LinuxQuestions.org - [SOLVED] Lilo boot problem, lilo on mbr not found

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Lilo boot problem, lilo on mbr not found

Hi All,

I have installed Slackware 14 on a disk with 4096 byte physical sectors. Lilo installs OK because I dumped the boot sector to make sure it was there. I have Slack on sda and Win7 on sdb. When I try to boot I get the Win7 loader from sdb. The only way I can boot is to use the install disk specifying my installed root.

Has anyone else seen this problem?

Here is my drive as seen during boot:

Code:

ata1.00: ATA-8: ST500DM002-1BD142, KC45, max UDMA/133

ata1.00: 976773168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32)

ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133

scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access    ATA      ST500DM002-1BD14 KC45 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 GiB)

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 4096-byte physical blocks

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00

sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA

Here is the fdisk output:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x26d7f011



  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/sda1  *        2048  629147647  314572800  83  Linux

/dev/sda2      629147648  645924863    8388608  82  Linux swap

/dev/sda3      645924864  976773167  165424152  83  Linux

Here is the lilo install output:

Code:

LILO version 23.2 (released 09-Apr-2011)

  * Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger  (until v20)

  * Copyright (C) 1999-2007 John Coffman  (until v22)

  * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Joachim Wiedorn  (since v23)

This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software

distributed under the BSD License (3-clause). Details can be found in

the file COPYING, which is distributed with this software.

Compiled at 14:13:34 on Aug 20 2012

Running Linux kernel 3.2.29-smp on i686



Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed

raid_setup returns offset = 00000000  ndisk = 0

 BIOS  VolumeID  Device  

Reading boot sector from /dev/sda

pf_hard_disk_scan: ndevs=3

  0800  26D7F011  /dev/sda

  0810  D97237F5  /dev/sdb

  0830  67F15ADC  /dev/sdd

device codes (user assigned pf) = 0

device codes (user assigned) = 0

device codes (BIOS assigned) = 0

device codes (canonical) = 7

Warning: Unable to determine video adapter in use in the present system.

Using MENU secondary loader

Calling map_insert_data

Secondary loader: 18 sectors (0x3600 dataend).

bios_boot = 0x80  bios_map = 0x80  map==boot = 0  map S/N: 26D7F011

Mapping message file /boot/boot_message.txt

Calling map_insert_file

Message: 1 sector.

BIOS data check will include auto-suppress check



Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-huge-smp-3.2.29-smp

Setup length is 32 sectors.

Mapped 11838 sectors.

Added Slack-14  *



 BIOS  VolumeID  Device

  80    26D7F011    0800 

  81    D97237F5    0810 

  82    67F15ADC    0830 

Writing boot sector.

/boot/boot.0800 exists - no boot sector backup copy made.

Map file size: 74752 bytes.

RAID device mask 0x0000

2 warnings were issued.

Check the boot order in the bios,

Please show /etc/lilo.conf

Also, make /dev/sdb not bootable. This won't prevent you to start W7 from lilo's menu, with appropriate settings.

Hi again,

Thanks for the replies. First of all here is my lilo.conf.

Code:

# LILO configuration file

# generated by 'liloconfig'

#

# Start LILO global section

boot = /dev/sda

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

# Standard menu.

message = /boot/boot_message.txt



# Append any additional kernel parameters:

append=" vt.default_utf8=0"

#prompt

#timeout = 5

# Normal VGA console

vga = normal

# ramdisk = 0    # paranoia setting

# End LILO global section

# Linux bootable partition config begins

image = /boot/vmlinuz

  root = /dev/sda1

  label = Slack-14

  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking

# Linux bootable partition config ends

Previously I had Fedora 13 (required by my job) on /dev/sda1 and Slackware on /dev/sda3. Fedora booted OK so I assume the boot order is correct. Now I am running Fedora in VirtualBox, a much better solution.

How do I make /dev/sdb unbootable?

Ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exeunt (Post 4896656)

Fedora booted OK so I assume the boot order is correct.

Do not assume, check.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exeunt (Post 4896656)

How do I make /dev/sdb unbootable?Ed

Well, at first thought it was possible with fdsik or cfdisk but maybe you'd have to wipe out your MBR on /dev/sdb/ instead.

Please someone more knowledgeable, answer.

Anyhow, after that, to add Windows to LILO's menu, write this at the end of /etc/lilo.conf:

Code:

# Windows bootable partition config begins

other = /dev/sdb1

  label = Windows

  table = /dev/sdb

# Windows bootable partition config ends

I'm assuming that you have a Windows system partition on /dev/sdb1, else adapt accordingly. Then run lilo to install it.

EDIT. Also, as /dev/sda1 is bootable, you could edit 5th line of your /etc/lilo.conf this way:

Code:

boot = /dev/sda1

then run lilo. Of course other changes to /etc/lilo.conf are still necessary.

To check boot order, go into bios setup when computer is first turned on. Another option is to install lilo to mbr of sdb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 (Post 4896701)

To check boot order, go into bios setup when computer is first turned on. Another option is to install lilo to mbr of sdb.

I'd favor install lilo on linux' root partition (see the end of my last post), to preserve the MBR of /dev/sdb if possible.

For instance to install a Service Pack on Windows 7, I had to boot Windows on the MBR.