lilo cant boot slackware 13.1
 

i installed slackware 13.1, previously i had slackware 13,
i made the following partitions:
/ 20GB /dev/sda1
/home 120GB /dev/sda2
swap 1.5GB

everything went fine until i rebooted slackware after installation.
lilo didnt boot at all, just a black screen.
i booted with the DVD, and checked the lilo config file.
the contents on lilo looks fine, just like any other lilo on google.
for example i have this:
boot = /dev/sda

i installed lilo on the MBR. , i then changed this to
boot = /dev/sda1 , on root and nothing same thing

lilo always complains at the end: Partition entry not found , but how come , /etc/fstab shows all partitions are mounted ,( i am doing this in KDE environment).
i reinstalled again , same thing.
I also get a warning: video doesnt not support VESA mode,
i changed to vga = normal
again it complains that video doesnt support vesa even when i set it to normal, (note that i am running lilo after i made those changes, even rebooting , and same thing happens.
when i installed lilo, it let me choose video modes for the boot screen because lilo showed that my video card supports vesa mode, but then it doesnt boot at all.

did slackware 13.1 changed so much that my laptop is no longer supported??
everything was fine with slackware 13
or is it because slackware needs a separate /boot partition, if so how come i just installed slackware 13 with just / and swap?

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Post the '/etc/lilo.conf' file.
:hattip:

EDIT: please include 'fdisk -l'

The problem is that i am on ubuntu now, i have homework to do.
the lilo config file i remember is just the same as in any other default lilo.
it begins with
----------------------------------------------------------
boot = /dev/sda <--i suppose this is MBR because i chose lilo to install to the MBR.

then the video vesa modes
it didn't work with vga = ### some number
i set it to vga = normal

--------------------------------------------------
what i wrote down is some of the errors i got.

Warning: video adapter does not support VESA BIOS needed for display of 256 colors

partition 1 on /dev/sda i not marked as active

partition entry not found

Fatal: partition entry not found.

my root partition was in /dev/sda1 , my home is in /dev/sda2
and then the swap partition.

how come this partition not be active? or partition not found?
after a fresh install?
i reinstalled lilo to MBR again, then to /dev/sda1 .
and still got :
partition 1 on /dev/sda i not marked as active

partition entry not found

Fatal: partition entry not found.



the main problem is with partition 1 not marked as active.

you may need to mark your partition as bootable in a partition editor such as cfdisk or gparted - also ensure the correct disk drive is selected in the bios - hope it helps

hello friends , i found out why i wasnt able to boot slackware.
the last lines of my lilo.conf :
i had lilo installed on the MBR /dev/sda , and this extended windows partition,(only a NTFS partition, no windows installation) was confusing somehow my lilo.conf, because i had :
boot = /dev/sda

molossus,

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