Boot error (L 99 99 99 99 ....)

Ed-Slack · 12-23-2002, 12:52 AM

First of all happy hollidays and best wishes!

Well I finally got through the installation of Slackware after having difficaulties with M$W2KPro who slowed down very much because it coulded read the partion table. This I finally solved by making the linux partions with Partion Magic and that worked.

Next I ran xf86config of xf86setup doesn't work and that went well for I already wrote down all the information from my screen and video card, it just needs some tuning later on.

Then my problem. I run M$W2KPro on one partion (hde1 (c)) and M$W2KSrv on an other (hde2). This is nessary for work. This also meens I use the boot.ini file for booting. I did the following to make a boot opion to slackware:

1. # dd if=/dev/hdg2 of=/harddrives/linux/bootsect.lnx bs=1 count=515
2. Copied the bootsect.lnx from the partion above to c:\
3. I booted M$W2KPro and added the entry c:\bootsect.lnx="Slackware Linux"
4. Made the bootsect.lnx hidden so it can't be deleted easily

Now when I boot my machine and choos Slackware Linux I get a "L" followed by "99 99 99...." which keeps continueing. I can still boot linux from my floppy. Can some one give some advice?

Oh hdg2 is the correct partion (harddrive 3 partion 1 on the 3rd controller) and the /harddrives/linux is added to fstab during setup and is a partion with linux software (Fat32). Drive "c" is NTFS.

whansard · 12-23-2002, 02:35 AM

for your dd it should be bs=512 count=1

did you already make hdg2 the linux boot and root in lilo?

Ed-Slack · 12-23-2002, 02:45 AM

My following answers to these quotes:

Quote:

Originally posted by whansard
for your dd it should be bs=512 count=1

Are you sure about this? In the slackware book it realy says the line I used (http://www.slackware.com/book/index....rce=x1776.html).

Quote:

Originally posted by whansard
did you already make hdg2 the linux boot and root in lilo?

I'm not sure about this. But if I boot from the floppy and press enter it default boots /dev/hdg2 and if you type that location and the prompt (the mount.....) then it also works. I haven't open the lilo file after the instalation.

moses · 12-23-2002, 03:02 AM

It cannot possibly be count = 515. If it said so on the link you
provided, then it was a typo (it doesn't say so anymore). It could
possibly be count=512.

Ed-Slack · 12-23-2002, 03:07 AM

Okay, I just checked my notes which I made of the installation (everything I typed and chose is written there) and I wrote done 512. So the line at the top should be read as 512. The link has exact the same rule in the NT section.

whansard · 12-23-2002, 03:15 AM

the lilo bootdisk can get the boot started on
hdg2, but you still have to setup which kernel
to boot when the boot process gets there.
the easiest way is to install lilo as the boot and root
in hdg2. lilo will not write to any other partition that
way, and the kernel will be found when the bootdisk
kickstarts it.

by the way bs is blocksize count is how many
so bs=512 count=1 is equivalent to
bs=1 count=512
its just more standard to do it the fist way
bs=2 count=256 would work too,
the 515 was looking bad though.

Ed-Slack · 12-23-2002, 04:45 AM

What I did was the setup as in the installation also described here http://www.slackware.com/book/index....1710.html#LILO where I choose the simple setup. So do I have to change anything in my LILO configuration file? It is installed in the Superblock of the root partion of linux. During the installation the kernel of the boot disk was installed (bare.i).

whansard · 12-23-2002, 05:20 AM

look at your /etc/lilo.conf and change
the boot entry at the top to /dev/hdg2.
your root should already be /dev/hdg2

if you booted with the cdrom to get at it,
depending on where hdg2 is mounted,
you can then
chroot /hdg2mountpoint lilo
you should get a warning about hdg2 not being
on the first disk

bynaar · 12-23-2002, 05:49 AM

Here's a link to a program that may be helpful

http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm

'good to have' stuff . .

Ed-Slack · 12-23-2002, 11:01 AM

oh oh. I can't find out what's wrong. But I keep trying.

I opened my lilo.conf file (after trying all these tips with no success) and what I can see is that it should be right. Can someone please look if something should be changed? Then I'll try that tomorrow.

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/hdg2
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 1200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
vga = 791
# 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
other = /dev/hde1
label = DOS
table = /dev/hde
# DOS bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hdg2
label = Linux
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# OS/2 bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hde1
label = OS2
table = /dev/hde
loader = /boot/os2_d.b
# map-drive = 0x80
# to = 0x81
# map-drive = 0x81
# to = 0x80
# OS/2 bootable partition config ends

Bur what I also see is that a message is displayed and reading that messages I saw its a menu. I don't to see that if I already choose which operating system using the boot.ini file. So is that whats going wrong?

In the mean time I'm going to try and peel the file of my floppy for that does work. You have to hit a enter to continue the boot that oh well, that is probably also changable.

Thanks everyone!

Ed-Slack · 12-24-2002, 08:30 AM

Okay. I now managed to edit the lilo to create a menu and also load it into MBR for thats where I want it sothat I don't need to use the boot.ini file.

My problem is I don't have a kernel installed. It only boots from my floppy. So how can I install my kernel? Or copy it from floppy.

jimmmac · 12-24-2002, 10:09 AM

Good morning

I had this problem and in spite of asking and trying a million things, it never got fixed. The problem is with Lilo on certain computers. Although I am relatively new at Linux, I ran into this problem with a number of distro's that used Lilo. The only solution that I found was to use Grub. You can actually search on the web about this problem. Not sure how else I could help. But I found that I had no problem getting my install to work, and no matter what I did, I ran into this problem with Lilo. Just a problem with how it reacts to certain displays.

whansard · 12-24-2002, 11:36 AM

put or copy the kernel to where lilo says it is.
yours says /boot/vmlinuz
make sure the file has that name.
Did lilo say "no such file or directory"
for /boot/vmlinuz?

Ed-Slack · 12-26-2002, 02:48 AM

I wish it did give something like that. But it just gives L 99 99 99 immediatly.

I'm going to try Grub see what happens.
... which didn't help.

So now I'm reparing my mbr and then I'll see what I'll do

moses · 12-27-2002, 01:24 AM

You need to rerun the command "lilo" after you edit your
/etc/lilo.conf file.

Since you are booting from floppy, you'll need to do something like:

Code:

boot from floppy
mount /dev/hdg2 /mnt
copy your floppy kernel to /mnt/boot/vmlinuz
chroot /mnt
vi /etc/lilo.conf
make sure everything is OK and pointing to the correct places
save the file
/sbin/lilo
exit
reboot

N.B. I haven't tested the above pseudo code, and I haven't done
this in about a year. The chroot and lilo commands MAY need
arguments, do a "man chroot" and a "man lilo" first. I would put
the LILO boot loader on the MBR of the boot device (the line
boot=/dev/hdX should point to the boot device (not a partition)).