[SOLVED] 14.2/32-bit on Dell Latitude 2100: no lilo splash screen for booting

Installed 14.2/32-bit from the DVD and system would not display the lilo splash screen after rebooting.

Booted using the DVD and at the boot: prompt entered 'huge.s root=/dev/sda1 initrd=ro' and the system booted to the login prompt. I logged in as root and found a working system with all partitions on /.

In /boot I ran 'mkinitrd -c -k 4.4.14-smp -m ext4' which successfully completed; initrd.gz is present. Also changed softlinks for System.map, config, and vmlinuz to point to the equivalent *-generic-smp-4.4.14-smp.

cd'd to /etc and modified lilo.conf so vmlinuz points /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-4.4.14-smp and added a stanza pointing to /boot/vmlinuz-huge-4.4.14. Saved the file and both were added.

Ran /sbin/lilo.

There is still no lilo splash screen when I reboot or shut down the system, wait about a minute, the start it again.

I've not encountered this situation in 13 years of running Slackware on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems so I have no idea what to do next. What might be the reason for this?

Originally Posted by rshepard What might be the reason for this?

Probably a setting in /etc/lilo.conf

Please attach it (renamed lilo.conf.txt) or paste it in your next post between [code][​/code] tags.

Didier,

I had help this afternoon from a Slackware guru (he maintains a bunch of SBo packages) and an experienced system/network admin. We determined that the problem is likely incompatibility between the Latitude 2100 BIOS (version A03) and the new SSD I installed earlier this year. I'll send Dell and e-mail asking if there's a BIOS upgrade for this model or a way to configure the BIOS to boot off the SSD. If not, I'll need to replace the new SSD with a mechanical hard drive.

The system runs fine once it's booted from the distribution DVD, but it will not boot from the internal hard drive.

Rich

did you get lilo errors during the install? If so post them.

I dont have a Dell latitude but my system doesnt like lilo being installed from the installer.
I have to boot huge.s root=/dev/sda4 init= ro
then comment out some lines lilo doesnt like with pico or whatever your favorite editor is. then run lilo.
you got EFI bios? I am using legacy mode myself.

running /sbin/lilo
should show something like
lilo
message
windows added
linux added

other option is lilo MBR /dev/sd?#

or try using GRUB instead of lilo

I solved the issue yesterday morning by upgrading the BIOS to version A06 from the 2010 version A03. Now it boots from the SSD and displays the lilo splash screen as expected.

I used a flash drive that contains a working DOS version on which I put the windows BIOS downloaded from Dell's web site.

The lesson learned is to see if there's a more current BIOS version for older hardware when installing a different type of internal hard drive and upgrading the OS version.

This issue has returned with the upgrade to the 4.4.88 kernel.

The 2100 worked fine when I upgraded the BIOS to version A06, the newest one available. I upgraded the kernel to 4.4.75 when it came out and it booted and worked without issues. Yesterday's upgrade to the 4.4.88 kernel does not display the lilo splash screen. After the POST the cursor sits blinking in the upper left corner.

I've verified that soft links in /boot are correct and have rebuilt initrd several times 'mkinitrd -c -k 4.4.88-smp -m ext4'. The kernels are correctly specified in /etc/lilo.conf and initrd.gz is specified with the generic kernel. I find it difficult to think that the upgrade from 4.4.75 to 4.4.88 is related to the BIOS version. If this is the issue I need to either downgrade the kernel or trash the little computer unless there's an explanation for this boot failure that I've not considered.

Rich

Originally Posted by rshepard This issue has returned with the upgrade to the 4.4.88 kernel.

The cause has not been determined, but the situation has been fixed by temporarily moving the internal hard drive to the top of the list in the BIOS boot settings. It is also the top-most choice when I press F12 as I turn on the power and select 'internal hard drive' for the boot device. Changing the BIOS boot settings so the optical drive is first choice and the internal hard drive second choice still allows the lilo menu to appear and work. This glitch apparently was a fluke.