Very Computer

I installed RH 5.0 fine.  I then installed Win 95 and another partition
and now only Win 95 boots.  How can I get Linux to boot again.  I guess
I need to use those rescue disks?
-eric

I just did an upgrade and it reran lilo for me... everything is okay...

                                Miguel Garcia

Hi Eric:

No problem. W95 does this all the time.

You must download three files from 'sunsite.unc.edu'. They
can be found at '/pub/Linux/distributions/slackware/'
directory.

You require 'bare.i' from '/bootdsks.144/',
and 'rescue.gz' from '/rootdsks/',
and 'rawrite.exe' from '/rootdsks/'.

Format 3 good 3 1/2" 1.44 MB floppy discs (in DOS or W95);
they must be perfect, no bad sectors.

Mark one floppy disc 'Boot Image' and one 'Rescue' and
one 'Linux Boot Disc'.

Put the freshly formatted floppy disk called 'Boot Image'
into the A: drive.

Run 'rawrite.exe' as follows,

C:\> rawrite bare.i a <enter>

Number of sectors per track for this disk is 18
Writing image to drive A:. Press ^C to abort.
Track: 32  Head:  1 Sector:  4
Done.

Remove your new 'Boot Image' and place the 'Rescue'
disk in it's place. Same deal, type as follows,

C:\> rawrite rescue.gz a <enter>

Number of sectors per track for this disk is 18
Writing image to drive A:. Press ^C to abort.
Track: 29  Head:  0 Sector:  10
Done.

You now have a way to boot an elemental Linux 2.0.30
rescue operating system.

Place your 'Boot Image' floppy disk into drive A:
and reboot!

When the computer restarts, you will be presented
with a text notice. It will then stop and wait for
you to enter any special instructions (there are none),
just hit <enter>.

LILO

(read the notice)

boot: <enter>

Loading ramdisk........

VFS: Insert root floppy to be loaded into ramdisk and press ENTER
(VFS = virtual file system)

Remove the 'Boot Image' floppy disk from the A: drive and replace
it with the 'Rescue' floppy disk and hit <enter>.

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0

More text and then,

login: root <enter>

At the '#' prompt type,

mount /dev/hda4 /mnt <enter>

This mounts your Linux partition at '/mnt' directory,

cd /mnt <enter>

You are now in your Linux partition's 'root' directory,
ls <enter>

Look for 'vmlinuz' (note spelling). If your are running a
Slackware installation, you will find 'vmlinuz' in the
'/dev/hda4' partitions root directory.

If you are running a RedHat installation, look for
'vmlinuz' in the '/mnt/boot/' directory.

You will have to configure 'vmlinuz' for booting from a
floppy to your '/dev/hda4' partition.

Type as follows,

rdev vmlinuz /dev/hda3 <enter>

Change your floppy disc to the one called 'Linux Boot Disc'
and type,

cp vmlinuz /dev/fd0 <enter>

When it is done, type,

reboot <enter>

You should now reboot into your Linux installation using
the floppy as a boot disk.

I always boot my Linux installations from floppy discs
(I have 5 Linux partitions plus a swap partition).

If you have any trouble or need help, please feel free to
e-mail me.

I hope this helps you out. Let me know what happens.

Regards,

Brian.

Try downloading the following DOS program and running it under MS-DOS mode
in Win95 in a temporary directory:

ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/FreeBSD/tools/osbs135.exe

Read through the docs, and look for OS-BS.COM.  It is a VERY small (fits
entirely in the MBR) boot loader that can boot an arbitrary partition on
the primary HD.  Lilo is more flexible and more powerful, but OS-BS is
very easy to use and can be reinstalled at the drop of a hat.

: I installed RH 5.0 fine.  I then installed Win 95 and another partition
: and now only Win 95 boots.  How can I get Linux to boot again.  I guess
: I need to use those rescue disks?
: -eric

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