Hello,

I am new to Linux, and I have been playing around with installing RH 9. I have an Intel box with an Adaptec SCSI card attached to an external array of drives (6 9 gig HP's). It seems pretty unstable, and I am not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I had the install "autopartion". The partions spread themselves out over the drives and the system came up. I let it run all day ... then when I checked later the system power was off, but its in a UPS and I didnt get a hit all day (my other systems were fine)

Bringing it back up all the harddrives were found but on booting i got a bunch of binary junk characters. I figured, whatever, im just learning so i reloaded (on only one drive this time) I got the same junk characters on power up. Ive reloaded several times trying to get it right, and this has never happened before (and i dont know what to look for if reloading wont fix it) I did just boot from floppy, and my system came up.

My ultimate goal is to turn the array into raid and move the boot partition into the array. Ive read about it, but id settle to just be able to boot up without a problem from the harddrives, not the floppy.

ps, i did boot the original installation right from the harddrives. i also removed an ide drive. it sure didnt like when i mixed up scsi and ide.

Thanks!

if you can get into the system then try typing in /sbin/lilo in the console this should rerun lilo and if its a boot manager problem fix it

what if it is GNU, should that be the same? I went to /sbin and there is a lilo file. I execute it and it says /etc/lilo.conf file does not exist. i looked in the lilo file (it wasnt a link) and it has a lot of nasty looking binary characters and messages (that get variables, so its not like a log, but a runtime thing, not sure if that means anything).

Any idea on a next step. I can still boot from floppy, but going to the scsi harddrive just dumps some junk to the screen and hangs.

"man lilo.conf" will give you some information on creating a lilo.conf file. Then run /sbin/lilo as root to get it working. It's been a while since I read through that man page but it should give you hints about making sure it points to your boot partition and any paramaters you need to have it to recognize your SCSI array.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

hmmm, well to start, i am logged in as root. I looked at the man page for lilo.conf, it says it should look like this -
boot = /dev/hda
delay = 40
compact
vga = normal
root = /dev/hda1
read-only
image = /zImage-2.5.99
label = try
image = /zImage-1.0.9
label = 1.0.9
image = /tamu/vmlinuz
label = tamu
root = /dev/hdb2
vga = ask
other = /dev/hda3
label = dos
table = /dev/hda

mine would say sda1 for scsi .....

but there is no lilo.conf in /etc. when i execute /etc/lilo i get (or just lilo from /sbin) ->
[root@pangea sbin]# lilo
/etc/lilo.conf: No such file or directory

do i need to build the file from scratch? ive never done that before, but im game.
More important, this is a brand new load (granted ive loaded a few times trying to get it right), i havent deleted, moved or renamed any files. any idea why this file might be missing? that makes me nervous, because when i get this system where i want it, i plan to use this as a file server. if i cant make it stable it will be pretty much useless.

Thanks again!

just do mkdir /etc/lilo.conf

then add your setup like the man page said i dont even remember hwo to add windows to lilo but hopefully some toehr member will give you a copy of their lilo.conf heres mine which will help witht he linux setup and i think you windows entry should be along the same lines as my entry for bsd

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 30
# 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
# DOS bootable partition config begins
# DOS bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/bzImage-CE-1
root = /dev/hda2
label = Linux-CE
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
image = /boot/bzImage-ck4-1
root = /dev/hda2
label = linux-ck
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
image = /boot/bzImage-2.4.20-lq1-1
root = /dev/hda2
label = linux-lq1
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
image = /boot/bzImage-2.5.73-1
root = /dev/hda2
label = linux-2.5.73
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
image = /boot/bzImage3
root = /dev/hda1
label = linux-2
read-only
image = /boot/bzImage-2.4.21-CE-2
root = /dev/hda5
label = linux-lirc
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"
other=/dev/hdd1
table=/dev/hdd
label=freebsd
image = /boot/bzImage-2.4.21-4
root = /dev/hda1
label = linux2-2.4.21
read-only
append="hdc=ide-scsi"

A while back I read that Linux (or maybe Grub) do not work well with Adaptec SCSI Adapters. Do a search on this forum, Google and Red Hat website for your Adapter--should get you on the right path.

Thanks deadbug! I found the information .... "BIOS Support for Int13 Extensions" disabled, now I am booting from the SCSI. I did not try grub before as the boot loader, just lilo. This is an Adaptec 2940U and found that others have had this problem.

http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/fhassel_grub_scsi.html

Like all good answers, they beg more questions!

First, my intention is to run as a file server with multiple scsi drives. Large files for editing video. I also hope build the system as RAID 5 eventually, for availabilty. And, eventually (I'll probably never have time for this one) I would like to boot from RAID. I also have a tape drive and intend to use amanda for a backup solution to all network devices (mostly windows, one powerpc with AIX).

Questions (im in the NEWBIE section so I figure dumb questions now, save a lotta time later) -

1. Does it really matter if I go lilo or grub? the more i look on the web the more i cant decide. can someone explain which is better, where and why (a little, or a link)?

2. BIOS Support for Int13 Extensions is now disabled - does this matter? I understand the boot partition, kernel etc has to be in the first 8 Gig? (these drives are 9.8 gig). I think I can live with that (comment on that if anyone feels different) is there anything else to be worried about?

I have a long way to go, I figure this is my first step .........

no it doesnt matter, once youve booted theres no difference between a grub and lilo system grub seems to have more features (custom splash screen etc) but lilo seems to be easier to learn (configs make more sense to someone who doenst know what theyre doing) it think thats about all

does anyone know if disabling int13 extensions will mean anything as i develop the system?

i'll probably just stick with grub since its working