LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General
User Name
Password
Linux - General This Linux forum is for general Linux questions and discussion.
If it is Linux Related and doesn't seem to fit in any other forum then this is the place.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 07-16-2004, 09:47 AM   #1
Nutty1084
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 5

Rep: Reputation: 0
Umm lilo problem


So.. i deleted my linux partition through windows using partition magic. When i start partition magic again, it says the partition is gone... but i can still boot to linux and lilo still starts with windows and linux listed.... WTF MATE!?!
 
Old 07-16-2004, 09:57 AM   #2
jkobrien
Member
 
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Distribution: Slackware, LFS, Ubuntu, RedHat, Slamd64
Posts: 507

Rep: Reputation: 30
Lilo reads the master boot record (at least in the most common configuration). This wasn't affected by deleting the linux partition.

John
 
Old 07-16-2004, 08:04 PM   #3
zaicheke
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2004
Distribution: Slackware 10, Open BSD 3.6, Mac OS 10.3.7, Splack 10 beta
Posts: 393

Rep: Reputation: 30
you can reload the windows boot loader with a dos recovery floppy.
 
Old 07-17-2004, 02:58 AM   #4
Nutty1084
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
but... the lilo.conf file was stored in the /etc directory of the linux partition... wouldn't it like not find the file?
 
Old 07-20-2004, 03:44 AM   #5
jkobrien
Member
 
Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Distribution: Slackware, LFS, Ubuntu, RedHat, Slamd64
Posts: 507

Rep: Reputation: 30
I think lilo.conf is used when writing to the mbr (i.e. when you make some changes and run /sbin/lilo) but not during boot up.

John
 
Old 07-20-2004, 10:08 PM   #6
Nutty1084
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
then is there any way to "uninstall" lilo and set the mbr back to just windows? BUT the thing that is still weird is that linux still boots even though i deleted the partition?!?
 
Old 07-20-2004, 10:52 PM   #7
frob23
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: Roughly 29.467N / 81.206W
Distribution: OpenBSD, Debian, FreeBSD
Posts: 1,450

Rep: Reputation: 48
You deleted the partition but the information is still there on the disk. Lilo knows where to find it by address. Just open a command prompt and type "fdisk /mbr" and the problem will go away. Then you can use it (the empty space) for whatever you want.
 
Old 07-21-2004, 02:48 AM   #8
Nutty1084
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: May 2004
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
first of all.... isn't fdisk a linux command? ... either way it doesn't work in a command prompt

and second of all.... linux is still obviously installed on my system SOMEwhere.. since the partition is deleted, i'm puzzled as to why it still works just as it did before i deleted it?
 
Old 07-21-2004, 04:56 AM   #9
sbogus
Member
 
Registered: May 2004
Location: Germany, Munich
Distribution: SuSE Pro Releases 7.3, 9.0, CentOS 4.0, Kubuntu 6.0x
Posts: 103

Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally posted by Nutty1084
first of all.... isn't fdisk a linux command? ... either way it doesn't work in a command prompt

and second of all.... linux is still obviously installed on my system SOMEwhere.. since the partition is deleted, i'm puzzled as to why it still works just as it did before i deleted it?
Well, *deleting* a partition from Windows does not delete it really - it just modifies the partition table Windows uses. The data in that killed partition stills there and can be used. Firthermore LILO does not know anything of file systems and file locations, it uses direct disk addresses and maps to partitions. When you run lilo with the lilo.conf it just reads the configuration file and updates its image in the MBR on the disk, where it translates each understand information from lilo.conf into physical disk addresses. Thus killind the partition, but leaving the contained data there will change nothing in the way LILO boots your Linux.

To get rid of the Linux partitions (there could be one Swap partition in addition to the root one), you should reinstall the Windows boot loader and then repartition the free space and eventually format it with whatever file system you like to use. To reinstall the Window boot loader you'll nee to fix the MBR of your Windows disk
Depending on the Windows you use, you might need to use one or more of the following commands:
  • fdisk /mbr - this is used for Windows prior version 2000, it will fix the MBR of your disk
  • fixmbr - this is used for Win2k and WinXP to fix the MBR of your disk. You should run the Rescue console in order to be able to use this command.
  • fixboot - this will replace the boot sector of a disk with clean standard copy. You should run the Rescue console in order to be able to use this command.

An yes, fdisk is also a DOS command, not only Linux one.

Kind regards,
sbogus
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
opensuse, problem with... umm, I forgot Titan2k SUSE / openSUSE 3 11-23-2005 09:43 AM
umm odd lilo/boot problems des33 Linux - Newbie 1 03-10-2005 04:07 PM
umm need some help, please karloff Linux - Newbie 7 06-08-2004 04:36 PM
umm where did it go? Netrack Linux - Newbie 5 02-06-2003 07:47 PM
Hmm my Lilo won't umm Load linux...help please! shadowpuff Linux - Newbie 5 02-05-2003 03:08 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - General

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:41 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration