boot problems

digital_one · 12-06-2003, 04:29 PM

I printed out a 9.0 installation document to help me with the install ,(i can't post links yet but anyone wanting the addy can pm me) i didn't figure that 9.1 could be much different, it didn't ask for home like the document said, after i set the swap it asked what partition for linux which is /dev/hda5, dunno why it set it at hda5 that was partition magics doing.

After installation i go to config lilo , set windows to /dev/hda1 , linux to /dev/hda5. so far so good, i made a boot floppy since the first install wouldn't boot. after lilo is configured i got to install lilo, no go says installation failed. so i reboot and use the floppy for boot it starts vmlinuz, i think that is what started up, then it says boot failed.

So i have no go, even though it knows the windows partition and the linux partition it wont install lilo or boot from floppy so I'm stumped. so i figured there was a problem with linux being hda5 , i installed mandrake 9.2 no problem .

so did i configure something wrong, or what ???

Bruce Hill · 12-06-2003, 06:12 PM

Did you run /sbin/lilo after changing your configuration? You must do this for the changes in lilo to take effect.

The proper way to change lilo is by editing /etc/lilo.conf and then running /sbin/lilo afterwards. You can do as root ->
# fdisk -l (that's a lower case L)
and it will show you your partitions. In your case I think that /dev/hda5 is the first logical partition in the extended partition of your hard drive. NB: the partition to boot linux from should be your root partition. And did you install lilo to the MBR, or where?

If you can't get it to work after editing /etc/lilo.conf this way, then post the results of the fdisk -l and the contents of your /etc/lilo.conf file.

Your post is quite confusing, though. You posted in the Slackware forum. Your control panel does not list your distribution. You say

Quote:

I printed out a 9.0 installation document to help me with the install ,(i can't post links yet but anyone wanting the addy can pm me) i didn't figure that 9.1 could be much different

but which distribution? There is more than one distro with a version 9.0 and 9.1. Then you end by saying

Quote:

i installed mandrake 9.2 no problem

so does this mean you were using Mandrake and you posted to the wrong forum? And do you now have Mandrake 9.2 properly installed, and you don't need any help?

digital_one · 12-06-2003, 09:37 PM

i was installing slack 9.1 iso files from cd, lilo was installed to the mbr cause i wanted the boot screen at startup and didnt wanna keep messin with a floppy, i didnt know if the booting error was from the /dev/hda5 partition or a error on slack so i installed mandrake instead to check and it worked so i didnt think it was a partition error. i must not have configured lilo correctly. im still wanting to install slack so im gonna try it again tonite.

Bruce Hill · 12-06-2003, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by digital_one
i was installing slack 9.1 iso files from cd, lilo was installed to the mbr cause i wanted the boot screen at startup and didnt wanna keep messin with a floppy, i didnt know if the booting error was from the /dev/hda5 partition or a error on slack so i installed mandrake instead to check and it worked so i didnt think it was a partition error. i must not have configured lilo correctly. im still wanting to install slack so im gonna try it again tonite.

I'm not a Linux expert, but I think the Slack install is pretty easy if you understand a little of the lingo. Since you have the CD's, why not open the file Slackware-HOWTO from CD 1 and print that document. It is the Slackware Linux CD-ROM Installation HOWTO from Patrick Volkerding, who is the man who produces the Slackware distribution. It's very verbose, and if you follow it as you install you'll have very few questions, and very little problem. Since you want to dual (or more) boot, you should probably choose the "expert" option for the LILO configuration during the Slack installation. It's got helpful instructions on every screen, and you'll probably have no problems. I don't like anything installed for me without knowing what's happening so I choose expert. Don't let the title intimidate you, it just means you get to choose as it installs. Just install Slack to your / (root) partition.

As for the boot error, run fdisk -l and df -h to see which partition is your swap and which is your / (root). You should have something like this ->

Code:

root@paul:/home/mingdao# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1         383     3076416    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hda2             384        7476    56974522+   f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5             384        3571    25607578+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hda6            3572        3583       96358+  83  Linux
/dev/hda7            3584        3826     1951866   82  Linux swap
/dev/hda8            3827        3948      979933+  83  Linux
/dev/hda9            3949        6744    22458838+  83  Linux
/dev/hda10           6745        7352     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda11           7353        7476      995998+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/hdb: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1               1         765     6144831    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/hdb2             766        6353    44885610    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb5             766        2528    14161266   83  Linux
/dev/hdb6            2529        6353    30724281    b  W95 FAT32

root@paul:/home/mingdao# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda8             957M  687M  271M  72% /
/dev/hda6              95M   34M   61M  37% /boot
/dev/hda9              22G  246M   22G   2% /home
/dev/hda10            4.7G   59M  4.7G   2% /var
/dev/hda11            973M   33M  940M   4% /tmp
/dev/hdb5              14G  1.9G   12G  14% /usr
/dev/hda5              25G   25G  122M 100% /WinE
/dev/hdb1             5.9G  5.6G  296M  96% /WinD
/dev/hdb6              30G   14G   17G  46% /AppSwap
/dev/hdc              626M  626M     0 100% /mnt/cdrom

From this you can see that /dev/hda7 is my Linux swap partition and /dev/hda8 is my Linux / (root) partition.

So my /etc/lilo.conf looks like this ->

Code:

# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/hda8
  label = Slack
  read-only # Non-UMSDOS filesystems should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# DOS bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
  label = Windoze
  table = /dev/hda
# DOS bootable partition config ends

You'll get Slack installed okay. Hope this helps.

digital_one · 12-07-2003, 08:50 PM

well i got it fixed, dunno what i did different, same exact setup and all. configured lilo the same this time it worked

well now im a slacker

Bruce Hill · 12-07-2003, 09:12 PM