2.6.14 Not Booting (LILO Problem)

lydgate · 11-09-2005, 11:03 AM

Okay, so I have been running kernel 2.6.14 for a while with Slackware-current, and until today everything was fine. Today, I recompiled the kernel to change some USB settings. At the end, LILO gave me a warning:

Code:

/proc/partitions does not match /dev directory structure.
Name change '/dev/hda2' -> '/dev/hda2'
part_nowrite check :: No such file or directory

When I rebooted and tried to load 2.6.14, it gives the cryptic:

Code:

EBDA is big; kernel setup stack overlaps LILO second stage

Right now I am booted into Knoppix 4.0. I can also get into my old 2.4.31 kernel, so I can recompile the 2.6 kernel or mess with LILO if need be.

I changed my partitions a few days ago, and I'm guessing that's what caused it. Here is what /proc/partitions looks like:

Code:

major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0   58605120 hda
   3     1     192748 hda1 # /boot
   3     2          1 hda2 # extended partition containing 3, 4, 5
   3     3   11864002 hda3 # swap
   3     4   12538732 hda4 # slackware /
   3     5     995998 hda5 # /home
   3     6    5855661 hda6 # ntfs win xp, booting fine
   3     7   27149818 hda7 # fat32 partition i just created to share between linux & windows

here's the relevant section of my fstab if it helps:

Code:

/dev/hda5        swap             swap        defaults         0   0
/dev/hda6        /                reiserfs    defaults         1   1
/dev/hda1        /boot            ext2        defaults         1   2
/dev/hda7        /home            reiserfs    defaults         1   2
/dev/hda3        /ntfs            ntfs        ro               1   0
/dev/hda4        /store           vfat        defaults         1   2

Anyway, so I think the creation of hda7 is somehow the problem, but I don't understand how it has to do with hda2. I'm guessing perhaps LILO needs some critical amount of space, and parted messed it up somehow by rounding, but I don't understand enough about partitioning to figure out why this is the case, or why 2.4 still loads fine. Is my 2.6 kernel just too big somehow? After this happened I tried recompiling and disabling the stuff I had earlier enabled. I might recompile it completely later and see if that helps, but let me know if there's anything obviously wrong with my set up . . .

Also tell me if there's any other information needed.

egag · 11-09-2005, 03:16 PM

i think you can mount your system partition r/w on that knoppix,
then " chroot " to it and run " lilo ".

see if it then boots.
( lilo wasn't run correctly )

egag

lydgate · 11-09-2005, 10:40 PM

I can get into my 2.4.31 kernel. Running /sbin/lilo returns what I got above, namely

Code:

/proc/partitions does not match /dev directory structure.
Name change '/dev/hda2' -> '/dev/hda2'
part_nowrite check :: No such file or directory

I have completely recompiled the Kernel, it seems to be a problem with LILO. I can't figure out how to fix LILO, I think it has more to do with the partitions.

I have tried lilo -F and lilo -P ignore but I am too afraid to try lilo -P fix. Is it possible I should somehow remove LILO and replace it in the MBR?

drumz · 11-09-2005, 11:21 PM

It sounds like you're trying to put lilo on the root drive, not the MBR. In that case, the root drive should be /dev/hda6. So lilo.conf should be:

Code:

boot = /dev/hda6
...
image = /boot/whatever
  root = /dev/hda6
  label = whatever
  read-only

I'm assuming you have boot=/dev/hda2, and that's where the error is coming from, but I'm not sure. I dual boot and installed lilo to the MBR here's my relevant stuff in lilo.conf, should you want to try it:

Code:

boot = /dev/hda
...
image = /boot/bzImage-2.6.13
  root = /dev/hda5
  label = Slack_2.6.13
  read-only
...
other = /dev/hda1
  label = WindowsXP
  table = /dev/hda

Of course you'd have to change /dev/hda5 to /dev/hda6 and /dev/hda1 to /dev/hda3.

Note: also your added comments to /proc/partions don't match up correctly, but I figured it out

.

lydgate · 11-10-2005, 02:21 AM

Thanks for your help, I didn't try your suggestions drumz, because I was too impatient to get back into slack before you posted. So I installed GRUB, it's working fine and I may go back and try to fix lilo eventually. We'll see.