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Difficulty after successfully installing Backtrack3 on hdd

Hey folks, thanks for reading this and offering your thoughts, I am a total ZERO when it comes to Linux...

Here is what I am trying to do: I wanted to install Backtrack3 to my HD, so that I dont have to carry around a CD or USB with me (this is on my notebook). I successfully did it, following some simple tutorials online.

I am able to boot to BT3 on my hd. Now here's the problem. When I used to boot BT3 from the CD, I saw a "gray" menu (sorry, don't know what its called, but its not LILO nor GRUB), and the third option it offered me was to boot KDE in VESA mode. That worked for me, and its the option I always used. But now, when booting from the BT3 on my HD, that menu doesn't show up anymore, and BT3 boots in text mode. From there, I am unable to startx, even after running xconf. The error I get says that "screens were found, but none with usable configurations" (or something to that effect). I searched high and low, and this is what I tried so far:

1. Adding the initdr parameters I copied from that "gray" menu to my lilo.conf (dont worry, I didnt forget to lilo -v after changing it)

This caused that "backtrack frame" to appear during boot time, but then I started getting an error that system files were not found, and I did the suggested thing:

2. Copying BT3 dir to my hdd. This causes the boot to hang at a point with the message "linux live end, starting the Linux Distribution/Usage: init 0123456SsQqAaBbCcUu"

So, i can revert all the changes I made, but the question remains: how to get KDE running on my local install. It runs fine from the CD, but not from my HDD. Thanks a bunch...

Also: sorry for the long post guys, inb4 tl;dr hehehe

Welcome to LQ!
now, can you post isolinux.cfg from backtrack3 cd, it should be inside the iso
in boot/isolinux or /isolinux

if you need to boot up cd, do that and mount the cdrom and use filemanager to browse to the boot folder on cd

also post lilo.conf and the output of
df -h
while all drives are mounted

and then show contents of hd with

ls /hd/mountpoint

meaning where the hd is mounted, like /media/disk, /mnt/hda1, /mnt/sda1, etc

Hey linus, thanks for the quick reply. Since the last post, I tried removing the initdr parameter from the lilo.conf, just to get BT3 booting again (in text mode) from my HD, but now I am unable to run lilo -v (because I am booting from the CD, I am getting a message that the /boot/lilo.map file is read-only. ARGH! Now here is the info you asked for:

isolinux.cfg (I got the copy from my HDD, and not the one from the CD, although I believe they are identical, as I haven't changed anything on them.

Code:

PROMPT 0

TIMEOUT 40

DEFAULT /boot/vesamenu.c32



LABEL xconf1

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode (KDE)

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317  initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm



LABEL xconf2

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode (Flux)

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317  initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;flux





LABEL startx

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode (VESA KDE)

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=kdm



LABEL BT3

MENU LABEL BT3 Text mode Frame Buffer

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw



LABEL BT3_no_DHCP

MENU LABEL Run BT3 no DHCP

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw nodhcp



LABEL BT3_no_HD

MENU LABEL Run BT3 no Hard Disk

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw nohd



LABEL BT3_Safe

MENU LABEL Run BT3 Safe Mode

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=normal initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 

root=/dev/ram0 rw



LABEL pchanges

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode with Persistent Changes

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw changes=/changes/slaxsave.dat autoexec=xconf;kdm



LABEL copy2ram

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode, Copy To RAM

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw copy2ram autoexec=xconf;kdm



LABEL msramdmp

MENU LABEL msramdmp

com32 /boot/msramdmp.c32



LABEL memtest86

MENU LABEL Run Memtest utility

KERNEL /boot/mt86p

lilo.conf (I removed all the # comments, and I changed the VGA parameter from the default value to 0x317 based on the same VGA parameter listed on the isolinux.cfg file)

Code:

# LILO configuration file

# generated by 'liloconfig'

#



# Start LILO global section

lba32

# Allow booting past 1024th cylinder with a recent BIOS



boot = /dev/sda



initrd = /boot/initrd.gz

  (linus, this line has been removed now, but I am unable to update via "lilo -v", because it tells me that I am trying to write to /boot/lilo.map which is read-only)

#message = /boot/boot_message.txt



prompt

timeout = 300



# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:



change-rules

reset

default=Windows7

vga = 0x317

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

root = /dev/sda6

label = Backtrack3

read-only



# Linux bootable partition config ends

other=/dev/sda1

label=Windows7

table=/dev/sda

the output of df -h

Code:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

aufs                  1.2G  2.3M  1.2G  1% /

/dev/sda1            100M  25M  76M  25% /mnt/sda1

/dev/sda2            135G  76G  60G  56% /mnt/sda2

/dev/sda3              61M  7.5M  51M  13% /mnt/sda3

/dev/sda6              13G  4.0G  9.0G  31% /mnt/sda6

and finally ls (ran it on /mnt/sda6, which is my mountpoint for the data partition)

