Very Computer

In version 5.0 of Redhat Linux there is multiple system loader - LILO. When
I installed Linux for the first time (that was last year), i had Quantum
4,3GB hard disk and there was no problem at all. LILO was installed properly
and I was able to load either Windows or Linux.

Now, I have Quantum 13GB hard disk, and LILO can't install. It reports that
problem is number of cylinders (more than 1024), which is important to BIOS
disk I/O routines. The rest of installation went allright - I was able to
make both linux native and swap partitions and to copy the system to first
one. Well, the only problem is that I can't boot linux.

Before several years, I have used Slackware linux version 3 or something and
I have used boot floppy disks with it. I'm not sure is there any way to make
boot diskette on my present system (without access to linux partition). If
there is newer version of LILO, or some other freeware loader, please give
me it's URL.

I don't know is it important, but I have Award BIOS v4.51PG (BX chipset) on
my computer. Is it really incompatible with HDD larger than 1024 cylinders?

Here are a couple of possibilities.  

1. Use a boot floppy to boot Linux.  Then make a copy of the Linux kernel
on your install to a floppy. Use the 'dd' command.  With the new floppy
you can boot linux from the new floppy.  Be sure the rdev command reports
the correct information for the kernel on the new floppy.

2. Once you can get to the Linux kernel on your hard drive, copy it to a
dos partition, and use loadlin in that partition to boot Linux.

man dd
man rdev

--
Hugh Lawson
Greensboro, NC

Quote:> In version 5.0 of Redhat Linux there is multiple system loader - LILO.
When
> I installed Linux for the first time (that was last year), i had Quantum
> 4,3GB hard disk and there was no problem at all. LILO was installed
properly
> and I was able to load either Windows or Linux.

> Now, I have Quantum 13GB hard disk, and LILO can't install. It reports
that
> problem is number of cylinders (more than 1024), which is important to
BIOS
> disk I/O routines. The rest of installation went allright - I was able to
> make both linux native and swap partitions and to copy the system to first
> one. Well, the only problem is that I can't boot linux.

> Before several years, I have used Slackware linux version 3 or something
and
> I have used boot floppy disks with it. I'm not sure is there any way to
make
> boot diskette on my present system (without access to linux partition). If
> there is newer version of LILO, or some other freeware loader, please give
> me it's URL.

  Try some disk manager like EZ Drive or Ontrack Disk Manager. And install
not Lilo in MBR, but in Linux partition.

   PP

Quote:> In version 5.0 of Redhat Linux there is multiple system loader - LILO.
When
> I installed Linux for the first time (that was last year), i had Quantum
> 4,3GB hard disk and there was no problem at all. LILO was installed
properly
> and I was able to load either Windows or Linux.

> Now, I have Quantum 13GB hard disk, and LILO can't install. It reports
that
> problem is number of cylinders (more than 1024), which is important to
BIOS
> disk I/O routines. The rest of installation went allright - I was able to
> make both linux native and swap partitions and to copy the system to first
> one. Well, the only problem is that I can't boot linux.

I have the exact same problem as you with a 9.1 GB SCSI drive. It seems like
no one has a clue how to fix this problem, or, no one understands what we
are asking.

Followup-To:

As I understand it, there is presently no lilo solution to booting Linux
when the kernel is located past the 1024 limit.  So how to deal with this
problem?  I believe each of the following will work.

1. Use loadlin in a msdos partition to boot Linux
2. Use a boot kernel on a floppy to boot Linux
3. Partition the drive so that the kernel will be on the low side of the
1024 limit.

If I've got this wrong, please correct!

--
Hugh Lawson
Greensboro, NC

-----------------------------------------
Thu, 6 Jan 2000  16:29:28

That is not exactly true nospam, I have read several fixes
circumventing the cyl 1024 limitation on these newsgroups over the
recent few weeks....
        Some of them entail the use of the FIPS program to enable you
to put a kernel image in a /boot section in what is now your dos
partition below the 1024 cyl...there LILo will reach it..or the use of
Linloader or perhaps GRUB or you can put the Kernel on a floppy and
boot Linux from there....lots of fixes and workarounds..

        I cannot give you details for I do not use Linux and plan to
install it in the future...but right now I have zero experience..

not even a newby yet
Olly P

In addition:
Your bios can only read the first 1024 cilinders of a hard drive. Large disks
(more than 1024 cilinders) fool the bios by telling it that there are less
cilinders, but more heads and cilinders, reaching the same original size. This
works fine for wintendo.
Lilo isn't fooled by this as it ignores the bios.
A possibility not yet mentioned here is to create an additional bootsector for
linux below cilinder 1024. 32 Mb could already be sufficient. Partition magic can
do this for you.
When mounting partitions during installation, mount the bootdrive (wich is the
small drive you made below cilinder 1024) at /  and the larger drive at /usr
(this drive can be as large as you want.
This worked fine for me on an 13.6 Gb drive.

Greetings, Remko

When partitioning a brand new drive for booting(i.e., you'll place the whole OS
on it - like I did with a 27GB Quantum), create a small partition(say, 10MB)
right at the very beginning of your drive and mount it at /boot.  Like this:
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2               317706     61046    240255  20% /
/dev/hda1                13141      1397     11066  11% /boot

This'll take care of all these problems, no matter what drive you use.

Yury

--
-------------
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Meet interesting new forms of life and run away from them.
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