What went wrong?
 

I've installed Slackware several times now and still can't make it work.
This time I made notes of all relevant (or so I hope) information regarding my installation.





hda1 -- -- Primary -- -- Linux reiserfs -- -- 7698.87 Mb
hda2 -- -- Primary -- -- Linux swap -- -- 649.80 Mb
hda3 -- -- Primary -- -- Linux reiserfs -- -- 98.71 Mb
hdb1 -- -- Primary -- -- Linus reiserfs -- -- 10262.06 Mb
hdd1 (boot) -- -- Primary -- W95 FAT32 (LBA) -- -- 41118.18 Mb

Full Install
Linux kernel: /cdrom/kernels/bare.i/bzImage
no modem
Hotplug: Yes

Lilo - Expert install
Standard Linux consol
Installed to MBR
LILO install location: /dev/hda
LILO timeout: none
Boot: /dev/hda1

/etc/lilo.conf:
image=/boot/vmlinuz
root=/dev/hda1
label: Slackware
read-only

USB connected mouse
GPM: Yes


hostname: darkstar
domain name: darkstar.example.net
STATIC IP
IP: 192.168.###.###
netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: [empty]
name server: ###.###.###.###


Startup services:
rc.inetd (The BSD Inetd daemon)
rc.pcmcia (PCMCIA/Cardbus card services)
rc.sshd (The SSHD daemon)

Default window manager: xinitrc.kde (KDE: K Desktop Environment)





When I restart after installation I get this:

Verifying DMI Pool Data ........
Boot from ATAPI CD-DOM: Failure ...
Not found any [active partitions] in HDD
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

When I put CD1 in nothing happens. When I put CD2 in I log in as root and
try startx, xfree86cfg, but nothing happens here either.

A question about name server too, when I look into my router status I see
Domain Name Server and some numbers. Those are the ones that should
be in name server in netconfig right?

I think I have (re)installed Slack about 10-15 times since the day before
yesterday and tried to make this work for hours... many hours.
Still no luck.

Check 'Boot sequence' in your BIOS (or any setting with the same meaning). Your machine tries to boot from the cdrom (it shouldn't after installation). Check if it also tries your hda.

Another thing you may do is to make one of the partitions on hda active (hda1 seems to be a good candidate). You can make a partition active by running fdisk (fdisk /dev/hda) and using 'a' option.

What else? You probably need to have a gateway. Your router's IP is probably the right to type as gateway.

Is your router also an DNS server?

this should look like:

boot=/dev/hda # NOT boot:/dev/hda1

This is mine. I happen to boot from /dev/hdb

# MBR to install LILO to:
boot = /dev/hdb
map = /boot/.map

nope, you should point it at your router & let it do all the work.

<edit> too late</edit>

Mara: I've tried with BIOS booting both CD-ROM and C.
I made hda1 active (through cfdisk).
Fixed the netconfig setting and I'll see if they work when and if I get Slack running :)
Don't know if my router (Netgear WGT624) is a DNS server.

bnice: How do I get into the LILO-setup again? I can't when I'm starting the computer with CD1. When I put CD2 in, log in as root and try lilo< I get /etc/lilo.conf: No such file or directory. When I try lilo.conf I get -bash: lilo.conf: command not found.

at the cdrom boot: prompt type

linux mount root=/dev/hda1

Ok, so get to the cdrom boot and type in "linux mount root=/dev/hda1" and log in as root. When I type "lilo" I get:

Warning: '/proc/partitions' does not exist, disk scan bypassed
Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system

No matter which of the two CD's I do this with.

Sorry, had to run across town for a minute...

try mounting rw:

Linux mount root=/dev/hda1 rw

after you get booted:

run /sbin/liloconfig

follow instructions in earlier post regarding boot=/dev/hda

you can (maybe) also directly edit /etc/lilo.conf, but liloconfig is probably your best bet.

When I get to Boot: I write linux mount root=/dev/hda1 rw
Then I get this message:

***ERROR: Root partition has already been mounted read-write. Cannot check!
For the filesystem to work properly, your sustem must initially mount
the root partition as read only. Please modify your kernel with 'rdev' so that
it does this. If you're booting with LILO, add a line:
read-only
to the linux section in your /etc/lilo.conf and type 'lilo' to reinstall it.
If you boot from a bootdisk, or with Loadlin, you can add the 'ro' flag.

I started off with typing run /sbin/liloconfig which didn't work so I tried run /etc/lilo.conf and without "run" and tried replacing "run" with "edit". Still nothing.
rdev only gave me the text "/dev/hda1 /".

I wanted you to use this because at this time, there's no easy-to-use editor on your system :-(

the errors are to be expected at this point, not to worry

When I type /sbin/liloconfig nothing happens. I just get to the next row. No error message or nothing.

OK, try:

/sbin/pkgtool

if it works, choose Setup, then choose liloconfig

That works!
Now what do I choose? I'm guessing I'm supposed to choose "Other" to install from other directory. There I have to write something which is probably my CD. I don't know the adress for that though.

Setup will allow you to rerun some installation scripts, like liloconfig and netconfig

now it's time to rerun liloconfig, and using the examples above:

install lilo to MBR of first drive /dev/hda

Boot=/dev/hda

image=/boot/vmlinuz #make sure there is really a `vmlinuz` in /boot - lilo will barf otherwise
root=/dev/hda1
label: Slackware
read-only

if in doubt `man lilo.conf` will give explanations of all options and possibly sample code

Yea I did that already. But when I choose liloconfig with space so it gets checked and then and press enter I get back to the setup thing. Nothing really seems to happen so I choose

Other (Install packages from some other directory)

Then I get the text "Please enter the name of the directory that you wish to install packages from" and I dont know what I should type in there.