I'm in a real pickle trying to install RedHat 6.2 on a Compaq Presario 700z currently running Win98. I thought I had everything figured out before I started but I've really screwed up the machine and can't get out of it. After installing the Linux OS, it won't boot up. It hangs at "LI" . When I try to boot from the Linux boot disk created during installation, it writes "LI 02 04 10 10 10 10 ..." etc. ad nauseum. When I try to boot from the Win98 setup disk, it says "Disk Error, Press Ctrl-Alt-Del ..." I can re-enter the Linux install program and enter "Linux rescue" but I don't know what needs to be done.

The distribution is on CDROM. I used Partition Magic to handle my 30gb harddrive before I started. I kept 18gb as my Win98 C drive (FAT32). I formatted a 2gb D drive (FAT16) for a shared area. I formatted a 580mb Linux Swap partition and the remaining 8gb as the Linux ext2 partition. I think I now realize my problem is that I needed a 1024 partition for /boot because the Linux ext2 root partition is 8gb.

I keep comng across webpages talking about removing LILO, repairing LILO, repairing the MBR, etc. But they all refer to using tools and procedures after getting into DOS or Linux. I can't get into either.

I tried re-installing Linux, but got the same results. What can I do to get Win98 back, correct the problem, or anything?? Any help is much appreciated.

well i think a damn good reason that you're in trouble is that you're using redhat 6.2 on a new system... that distro is coming on for 3 years old, ancient in linux terms. try a newer distro

i think tat the actual problem you are having is a geomerty mismatch, that's what all the numbers normally imply. you will most likely need the "lba32" option in your global section of the lilo.conf file on your system. or alternacitly if that's already there, the "linear" option instead. but then as you said, this is a fix for once you're inside the system... you should be able to use the *ahem* boot disk you DID make.....

Yes, I created a boot disk, but Linux doesn't seem to boot from it. All I get is : "L 10 10 10 10 10 10 .... (with occasional 02 and 04 thrown in" across the screen continuously. Never booting. There must be some way to get into either system.

Redhat (for reasons only known to themselves) still ship an outdated version of lilo that cannot boot a kernel that lives above cylinder 1024, so updating to redhat 8 would only help if you use grub instead of lilo. To install redhat 6.2 you'll need to create a small linux partition (20mb would be fine) called /boot at the start of the drive, redhats broken lilo will be happy booting that.
And to echo what acid has already said, redhat 6.2 is old and you'll be having to download that many patches and bug fixes it would be easier and quicker to get a more up to date distro.

I was finally able to boot into DOS by booting from the Win98 CD and repaired the MBR with fdisk /mbr . So I now can get back into windows. I've downloaded RedHat 8.0 and will attempt to install it.

But before I do, I want to make sure I don't clobber Win98. I used Partition Magic before to create the Linux swap and ext2 partitions at the end of the drive. How do I (or can I?) safely repartition 20 mb at the front end of the drive for the /boot partition without destroying the Win98 C drive partition using Partition Magic?

With redhat 8 you can install grub and you won't need a /boot partition, grub (and every version of lilo since 21.5) don't have a problem with cylinder 1024. Don't install lilo from redhat 8 though, it's an old version and will cause the same problem you had with redhat 6.2.

Is there an option during install to not install LILO and install grub instead? During the 6.2 install, I don't recall any choice about installing LILO. It just happened as a matter of fact.

Thats because 6.2 dosn't have grub, I think it was introduced in the 7.x series. 8.0 will give you the option.