LinuxQuestions.org - All I see on bootup are 9's

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All I see on bootup are 9's

Not sure if thats grammatically correct...but whatever.

Now, my plain and simple problem is this:

When I turn on my computer, right when it should run Lilo, I see lots of "series" of 9s. Ie:

Code:

99    99    99    99    99    99    99    99

  99    99    99    99    99    99    99    99

      99    99    99    99    99    99    99    99

And so on..

Thats all I see. It just stops there. Here are more details:

This only happens when I actually open my computer and disconnect the hard drive (this is the second time it happened. the first time I reinstalled Slack.). When I reconnect it and try to boot up, thats what I get. Only that. If I reinstall, I'm fine...until I have to disconnect it again. (and yes, I have legitimate reasons for disconnecting it somewhat frequently. I do use a static-free wristband (has a ground to the case).

Essentially, its come down to this:

1. Is it a mbr error, or something like that, and if it is, can I repair it without having to reinstall?

2. Is the hard drive faulty and I should therefore buy a new one?

Either you are removing the drive that contains the second part of lilo, or the BIOS is remapping the drive from /dev/sdb to /dev/sda for example. One thing that might help for the latter is changing which controller and/or cable that the drive that remains is connected to. You want it to always be the first one with or without the second drive.

Since it works with the second drive in, it doesn't sound like you need to reinstall. Configure lilo.conf so that the drive you remove isn't referenced at all and then update lilo.

The grub boot loader is more flexible. As long as grub loads, you can enter the grub shell and use tab completion to locate the kernel and initrd files.

Well, I would agree with you, but you missed a few things (or I didn't say them correctly).

First, at all times, I only have on hard drive plugged in to my computer. I unplug one, plug in the other, use a LiveCD. My hard drive is IDE, not SATA or SCSI, so it doesn't change where it supposed to boot.

Here is what my lilo.conf looks like:

Code:

# LILO configuration file

# generated by 'liloconfig'

#

# Start LILO global section

boot = /dev/hda1

#message = /boot/boot_message.txt

prompt

timeout = 1200

# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:

change-rules

  reset

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256

vga = 771

# Normal VGA console

# vga = normal

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k

# vga=791

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k

# vga=790

# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256

# vga=773

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k

# vga=788

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k

# vga=787

# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256

# vga=771

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k

# vga=785

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k

# vga=784

# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256

# vga=769

# End LILO global section

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/hda1

  label = Slack12

  read-only

init = /boot/initrd.gz

#

My best guess would be a bad or loose(either end) IDE cable. When you put it in just right all is fine, otherwise you are getting strange results.

Lilo saves the location of the kernel on the drive. By this, I mean the starting location on the drive itself. It loads the kernel and initrd file directly and doesn't use a filesystem when loading.

I didn't realize that you were swapping drives, I though you were popping in and out an extra drive.

You will need to use grub.

So what is the simplest way to install Grub on Slackware? And what will I have to do with Lilo?

I don't know why you would HAVE TO use grub if you only have one disk in at a time. When you swap disks whatever OS on the disk should work. But, if you had both in when installing and wrote LILO to the MBR of the wrong disk that could cause problems. The same problem can happen with grub if it is written to the MBR of disk1 and then disk1 is changed to disk2, by the user, in bios. I know as I have done this at least twice. Luckily the XP disk can fix its mbr. But, you said you didn't do this.

Anyway, I use grub on slackware. You can find the package in the extra subdirectory on your disk or download it. Search at,
http://packages.slackware.it. There's a couple of versions. I had to use the newer one for my mboard and sata hd. Used the previous one for years. You should probably use the newer which is found under current or 12.1.

You'll have to read up on how to install grub as I can't remember. The docs are in the package. Might be something as simple as grub-config or grub-install.

Once the MBR is rewritten and you have grub setup, LILO will not matter so you shouldn't have to do anything to remove it. If you compile your own kernel, do not do "make install" as I think that updates lilo and might cause problems. With grub you manually update the menu.1st file which will be in /boot/grub and then copy kernel and relevant files to /boot manually. Others here will correct me if I'm wrong.

Please post your solution so I'll know what to do when I see a bunch of 9s.