Install LILO on the root partition
 

I used to install lilo on the MBR. I tried to install lilo on the root partition when I installed Slackware 13 on a new computer. The system always complained "no bootable media found".

I checked the following configurations to ensure all settings correct:
1. make the root partition bootable.

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc8dec8de

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2432 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2433 3161 5855692+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda3 3162 51792 390628507+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 51793 60801 72364792+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 51793 54224 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 54225 59087 39062016 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 59088 60801 13767673+ 83 Linux

2. Check the lilo configuration
# lilo.conf
boot = /dev/sda1
message = /boot/boot_message.txt

append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
vga = normal
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/sda1
label = l
read-only # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking

3. Install lilo using the following command:
# lilo -L

The system still complain "FATAL: no bootable media found". Did I do something wrong? What steps did I miss?

Did you try without the -L option?

Hi,

What do you have as a bootloader on the 'MBR'?

Yes. I tried both. Neither one worked.
# lilo
Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed
Add l*
One Warning was issued.

# lilo -L
Add l*

I only have slackware 13 installed. There is no other boot loader on the MBR.

One way or another you're going to need a bootloader on the MBR unless you're going to be booting from CD. The MBR bootloader can chainload over to the slackware/lilo partition. I wouldn't have thought the absence of an MBR bootloader would have prevented the lilo root partition install - but maybe it does.

lilo is giving a warning about it assuming the
drive is using LBA32 addressing:

Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed

But the following does not appear to indicate LBA32 addressing:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders

For LBA32, wouldn't the settings be more like?:
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, NNNNN cylinders

Check your bios to see if there is a setting
for hard disk bios translation. What is it set at?

On mine, I have three choices:
bit-shift, chs, and none.

I have to have mine set at none in
order to use LBA32 addressing.

HTH

Did you buy this new computer with another OS pre-installed? I have found on occasion that just deleting existing partitions is sometimes not enough. I needed to wipe the disk several times on one occasion before all traces of the old OS disappeared (I used Acronis disk editor to check after every wipe). It wasn't until I did that that I could get a Linux OS booting. Still not sure if it was an infected MBR because it was so bloody resistant to removal.

Wrong post, forget it.

DonnieP: Yes. I agree.

aocab: My system doesn't have this option in BIOS. Mine is Dell Optiplex 960.

gezley: This is a new system. It came with Vista. I reinstalled Slackware 13 and lilo several times today. It just didn't work.

All: I gave it up at this point. I installed LILO on MBR. Everything works well. It just struck me when I saw a warning message on LILO Installation screen. The warning says install LILO on MBR is a risk. That's why I tried to install LILO on the root partition.

As I mentioned, I always installed LILO on MBR.

I will test LILO Installation on the root partition using the VirtualBox. Will post an update if I make some progress.

Thank you.

This should explain it:
LILO can install itself in two places on your hard drive: the Partition boot sector -pbr, or the mbr of the hard drive.
It will not work on a separate partion like grub will. If it is the only OS it must be in mbr.

On bootup your Bios will chain to the mbr and run the bootstrap program(lilo or other) that will load your operating system.

Hi,

You need a bootloader on the 'MBR' for this to work. You can place a bootloader on the 'MBR' that can be chainloaded to other loaders on the respective superblock. A superblock is a segment of metadata describing the filesystem on a block device. This is one of the means that a user would utilize to have multiple OS on a machine.

From the cli;

As for the 'lba32';

Place the option 'lba32' in the global section of your '/etc/lilo.conf' then re-run 'lilo' again.
:hattip:
Just a few links to aid you;

Slackware® Essentials
Slackware® Basics
Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Utimate Linux Newbie Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Virtualiation- Top 10

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

Next time use the boot disk from the hard drive manufacturer and write zeroes to the drive (low level format). This will eliminate the need to do "several wipes".

or use any of parted magic cd or system rescue cd for the purpose.

Thank you for the advice. I was under the impression that's what my old bootable Privacy Expert CD was doing - zeroing the disk? On numerous occasions before and after this particular disk I was able to inspect disks using the built-in disk editor Acronis shipped with this software and see that they had been zeroed from start to finish. On just this one occasion I was stumped and quite surprised to find data surviving numerous attempts to wipe, repartition, reformat, and whatever else I threw at it!

I just mentioned it because I thought the original poster might not have zeroed his disk before installing Slackware, something that caused me a problem with just one disk out of hundreds.