Lilo problem
 

This is the third day I use Suse Linux 6.4 Eval, and pecular to say but I still boot Linux from the installation CD using yast, as I do not know how to configure Lilo to boot from my HDD.
The more I study the relevant clause of the Linux manual the less I understand.
My aim is to boot Linux from partition hda2, using the general i386 compatible kernel as I have a Cyrix processor. Lilo should be placed in that partition, too, as I have an other boot manager in the MBR of hda that came with a previous FreeBSD installation (Linux replaced FreeBSD on the hda2 partition).
I tried to configure Lilo according to the above, but the system hangs each time I try to boot it from the HDD.
When configuring Lilo, I specified /dev/hda2 as the boot partition, but I had the foggiest idea where my kernel file can be on hda2 (I choosed my kernel in yast, but there I got no information where the kernel file is). So I tried some settings here, but none of them worked. In yast /usr/src/linux is shown as the location of the config file, but no such directory exist.
What can I do?
I have an other annoying problem, too: I installed Suse Linux on an 1.2 G partition together with StarOffice. After the installation of the latter I had a free space of some 200 Megs on my HDD. Since then I did almost nothing in Linux. Today I got an error message that I have only 2k of free space on my HDD. What happened to the 200 Megs free space I had yesterday? My /temp directory is almost empty.
Please help!

Re: Lilo problem
 

I know the feeling... :)


Please post your /etc/lilo.conf file. It has all the info that we will need to help you.


It should be in "/boot"


I won't say that the problem will go away, but consider upgrading to a newer version of SuSE. 7.3 is now out, and 6.4 in ancient!


John

is there any particular reason you don't want to put lilo on the mbr? seems a bit odd using a bootmanager from an erased installation...

Lilo problem
 

Hi John, Chris,

The main reason why I did not want to put Lilo in the mbr is that I did not want to risk the contents of hda1. It is almost full of valuable data that I could not backup anywhere. I was happy to realize that Lilo can be placed in the boot sector of hda2. Above all: the boot manager that remained from FreeBSD works fine. (Apart from this, I had doubt whether Lilo in the mbr could start booting a partition that begins from 1.25G, without repartitioning)
In the meantime I could solve the Lilo problem: I only needed the information that the name of my kernel file is /boot/vmlinuz. I specified this to Lilo, and now I can boot from the hard disk.
As concerns the installation of the new SuSe edition: I would be glad to do that, but I have only this ancient version on a CD. My connection is so slow that downloading it is out of question. So I will install the new edition when I happen to get a CD with that in my hands (it did not happen so far).
Thank you for your kind attention, anyway.
Best Regards, János

Good to hear that you got it working. :)

However, acid_kewpie brings up a good point. Why keep the old bootloader around? Especially if you no longer use the OS that it was installed for.


FYI, if you like, you can re-install the original bootloader (the one that came with Windows) by formatting a floppy disk (with the system files on it so that it will boot) and copying "FDISK.EXE" from your c:\Windows\Command directory.

Now reboot into DOS using this floppy and run "FDISK /MBR" from the DOS command line.

See? it's easy :)


BTW, how are things in beautiful Budapest? What a lovely city! (I have a friend from there)


John

No worry about risking data
 

There is no issue with risking data by installing LILO in the MBR. The specification for the MBR is /dev/hda, not /dev/hda1. hda by itself in terms of LILO's config file refers just to the master boot record (the first 512 bytes of the disk, not inside any partition) and since LILO has been written to fit entirely inside that 512 byte area, it can never overwrite any data on hda1.
Installing it on hda1 would stop Windows from booting, but would not damage any data (you could run sys from a Windows boot disk to reinstall the Windows boot sector on hda1).

It would probably be a reasonable idea to overwrite the BSD loader with LILO, though - surely it's a little 'risky' having a boot loader that you cannot configure?

Torne
Electric Wuffpup.