I tried installing slackware linux and that install the lilo boot loader and it worked ok but it seemed to have some problems with my system so a friend of mine suggested trying fedora. So I downloaded the fedora iso files and installed it. The installation went threw without a problem but when I rebooted the lilo boot loader was still there and trying to boot the slackware linux which was no longer available. I chose the option to install the grub boot loader to the mbr of the first HD. Fedora is actually installed on the second HD. But for some reason it's still showing lilo so it appears as though the grub boot loader wasn't installed. Is there possibly something I'm doing wrong? Thanks to anyone who can help me out a little.

Stewart

Stewie (sorry, I'm a Family Guy fan ),

If your PC is set (in the BIOS) to boot of the first disk and that's where lilo was previously, it appears that either grub wasn't installed or it went to the other drive.
Try changing your BIOS boot sequence and see if you get Grub. It may not boot, but at least you'll know where it went.

In order to fix the bootloader, you can boot from the inatallation CD/DVD but instead of doing the install, there may be a rescue option.
Choose it and if there is no 'Re-install boot loader' option, go to a console.
As the necessary steps, you will probably have to:
- change the root to the actual path of your installation (the console may not be set to the same root as your installation). In Mandriva, for instance, the root is mounted in the /mnt folder, so you need to 'chroot /mnt'
- edit your /etc/lilo.conf to accommodate for your installation. This is fairly complex, so you may have to post the contents of that file.
- run the bootloader by typing 'lilo'. You should see messages like 'Added linux' and so on, for every operatins system that lilo is set to load.
If all goes well, you will be able to boot Linux upon restart.

Poste some details.
Good luck.

Thanks for that. It got the boot loader working. New problem though. It goes threw loading a few items then goes to a blank black screen. Keyboard doesn't function at all, unit appears locked up totaly. I'm thinking it might be a problem with support for the video chipset. I have an ati Radeon 9600 Pro. I had the same problem with the fedora installer if I tried to do a non text install with it. Any idea's if there's any compatability issues with 9600 pro and fedora? Thanks

Stewart

There should be no compatibility issues. ATI has pretty decent Linux drivers and Fedora is a good distro.

When you get the black screen try to press control+alt+backspace. That should kill the graphical server.

If not, try to boot without graphics (not sure how it's done in Fedora - try failsafe, or nonfb boot options if you have them).
Then you can try to re-create the configuration file for X.

can you try putting a new video card in your computer? if it works, you can be sure your radeon is the problem.

you can also edit your GRUB configuration to boot into runlevel 3 (text mode, multiuser) or 1 (singleuser, text only) instead of 5 (full graphical, multiuser). this should at least get you to a command line.

peace out.