lilo boot problem

Toutatis · 11-13-2015, 05:40 AM

Hello,

I have installed slackware64-current to a computer, with a SSD on /dev/sda and a platter disk on /dev/sdb. Root is on /dev/sda1.
I am using lilo.

At the boot, I get the message

Loading LinuxEBDA is big; kernel setup stack overlaps LILO second stage

I have re-run lilo several times, by using the installation DVD with the parameters: huge.s root=/dev/sda1 rdinit=ro

This is my lilo.conf

Quote:

append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
boot = /dev/sda

compact # faster, but won't work on all systems.

bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0

bmp-table = 60,6,1,16

bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255

prompt
timeout = 1200
change-rules
reset

vga = normal

image = /boot/vmlinuz-huge-4.1.12
root = /dev/sda1
label = Linux
read-only

What can I do ?

Toutatis · 11-13-2015, 07:04 AM

I have found where is the problem: in the bios
Strangely the SDD (/dev/sda) is not on the boot devices in the bios
There are only the CDROM, USB device and /dev/sdb
So I have installed the lilo bootloader on /dev/sdb and re-run lilo
I had a warning ('/dev/sdb is not the first disk') but it works now !
I hope this will not cause further problems

Didier Spaier · 11-13-2015, 07:09 AM

Next time you make an installation, before running setup you can check the naming scheme with

Code:

lsblk -o model,name,size,fstype,<other options if needed>

Toutatis · 11-13-2015, 07:44 AM

I think this would not have given me more information. I knew already that the the SSD was /dev/sda. The problem is that it is not present in the list of bootable devices in the bios. Maybe I have something to turn on in the bios, or it is too old (the computer was built in 2010).

Didier Spaier · 11-13-2015, 07:52 AM

2010 is not that old. But a firmware can be buggy, so you could look for an available update.

PS For the records and IIRC this message (or a similar one) did show when upgrading from Slackware 14.0, but then lilo just needed to be upgraded to be able to deal with bigger kernels as those shipped in 14.1.

urbanwks · 11-13-2015, 07:58 AM

I'd think it has something to do with the drives and SATA ports themselves. I'd recommend trying different ports for the drives and seeing what works.

Toutatis · 11-13-2015, 10:47 AM

@urbanwks I did that to have the SSD with root fs on /dev/sda .
But it's not a problem if it is not bootable since it is possible to install lilo bootloader on /dev/sdb (I did not know that).