Help --> Invalid Partition Table?
 

Well, My slack 10 cd came in the mail...



I've used cfdisk to create the following partitions:

/dev/hda1 primary some-stupid-dell-partition
/dev/hda2 bootable primary linux
/dev/hda3 primary linux swap
/dev/hda4 bootable primary ntfs


Everything installs fine except for when I get to the option of configuring LiLo. It spits an error out at me and tells me I can probably still configure it manualy. So I figured ok, I'll configure it manually.

So, I procede with setup and eventually restart the computer (after taking the cd out of the drive). All I see is an error about the Partition Table. I'm having to use the bootable cd to get into linux.

However, I want to be able to dual boot between winxp and slackware! I am having a hard time figuring out what I'm doing wrong with LiLo!

Some good news though, I have gnome and my touch-pad mouse working great =)

I have not yet installed xp, could that be the reason LiLo isn't working? Someone please help!

- Stephen

When I type LiLo at the prompt it says "Fatal: First sector of /dev/hda4 dosnt have valid boot signature"

I'm assuming my entire problem here is simply not installing windows... if that is the case then /me hangs his head in shame =(

Oops...
 

usually, most folks have maximum benefit when they install the Win junk first. You see, when you install Win, it usually rewrites the MBR, thus over-writing any lilo stuff there.

I do not know if there is a way to install XP now without having to reinstall linux. I hope others with more knowledge can help you.

Thanks for the reply.

Well, I'm installing xp now. Hopefully it won't rewrite over the mbr but if it does re-installing slack isn't a problem.

Well, after the initial setup of windows I restarted... and lo-and-behold it went directly into windows to finish setup! I'm thinking I can still boot into linux with the cd, update lilo, and then everything will be ok. If not, I'll just have to reinstall linux. Unless anyone has any other opinions?

- Stephen

Reinstalling Windows *will* overwrite your MBR. That's just the way it behaves, and that's why it's recommended to install Windows first in a dual boot system.

In any event, Yes, you should be able to revive Linux by doing exactly what you describe - boot into Linux using either the installation CD or a boot floppy, then install lilo (or rerun it if it was already installed- as root: /sbin/lilo ) As you suspect, reinstalling Linux is not necessary.

Good luck with it, and Welcome to LQ! -- J.W.

Install lilo into hda2, then use Windows bootloader to load it.
for example edit the boot= option /etc/lilo.conf so that its "boot=/dev/hda2", run /sbin/lilo to install.
Then extract it using
copy linux.bin into a floppy disk, reboot into Windows XP, copy linux.bin to where boot.ini is(usually c:\, and its hidden by default)
open up boot.ini and enter something like this:

XP just finished installing and I'm booting slack now with the cd. It's a laptop and I don't have a floppy drive!

I ran liloconfig, set it up, ran lilo, and restarted. Working perfectly! Now to set up my cable connection. I've already found a few posts here that deal with that so unless I run into anything totally confusing I'll be quiet for a little while =)

Thanks for the help everyone!

- Stephen

Congrats on the successful resolution doody -- J.W.