Very Computer

by **Marty Ros** » Mon, 11 Dec 2000 23:47:48

I'm continuing to try to get my installation diskettes to work, and after
much experimentation, I'm pretty sure that I've got something terribly wrong
in my rootdisk/bootdisk configuration. I'm building from a 2.2.14-5 kernel,
from RedHat 6.2, according to the reccommendations of the "Bootdisk HOWTO".

One thing I'm still not real clear on: my "boot disk" has the kernel image,
and LILO is run on it. When I boot it, it asks me to insert the "root
disk"--which I do. But the "root disk" contains no kernel image--should it?
Is the kernel completely loaded from the boot disk and then locked into
memory, or does it need to get at it also on the "root" filesystem?

Where should I begin to check for problems on a boot/root diskette pair that
boots always with no problems, but then always dies (complete lockup) when I
go to format the hard drive (again, as I've written before, I have tried
this software on about half a dozen platforms and the results are identical;
I'm convinced its a software problem, not hardware as I thought before).

Is there anything special I need to do for disk geometry (or other hardware
setup)? All the platforms are PCI, and the hard disks are from 1.2GB to
6GB. I guess most are using LBA, but some not. Does it matter? BIOS
interactions (now my kernel is compiled "direct", but I've tried all
interactions).

Any help appreciated.

by **Jerry Peter** » Wed, 13 Dec 2000 08:16:53

> I'm continuing to try to get my installation diskettes to work, and after
> much experimentation, I'm pretty sure that I've got something terribly wrong
> in my rootdisk/bootdisk configuration. I'm building from a 2.2.14-5 kernel,
> from RedHat 6.2, according to the reccommendations of the "Bootdisk HOWTO".
> One thing I'm still not real clear on: my "boot disk" has the kernel image,
> and LILO is run on it. When I boot it, it asks me to insert the "root
> disk"--which I do. But the "root disk" contains no kernel image--should it?
> Is the kernel completely loaded from the boot disk and then locked into
> memory, or does it need to get at it also on the "root" filesystem?

The kernel is completely loaded into memory from the boot disk,
except perhaps some loadable modules. All device & FS drivers must be
compiled into the kernel if they're required to mount the root FS.
This is all assuming no initrd, which I don't use and therefore won't
comment on.

Quote:> Where should I begin to check for problems on a boot/root diskette pair that
> boots always with no problems, but then always dies (complete lockup) when I
> go to format the hard drive (again, as I've written before, I have tried
> this software on about half a dozen platforms and the results are identical;
> I'm convinced its a software problem, not hardware as I thought before).

What exactly do you mean by "format the disk"? mkefs? How much memory
do these machines have? You may need to do a mkswap and swapon before
doing the mkefs. IIRC there are/were some issues with mke2fs using
memory.

Jerry

Quote:> Is there anything special I need to do for disk geometry (or other hardware
> setup)? All the platforms are PCI, and the hard disks are from 1.2GB to
> 6GB. I guess most are using LBA, but some not. Does it matter? BIOS
> interactions (now my kernel is compiled "direct", but I've tried all
> interactions).
> Any help appreciated.

Very Computer

how to create install diskettes?

how to create install diskettes?

how to create install diskettes?