OK so im trying to build a server, just for personal reasons and learning.

I chose to install slackware as it will get me up to speed, although its rough so far.

but basically I got most my problems figured out now, but whats happening is it installs the first CD, asks me a bunch of config questions, and then instead of asking for the second disk it just says slackware is complete and I can ctrl+alt+del to restart.

well obviously that didnt work, any ideas what the problem is?

Also what are the recommended partition setups? All I have specified is the one where its going to install to, with 5 gb of space for it, setup for booting.


Any help appreciated,

thanks.

I believe the second install disk isn't always necessary. In the version I have (9.1), it has gnome, kde, and extra/test packages. If you didn't choose to install those, it won't ask for that disk.

so it has 4 disks but can only use 1?

I must have done something wrong then because it still says no operating system found on boot.

The first disk is always needed. The second mainly have kde and gnome stuff (not always needed). The third and fourth CD only contain source code which is not needed unless you want to compile something from scratch.

Go for a full install if you are not used to slackware. It'll quickly give you a working system. If you found it bloated (which I don't :-)) you can always unistall stuff later.

Could you be more specific? Is it the boot process that fails? If it is you probably did something wrong installing lilo.

I did do a full install but I dont know if I chose KDE or anything, I think I just kinda chose the default stuff, then it said it was done, and nothing happened after reboot.

ill try again today and see what happens

Even if you choose a full install. The setup system will ask you for the second CD and you can choose to skip it and still have a working system. The extra stuff can always be installed later.

You probably don't need to reinstall everything but should be able to boot from the CD into your previous install. But to do this you have to pass some extra parameters at the first boot ptompt. Don't remeber them exactly but should be something like:
boot: bare.i root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro

Where "bare.i" is your kernel of choice and "/dev/hda1" is your root partition.

If you manage this edit /etc/lilo.conf and rerun lilo.

It seems there's a problem with the bootloader not getting into Slackware, as heltreko suggested try booting using the CD, and then reinstalling lilo (you can do this once you booted your Slackware installation by running liloconfig).
Or if you're reinstalling Slackware as your read this, use the expert option when asked during Slackware installation and choose to install to the MBR.

By the way, what do you mean with "nothing happened after reboot"?

I cant figure out how to make it boot from CD. I wish I did because I had such a problem with the floppies. makes me feel noob lol.

what I meant was after reboot it just said "no operating systems found" per usual before the install

A few questions regarding your reboot: (It'll be easier to help if we know how you done this)

1. Do you have any other OS on the machine?

2. Have you removed the boot floppy you first used?

3. Have you activated "boot from CD" in the bios?

4. Did you chose any special kernel or did you just press "ENTER" at the boot promt during your first install?

1. the machine is a windows machine but I unhooked that hdd and put mine in (since I cant get floppies working on the server)

2. yes. after it wanted the root disks and stuff I never put it back in. when I do it just brings up the same stuff.

3. I havent seen this option on my machines (they are kinda old)

4.I just hit enter.


maybe slack did install but I didnt make it boot itself right? when I think about it,maybe it already had the slackware@root or whatever when I did stick the boot disk back in, im not 100% sure though. but the 5gb petition I made I set the boot option to, and told slack to install to so I dont know.

at this point im thinking maybe I just chose the wrong full install options. around 5:30 ill be home to give it another go.

if you have any other suggestions please leave them.

Ok, Try this.

1. Put the boot floppy back in and proceed to the boot prompt. (boot

2. Then enter:

bare.i root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro

This to tries too boot the default kernel and mount the first partition on the first disk as "/"

3a. If 2. work try with "liloconfig" to reinstall the lilo bootloader (as gbonvehi suggested). Either choose to install to MBR or on a spare floppy disk.

3b. If 2. doesn't work I think it's easier to redo the install from scratch and pay extra attention when asked how to install lilo.

Good Luck!

ok well your #2 didnt do anything, it said "no such file or directory" I used lowmem.i (since it actually worked) so I tried substituting bare.i for it.

I just went and did the install again, it took like 40 minutes and used 2 disks. it now will actually boot with the CD in, but will not do so without it.

if I just hit enter at boot it will kinda enter linux I may say.....I can login as root. so now it sits here as "root@slackware:/#" and I can enter things like fdisk and setup, but nothing like liloconfig or the edit /etc/lilo.conf

im kinda stumped. I didnt setup any "swap" partitions/drives as im not sure on them and assume they can be added later. and I dont think I need them now.

im kinda stumped, ill keep looking around and messing with it.

well it seems like I pretty much just cant get lilo working, ive tried expert install and all that.

after playing with it for a long time now liloconfig wont even work lol, so I think I need a reinstall or something.

It must be the bootloader configuration that fails.

Try substituting /dev/hda1 with /dev/hdb1 (and so on /dev/hdc1).

/dev/hda stands for the first disk on the first channel and if you've put it in as slave or after your cdrom it'll not end up as /dev/hda.

Did you look at the devicename during partitioning?

I can try but it wouldnt make sense for it to know that /dev/hda1 is 80gb in size if it was the cdrom.