LILO hangs on "Loading Linux....."

davidguygc · 03-08-2007, 09:55 PM

Hi, I am booting from a floppy (/dev/fd0). My Slackware partition is /dev/hdb3. I am using the vmlinuz kernal.

Here is my custom-made lilo.conf (which is in /etc/lilo.conf)
I have LILO on a floppy so I can boot Linux immediately, so when I don't have it in it just goes straight to Vista (I know, I'm stupid.)

Code:

disk=/dev/hdb
bios=0x80
map=/mnt/floppy/map
default=Linux

boot=/dev/fd0
prompt
timeout=0

change-rules
reset

image=/boot/vmlinuz
root=/dev/hdb3
initrd=/boot/initrd.gz
label=Linux
read-only

It gives me no warnings when I run lilo. When I then reboot, it goes all the way through the LILO menu, and says

Code:

boot:
Loading Linux............................

Then it just blinks the next line down. I compiled the initrd.gz by typing in

Code:

mkinitrd -c -f reiserfs -r /dev/hdb3

What is making this happen?

Thanks, David

blackhole54 · 03-10-2007, 12:52 PM

I have never used the disk= option, but if you're booting to /dev/hdb, should you be specifying bios=0x81? (My reference book says the first disk is usually 0x80 and the second disk is usually 0x81.) Do you even need the disk= and bios= statements at all? I've never used them, but then I've never used LILO from a floppy either. (BTW, I do a similar thing you are trying using a GRUB floppy to choose a different OS than default on a box I run headless. However you want to boot your machine is up to you. Let freedom ring!)

davidguygc · 03-10-2007, 11:17 PM

Yeah, I just assummed 80 said to treat that drive as the primary, but I really didn't know the meaning behind it all. I think I remember trying it w/o those statments and it would give me an error, but I'll try it again when I get back to that computer (won't be till after Spring break, woooo!)

Thanks,

David

P.S. what is the best way to create a initrd.gz file? I really think that is the best reason as to why this isn't working, because like I said, it will load all the way past that line, which makes me think it is loading the kernal, then just waiting on commands, that they never get.

blackhole54 · 03-11-2007, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidguygc

P.S. what is the best way to create a initrd.gz file? I really think that is the best reason as to why this isn't working, because like I said, it will load all the way past that line, which makes me think it is loading the kernal, then just waiting on commands, that they never get.

Rather than possibly give you bogus advice on creating initrd.gz, I'll just suggest you google for it or get it from the Slackware site. Some distros have a specific tool (usually a script) for doing this. But I don't think that is your problem. (However, I have been wrong before!

) If you don't have things obscured with a splash screen (I don't think Slackware does) and you haven't specified quiet on your boot line, what I've usually seen happen is:

Loading Linux ..................
Uncompressing Linux ..............

Then it rapidly spits out a bunch of messages as the kernel itself boots. If the kernel was booting OK and your problem was initrd.gz, I think it would give you a message to that effect, or at least you would see more than you do. But like I say, I could be wrong. And I don't have a convenient way to test this right now.

P.S. I have a machine that uses LILO to multiboot with one of the choices being Damn Small Linux, which I have on a FAT32 partition which mainly holds an old win95 installation. One time w/o thinking, I "defragged" that partition w/o rerunning lilo aftewards. The next time I went to boot DSL I observed what you have described. The defragging had moved things around and LILO didn't know where they were until I ran lilo again.

davidguygc · 03-16-2007, 01:45 AM

Well I just recently reinstalled LILO, so I don't think it is that. If you say initrd.gz starts after

Code:

Uncompressing Linux..............

then what says that?

blackhole54 · 03-16-2007, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidguygc

Well I just recently reinstalled LILO, so I don't think it is that. If you say initrd.gz starts after

Code:

Uncompressing Linux..............

then what says that?

I may have made a mistake. The system I usually see these messages with that uses LILO doesn't use an initrd. I think after "Loading Linux ...." but before "Uncompressing Linux" there would be (if it is used) a "Loading initrd.gz ..." or something like that. I believe the two "Loading" messages are from LILO itself and the "Uncompressing" message is either from LILO or perhaps the compressed kernel image itself.

By recently reinstalling, do you mean running the lilo command? If so, did you try changing or removing that bios = line?

davidguygc · 03-16-2007, 12:23 PM

Yes I ran the LILO command. I don't remember the last time I didn't use the BIOS, but when I don't, it will give me an error when I start up with an error code (error 4 I believe).

I am thinking, however, that I may need to put

Code:

bios=0x81

instead of

Code:

bios=0x80

So what should I see if it were to boot up correctly? Something like:

Code:

Loading Linux.........................
Uncompressing Linux...................
Loading initrd.gz.....................

If so, at least im 1/3 there lol.

blackhole54 · 03-17-2007, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidguygc

I am thinking, however, that I may need to put

Code:

bios=0x81

instead of

Code:

bios=0x80

Yeah, I'd give that a try.

Quote:

So what should I see if it were to boot up correctly? Something like:

Code:

Loading Linux.........................
Uncompressing Linux...................
Loading initrd.gz.....................

If so, at least im 1/3 there lol.

I (now) think the order of the last two lines are reversed. Let's here it for 1/3!

If you can't get the last 2/3, have you thought about trying to use GRUB from a floppy instead? I have done it, but my grasp of GRUB is shaky enough I don't know if I am the best person to advise.

davidguygc · 03-17-2007, 02:57 AM

Ok, I'll give that a try when I get back to town (gotta love figuring out a problem with a computer while not even being in the same area code lol)

davidguygc · 03-18-2007, 11:22 PM

Hallelujah! Just had to switch disk to 0x81, Thanks a lot yall!