Could someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here? I have found references to the "dual boot blinking cursor" problem, but no solution.

I set about configuring my PC to dual boot between Win2K and Linux (7.2). This is what I've done so far:

I started with a new Dell 8200 with one 40GB hard drive installed running Win2K , I purchased a 2nd 40GB hard drive and installed it. I then booted Win2K and used partition magic 7.0 to create the following partitions on the 2nd drive:


G: Fat32 1GB primary
*. Extended 18GB primary
*.SWAPSPACE 500MB logical
*.Ext2 17.5GB logical
F: NTFS 19GB primary

I then booted off the RedHat 7.2 install CD and configured the install as follows:

Linux swap -> /dev/hdb5
Linux "/" -> /dev/hdb6

Use LILO as the boot loader
Install boot loader record on
/dev/hdb6 First sector of boot partition

The install went normally and I was able at this point to boot from the boot floppy created during the install setup just fine.

I then wanted to get the Win2K bootloader to allow me to dual-boot into either Windows or Linux, so I performed the following steps:

booted linux
dd if=/dev/hdb6 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1
inserted a formated floppy
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
cp /bootsect.lnx /mnt
umount /mnt

reboot to win2k
copy a:\bootsect.lnx c:\
added "c:\bootsect.lnx="LINUX" to end of c:\boot.ini
attrib +s +h c:\bootsect.lnx

Now, when I boot window, I get the boot menu that specifies windows 2000 or LINUX. If I select LINUX, the disk light goes on for about 10 seconds then stops, but the blinking cursor remains in the top-left corner of the display and nothing happens.

By all accounts this has been done successfully before, but I've obviously missed something.

All advice appreciated - Thanks

I don't know if this will solve the problem. Boot into linux using your boot disk. Run fdisk -l /dev/hdb and make sure /dev/hdb6 is the root ' / ' partition. If it is, check /etc/lilo.conf file and make sure these two lines are in there:

boot=/dev/hdb6
root=/dev/hdb6

If it's not hdb6, then change the two lines above to the correct partition.

Next, run as root /sbin/lilo. Then repeat all the steps that you used before to add linux to w2k's boot menu.

fdisk returns the following information:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 2433 4865 19543041 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2 131 2432 18490815 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb3 1 130 1044193+ Win95 FAT32
/dev/hdb5 131 193 506016 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb6 * 194 2432 17084736 83 Linux


Lilo.conf contains:

prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
boot=/dev/hdb6
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
messag/boot/message
linear

image=/boot/vmlinuz=2.4.7.10
label=linux
read-only
root=/dev/hdb6
append="hdc=ide-scsi"

other=/dev/hdb3
optional
label=DOS

Both the "boot=/dev/hdb6" and the "root=/dev/hdb6" lines are present, although not in the same section of the file.

I don't remember explicitly running /sbin/lilo during the install process. Is this something that I should have done?

Thanks

I went ahead and ran /sbin/lilo and got the following message:

Warning: /dev/hdb6 is not on the first disk
Fatal: sector 21460897 too large for linear mode (try 'lba32' instead)


Do you know what this is telling me?

Thanks again.

According to here, lilo is just letting you know that it's not being installed on the first drive. lilo expects to be on the first drive so that it can boot linux. In this case, you don't want it on the first drive. So, just ignore the error.

The second one needs to be taken care of. It says to use lba32 instead of linear in the /etc/lilo.conf file. So, edit lilo.conf and replace linear with lba32. Then run /sbin/lilo and see if you get any errors except for the warning about not being on the first drive.

If you only get the warning about not being on the first drive, then repeat the steps to install linux in the boot menu of w2k.

Is the fat32 partition on your linux drive for data or does it have the msdos operating system on it? If it's just for data, then you don't need these three lines at the end of the lilo.conf file.

other=/dev/hdb3
optional
label=DOS

Problem solved.

Linuxcool, thank you very much for the help. As it turns out, your help got me closer to where I wanted to be. Instead of completely hanging, I was getting the first "L" of lilo printed (without any error codes) before it hung.

I spent several hours reading the results of a "lilo hangs" google search and read several places that LILO uses the bios to load the 2nd stage boot loader. Well guess what? I had forgotten to enable the 2nd hdd in my bios setup. As soon as I did that it all works as advertised. I'm very happy.

Thanks again.

You're welcome.
Glad you solved the problem.

Just remember to do this again; "dd if=/dev/hdb6 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1" each time you upgrade/update your kernel also.

Just a thought.