HELP! My Slackware won't load, please read.

devx · 02-07-2010, 02:59 AM

Slackware 13 didn't install correctly, and I accidentally installed it on my main hard drive on my Toshiba laptop, now it has the MBR all jacked up. I can't boot from CD. If my external usb HD is formatted in a linux format, I have the possibility to boot from that device, but as soon as I load another linux distro, such as ubuntu or pardus, it won't load, and actually disappears from my boot menu. Slackware is dead it runs into a Kernel problem and locks up and then i'm forced to reboot. Please help!

konzo · 02-07-2010, 04:22 AM

You need to clean your MBR! It's because you probably have other ditro installed before. Do you? I have similar problem and I clear my mbr with dd command:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=446 count=1 or
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1 if you want to erase partition tables also.

use it if fdisk /mbr don't work. And be sure not to set bs bigger that 448, because you will erase partition table of the disk!

After that reinstall slackware. Set to run cd drive first from bios.

devx · 02-07-2010, 11:29 PM

What if I can't get to a command prompt.. Is there a way to load a comand prompt or maybe even a dos prompt via a bootable usb flash drive? Thanks for your reply so soon, if I can get to a prompt, then I should be able to correct it with your instruction.

damgar · 02-07-2010, 11:37 PM

Try booting with the slack install disk. From there you can use fdisk. I never did fdisk /mbr with the version of fdisk on the slack disk, but I have used it from dos and it worked a treat. If that doesn't work then just use a live cd and the dd command. I like to keep a copy of systemrescuecd around for system rescues. Here is an older thread relating to your issue. dd might even be available from the slack install disk. I'm not sure.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-a-mbr-300256/

konzo · 02-08-2010, 02:04 AM

Here is a link of system rescue cd

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

You ca choose usb stick instal. Check the page.