LinuxQuestions.org - I need some more {lilo, booting, partition} understanding.

- Linux - Newbie (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/)

- - I need some more {lilo, booting, partition} understanding. (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/i-need-some-more-%7Blilo-booting-partition%7D-understanding-4175499817/)

I need some more {lilo, booting, partition} understanding.

I've got my drive setup so that I can dual boot Windows and Slackware, with two other partitions that I chain load (those two partitions use their own boot loader).

Here's the output from `fdisk -l`

Code:

/dev/sda1  *          63  644034559  322017248+  7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda2      644036606  1053631844  204797619+  5  Extended

/dev/sda3      1053631845  1057628312    1998234  82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda4      1057628313  1250263727    96317707+  83  Linux

/dev/sda5      644036608  748894207    52428800  83  Linux

/dev/sda6      748894271  1053631844  152368787  83  Linux

Previously, I had my lilo.conf setup like this:

Code:

other = /dev/sda1

  label = Windows

  table = /dev/sda



image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/sda2

  label = Old-Slack

  read-only



other = /dev/sda5

  label = Debian



other = /dev/sda6

  label = New-Slack

Note that Old-Slack's root was set to the Extended partition. This worked fine until I installed Windows 7 and had to reset the MBR with lilo again, and after that point all of my links to dev/sda2 were broke because they weren't pointing to the actual partition with data on it. I know this wasn't something that happened on this one partition: each of my Linux partitions reference a directory on Old-Slack and they all broke after my MBR fix.

Now I've edited sda2 out and sda4 in (the correct partition) and things are back to normal.

How was my system running before when it was referencing the Extended partition instead of the actual partition with the data on it (sda4)? Did I just get lucky? Did I even fix it this time?

Quote:

until I installed Windows 7

Did you install windows 7 or reinstall windows 7? If you installed windows 7 it would be hard to say with out knowing what your partition layout was before installing windows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 (Post 5143087)

Did you install windows 7 or reinstall windows 7? If you installed windows 7 it would be hard to say with out knowing what your partition layout was before installing windows.

It was an upgrade from XP, so the partition setup is exactly the same.

Quote:

the partition setup is exactly the same.

something had to change in the partitioning scheme if everything quit working after upgrading to windows 7. How did you

Quote:

reset the MBR with lilo

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 (Post 5143456)

something had to change in the partitioning scheme if everything quit working after upgrading to windows 7. How did you ?

I used a Slackware DVD to boot /dev/sda4 and then ran lilo as root, using some the config options in the first post. I had to do something because otherwise I was getting a kernel panic because it said it couldn't read /dev/sda2, which seems understandable.

I certainly don't believe I changed the partitioning scheme. Otherwise, I would have lost data, right? That seems like something really non-trivial that I would have remembered doing.

It's definitely a puzzle.