Code:

BT3 /

bin /

boot /

dev /

etc /

home /

lib /

mnt /

msf3 @

opt /

pentest /

proc /

root /

sbin /

sys /

tmp /

usr /

var/

Thanks again for your time...

ok, here's the KDE isolinux.cfg

Code:

LABEL startx

MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode (VESA KDE)

KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz

APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=kdm

to change to lilo.conf it should be

Code:

# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:



change-rules

reset

default=Windows7

vga = 0x317 autoexec=kdm rw ramdisk_size=6666

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

root = /dev/ram0

label = Backtrack3

#read-only (commented-out)

I believe that may be right
You must add the

Code:

initrd = /boot/initrd.gz

although it looks like a full hd install-yes?

is there an initrd.gz in boot/

if not try

Code:

# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:



change-rules

reset

default=Windows7

vga = 0x317 autoexec=kdm 

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

root = /dev/sda6

label = Backtrack3

read-only

I am not a lilo guy, so if nothing else works you could install grub
which is easier(for me) to translate

Other members here are lilo experts, so hopefully they can help there:)

Thanks linus, I made the changes as you suggested, but I am hitting a snag when trying to update the MBR with the new lilo.conf. running the lilo -v command from my root (I am booting from the live cd), i get this message:

Quote:

Reading boot sector from /dev/sda
Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system

Again, I made the changes you suggested to the file, but I am having a hard time updating that to the MBR. This should remove any questions about how terrible I am at this stuff :-)

Edit*= Yes, this is a full HD install, I do not intend to run BT3 Live from a CD or USB.

OK, does BT# allow you to open a terminal and become "root"
or a root terminal?

if so, try it as root.
we need a lilo expert:)

ATTENTION: calling all lilo expertes, calling all lilo experts! :-)

yes, i am able to get root, i dont thing its a permission problem as much as a "lilo trying to write something to the cd, because it thinks its running from an hdd"... i am trying several permutations here, and getting varied error messages... stuff like "Fata: Sorry, don't know how to handle device 0x0b00"... ARGH... Why do they make it so hard :-(

Hi,

The easiest way would be to use the install cd to boot the system as if you were going to install.

After you get to the login then from the cli (command line);

Code:

~#mkdir /yourtemp                  #temporary mount point

~#mount /dev/your_device /yourtemp  #the device you installed to

~#chroot /yourtemp                  #change to yours

~#cd /yourtemp/etc                  #change to directory with lilo.conf 

~#vi lilo.conf                      #edit lilo.conf, if need be

~#lilo -v -t -b /dev/your_device    #sda, hda this will only test 

~#lilo -v -b /dev/your_device        #this will write MBR to your_device

You can 'man commands' in the above example to get a full understanding of the commands and options.

Quote:

excerpt from 'man lilo'
LILO(8)

NAME
lilo - install boot loader

SYNOPSIS
Main function:

/sbin/lilo - install boot loader

Auxiliary uses:

/sbin/lilo -A - activate/show active partition
/sbin/lilo -E - edit header or update a bitmap file
/sbin/lilo -I - inquire path name of current kernel
/sbin/lilo -M - write a Master Boot Loader on a device
/sbin/lilo -q - query map
/sbin/lilo -R - set default command line for next reboot
/sbin/lilo -T - tell more about specified topic
/sbin/lilo {-u|-U} - uninstall LILO boot loader

DESCRIPTION
lilo installs a boot loader that will be activated the next time you boot your system. The default configuration file /etc/lilo.conf (see
'man lilo.conf') will contain most options, but many, including those
which override the configuration file, may be specified on the command
line.

-A master-device [ N ]
Used with a single argument, inquire of active partition on
device master-device; e.g., /dev/hda. With N==0, deactivate all
partitions on the device. With N in the range [1..n], activate
the specified partition and deactivate all others. Normally,
only primary partitions [1..4] may be activated, but if the
Extended Master Boot Loader is present on the Master Boot Record
of the device (see the -M option), any partition may be made
active. Whether the actual OS in the partition will boot from
an extended partition depends on the characteristics of the OS.
LILO boot records for Linux may be booted from an extended par-
tition.

-b bootdev
Specify the boot device; i.e., where the boot loader will be
installed. "-b /dev/hda" specifies the Master Boot Record; "-b
/dev/sdb5" specifies the first extended partition on the second
SCSI disk.

You should 'man lilo' to get the rest of options.

You should now be able to re-boot your system.

Just to provide closure: I was able to boot it again, and finally solved my X problem, by simply renaming the xorg.conf-vesa file to xorg.conf (thereby using the vesa screens to run X)... Thanks again for all the help guys...

thanks for posting the solution:)