use the lba32 keyword. How? I
read the manpages but I only found that this option exist but not how to use
it. At the moment I only can start linux with the installtion CD, what
is not what I want.
Anyone who can help me?

Thanks in advance,

Olaf

The file /etc/lilo.conf is the configuration file for Lilo. To use the
lba32 keyword, you simply insert it in /etc/lilo.conf. For example,
here's the beginning of mine:

boot=/dev/hdc3
root=/dev/hdc3
lba32
install=/boot/boot.b
......

When you do this manually, the command 'lilo' has to be run as root for
any change to /etc/lilo.conf to take effect. I'm not familiar with the
specifics of how the SUSE installation handles Lilo, so that's about as
far as I can take it.

Tom

This line will make sure LILO is NOT in the MBR.
That way the lba32 line will be pretty ineffective :-)

Should be:
  boot=/dev/hda    -------> I assume you're on hda instead of hdc!

Eric

That was just an example (from my system) only intended to show how to
use 'lba32'. But you're right in that I should have been more clear
about that :-)

Tom

This is in your lilo.conf??

I fail to see why the lba32 line is there,
if hda3 lies below cyl 1024, it's not needed, if hda3 is beyond cyl
1024, it won't work.

Or did you copy your lilo.conf file (which does not contain the lba32
line) and added the line as an example. Then I can understand this
again.

Eric

It's hdc3, and it is beyond 1024 cylinders. That's why lba32 is needed.
Lilo is installed in the boot sector of /dev/hdc3 and I use another boot
manager (Bootit NG in the MBR) to reach Lilo. I have several Linux
installations on the system along with a couple of Windows installs.

As long as /dev/hdc3 is beyond 1024 cylinders, lba32 is needed for Lilo
to work. If /dev/hdc3 were completely below 1024 cylinders, lba32 would
not be needed. If /dev/hdc3 straddles 1024, lba32 may or may not be
needed, depending on the location of the kernel and other boot files. In
any case though, having lba32 in /etc/lilo.conf will not hurt anything
even if not actually needed.

I could also boot that same hdc3 partition by installing Lilo in the MBR
(boot=/dev/hda), and lba32 would also be needed in that case. I'm not
sure why you think it won't work - it does.

Tom

Quote:

> It's hdc3, and it is beyond 1024 cylinders. That's why lba32 is needed.
> Lilo is installed in the boot sector of /dev/hdc3 and I use another boot
> manager (Bootit NG in the MBR) to reach Lilo. I have several Linux
> installations on the system along with a couple of Windows installs.

> As long as /dev/hdc3 is beyond 1024 cylinders, lba32 is needed for Lilo
> to work. If /dev/hdc3 were completely below 1024 cylinders, lba32 would
> not be needed. If /dev/hdc3 straddles 1024, lba32 may or may not be
> needed, depending on the location of the kernel and other boot files. In
> any case though, having lba32 in /etc/lilo.conf will not hurt anything
> even if not actually needed.

> I could also boot that same hdc3 partition by installing Lilo in the MBR
> (boot=/dev/hda), and lba32 would also be needed in that case. I'm not
> sure why you think it won't work - it does.

Cause I made a wrong assumption :-)

You didn't mention that you used another bootloader, which appearantly
*CAN* access data beyond cylinder 1024. So I assumed you had a default
DOS MBR, and marked hdc3 as active.
(Actually now I think further that's odd, hdc3 cannot be marked active
that way) Anyway I assumed a bootloader that wasn't capable of extended
int13 calls, so then you would have a totally useless lba32 line there
(Since you would not be able to reach that location in the first place).
Now you can access that partition, it's a different story, and you do
indeed need the line there.

Eric