by My problem:
When I boot linux, I just get LI, the computer hangs.
My Hardware:
486DX33
2 (full) IDE drives running on a caching disk controller
1 SCSI 1.1 GB drive running on buslogic 445c controller
.. other stuff illrelavant..
My setup:
I use boot manager to select between os2 ( for serious work),
linux ( for play and internet access [ although warp is
edging linux out now since it's web explorer is out]),
and, err, dos ( Hey, sometimes you just gotta DOOM).
The SCSI drive was setup as follows:
sda1 was an extended partition whose last cylinder was
less than 1023. about 700 MB.
sda2 was a 200 mg FAT parition. starts at lowest cylinder
sda5 was my root partition ( 80 MB)
sda6 was my swap parition ( 32 MB)
sda7 was my /usr partition ( 200 MB)
sda8 was my /home partition ( the rest )
plus some unused area at the end.
Notes:
I was running slackware 2.0.1 just fine. I spent about a
week ( seriously folks) downloading slackware 2.1. When I
installed it, LILO would just hang.
I querried the net for assistance, and received some. Almost
all said I had to change my partitions in some manner. One
fellow identified exactly what LI meant ( something like
"second stage loader unsuccessfull, probably due to drive
geometry mismatch ...." ).
I thought this was odd, because It worked before, and I thought
you could ignore all of the geometry *with scsi.
I ran fips from dos ( which reports drive geometry, as well as shrinks
dos partitions), and got the geometry.
Additionally, I found more FMTR ( I hate it when people respond
with simply "Hey RTFM.", there are so many manuals to read, at
least point to a starting place). This one was in the lilo directory
( /usr/bin/lilo/.. ). This manual is where the information is
about lilo startup errors.
I tried installing lilo
1) sda5 - where it worked before. The manual was unclear
that it would work in an extended partition of the
second ( actually third ) drive. When I started
the upgrade, I positively know that it DID work.
2) sda - i disconnected my IDE, installed it to sda ( ie the
MBR), and still had the same problem.
One thing i did find is that linux's fdisk reports some problems
with my partitions:
Partition does not start/end at a partition boundry
physical partition does not match logical partition - one of
the physical partition numbers, I think it was the cylinder
count, was twice the reported value.
With this I concluded that I really do have some partition
troubles. I remember playing around with the 'DOS >1GB' flag on
my scsi controller board. I tried setting it ON/OFF, and still
had the same trouble.
I very much did not want to start all over from scratch,
so I came up with a clever solution ( IMHO, anyway).
My solution ( finally ):
I used fips to shrink my dos partition ( sda2 ) and created a new
primary partion ( sda3 ) that was 40 mb. I installed a minimal
installation ( A and D disk set, but only A is needed) from my
slakware 2.0.1 distribution ( the previous one that worked )
Then I installed lilo, calling the old kernal 'linuxM'.
It booted just fine.
Now comes the tricky part. I moved the kernal ( vmlinuz ) from the
newer 2.1 linux on sda5 to the primary partition sda3, and named
it to vmlinux.1.1.59.
Next I added a 'stanza' in lilo.conf to allow me to boot the new
kernal, but use sda5 as the root. I called this one simply 'linux'.
THE BOOT KERNAL DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ON THE ROOT PARTITION.
Next I added the partition to boot manager.
WALAA everything is fine.
Basically what i did is added a MAINTAINCE BOOT PARTITION. Now I
will always be able to boot from it, no matter how bad i mess up
my linux root partition ( sda5 that is).
Even if you dont have LILO problems, It is probably a *GOOD IDEA*
it install one of these.
Hope It helps. If any needs more info ( my lilo.conf file, etc),
email me. Post it if you feel lucky ( I read my email daily,
news is a lower priority).
Good luck
b\253 aka brett bolen
---------
Brett Bolen
Walrus Consulting