LinuxQuestions.org - Slackware 10.2 lilo error

- Slackware (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/)

- - Slackware 10.2 lilo error (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/slackware-10-2-lilo-error-364305/)

Slackware 10.2 lilo error

Hi,

I downloaded slackware 10.2, installation went fine, until it came to configuring lilo. I chose to install it to the same partition as slackware, since i did not want any everntual complications by installing it to the mbr. Before, on 10.1 i used OSL2000 in order to boot, and it would the take me to lilo. However, it does not install, and i get an error saying "Lilo error #1" and it tells me that i might be able to fix it if i edit the lilo.conf. But this is impossible, since i cannot boot slackware? I have tried reinstalling and using Knoppix to edit the file. Does anyone have an idea what might be the cause of this? I dont have a floppy drive, and apparantly i cannot boot from usb flash drives.

My specs are:
40gb sata hdd, (~35gb ntfs and the rest for linux and swap partitions.)
2.8ghz p4 ht
1.5GB ram

Thanks for any help :scratch:

You can use the first install cd to boot into your installation in 10.1. Then run lilo after that. I always install into the mbr. I didn't know 10.2 was even out. Boot from the first install cd and point it to your hard drive -- if it's set up the same as 10.1.

Can you post up your lilo.conf file?

When i try to boot my linux partition using the installation disk 1, it just takes me to the setup, and dosent actually boot the partition :/ i mus be doing soemthing wrong...

This is my lilo.conf that i was able to get using Knoppix:

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
lba32 # Allow booting past 1024th cylinder with a recent BIOS
boot = /dev/hda6
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# End LILO global section
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda2
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda6
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

My linux partition is hda6
Windows is on hda2 and hda5

p.s thanks for the quick answer

i'm having the same problems with installing lilo, i originally had suse on my laptop but didn't like so switched to slack, suse uses grub which is written to the mbr, at first i just had lilo overwrite the mbr but now i have to clear it for some reason, so i'm using freedos and it's not going smoothly. i'm thinking that i could save time and buy a new laptop.

ok a low level fomat didn't fix it and lilo wouldn't load under 10.1 either so i have a major problem, ding hope you have better luck, if find a fix action i'll post it but things don't look good

Double check that your BIOS doesn't have a "protect boot block" option to prevent viruses from writing over the boot block. You will have to turn that off in order for some changes to be made to the hard disk partitions.

i saw something wrong

Quote:

# Start LILO global section
lba32 # Allow booting past 1024th cylinder with a recent BIOS
boot = /dev/hda6 <<<<<<=============here
message = /boot/boot_message.txt

should be "boot=/dev/hda" if you're installing it to the mbr

no BIOS protection that i can find and most installs before this have gone smoothly, my laptop now has a new harddrive and a friend of mine loned me an XP disk that loaded perfectly. but even after all of that lilo still will not install and another odd thing i can't change the root password.

all my problems started about 2-3 months ago when i messed up a kernal install (wrong modules for a laptop) and insted of fixing it i ignored it and played with other computers, that and there where some files on there that i wanted to keep. when 10.2 came out i decided that i'd just forget the files and do a clean install, and now i have no bootloader

post lilo.config

boot="/dev/hda"
lba32
prompt
timeout="100"
root=/dev/hda1
vga="773"

image="/boot/vmlinuz"
label="vmlinuz"
root="/dev/hda1"
read-only

image="/boot64/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4"
label="Fedora"
root="/dev/hdb1"
read-only
initrd="/boot64/boot/initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img"

here it is. The second part is still up in the air. I just added Fedora Core 4 for X86-64 today and am still setting it up so don't consider it useable.

i don't know about the 10.2 cd's but the second 10.1 cd was a live cd , from where you can bootup and chroot to ur own Slackware installation where u can redit ur lilo.conf,
A good advice always put a sperate /boot partition on ur hdd

No, 10.0 and earlier disk 2 is a livecd, 10.1 and I think 10.2 disk 2s are not.

hi, sorry for not replying for a long time.
I started to boot linux from the cd1, using the command linux root=/dev/hda6

However, since then i have bought a new 160gb sata hdd. Using Partition magic in windows, i made a 8gb ext3 partition at the end of my new hdd. I also made a 1gb swap on my old hdd.

When i install linux, i use the sata.i kernel, and al goes well, until, like before, the lilo config. I get the same error as before, so i thought, well i can use the cd. But no, when i boot from the cd, i get a kernel panick. I tried reinstalling it several times now, with no success. I also tried using the test26.s kernel: i even got lilo to install correctly without an error message.
Correctly? i didnt mean to say that, when i boot, i use osl2000 to boot to my linux partition, and then LiLo comes up. If i choose linux, LiLo dissapears and i just get a black screen :/
Can anyone help? again..

Please tell me a bit more about your configuration.

What are all the hard disks, and partitions on the hard disks?
What is the type and size of each partiton, and what order are they on the disks?
Which partitions are Primary, and which are Extended?
Which partitions are Logical partitions inside an Extended partition?

What type of SATA controller are you using?
Have you checked to see if a special driver is required for the SATA controller?
Does the BIOS support INT13 Logical Block Addressing (LBA)?
Is the BIOS set to use LBA for the hard disk?

Which partition contains the OSL2000 boot loader?
Which partition contains the LILO boot block and LILO boot loader?
What is your current "lilo.conf" file?

Have you checked to see if the OSL2000 boot loader supports loading other operating systems, such as Linux? How does the OSL2000 loader boot other operating systems?
Does it read the partition boot block, or does it attempt to load the other OS boot loader or OS directly? Does it keep its own copy of the Linux super block?

If OSL2000 has a configuration file, please post that.

If I had to make a guess, the OSL2000 boot loader might keep its own copy of the Linux super block in order to load LILO. That may be similar to using the Windows XP boot loader to load LILO. Each time you change the LILO boot configuration (or boot block) it may be necessary to update a file that has a copy of the Linux super block. You may have to update a file for OSL2000. Reinstalling OSL2000 might correct the problem.

Generally, if you are going to install boot loaders (or operating systems) you should install the OS with the initial boot loader last. In this case OSL2000 is the initial boot loader, so you should install that last.

One way to test Linux booting is to change the Linux boot partition to be the Active, Primary partition on the first hard disk. If you do that with a normal partition table, you should be able to boot Linux. You can have more than one Primary partition, and you can use the Linux installation CD to change which partition is the Active (boot) partition. You also should make sure that the Linux partition is not hidden.