fatal: kernel too large
 

Hi everyone,

I just compiled a custom kernel, stripping off some stuff I don't need. However, after I add the custom kernel into lilo.conf and run lilo I get an error saying the kernel is too large. Since the custom kernel is smaller, I don't really understand... What's going on here?

Thanks.

Yib

Can you post your lilo.conf please, and tell us what kernel image file your referencing? I am guessing you grabbed the wrong file from the src after you built your kernel.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I should probably also mention that I'm running slackware 7.1 on a pentium 120.

here's what I did:

# make zImage
# cp /usr/src/linux-2.2.16/arch/i386/boot/zImage /boot/custom
# vi etc/lilo.conf

lilo.conf:

image =/boot/custom
root = /dev/hda2
label = custom
read-only

# lilo

I get the following:

# Fatal: Kernel /boot/custom is too big

How big is the kernel? Also, Slackware 7.1 is old -- what version of LILO is it (I think some older versions may have had trouble with large kernels, but I'm not totally sure)? Also what version of the kernel are you compiling?

Hi,

I'm using kernel 2.2.16. The kernel is a bit under 500kb, vs the old kernel which was 700+kb. Now lilo works fine with the default kernel, which is larger, so I assumed that the custom kernel should be fine as well.

I "tricked" lilo into booting the custom kernel by renaming the custom kernel and it booted up fine the first time. However, the second time I tried it, the computer froze, the third time it gave me a kernel panic. So I'm thinking maybe there's something wrong with the kernel image itself or with lilo. But I don't really know how to diagnose it from here.

yib

I dunno if it matters, or if that particular kernel supports it.. but I always do a make bzImage instead of a make zImage and use the bzImage with lilo.

using make bzImage worked. Freed up 1Mb ram, doesn't sound like much I know, but when you only got 16mb total, it's quite a bit.

Thanks for the help!

yib