[SOLVED] lilo: Setup length exceeds 63 maximum;

leeeoooooo · 05-05-2012, 10:35 PM

Well,

I finally put together an initrd to run the generic kernel on this eeepc. ('testing' with huge has exceeded all expectations).

I've done this on other systems with no problem, but this time, when I try to add the initrd.gz as an additional boot option, lilo tells me "Fatal: Setup length exceeds 63 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite boot loader."

I've tried reducing the additional modules to just ext4, but I get the same thing.

This error isn't mentioned in the lilo docs, and the message threads I read here seem to have a lot of theories, but no solutions besides "install GRUB." Surely I don't need to go that far.

guanx · 05-05-2012, 10:46 PM

Upgrade LILO.

hua · 05-06-2012, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeeoooooo

Well,

I finally put together an initrd to run the generic kernel on this eeepc. ('testing' with huge has exceeded all expectations).
...

Whith initrd you always use the generic kernel and not the huge. Huge kernel should not be used with initrd.
The difference between the two kernel images is that the huge kernel has lot of built in kernel modules as a part of the kernel. In contrast with generic which doesn't have and in initrd you specify which kernel modules you need to load into the kernel.
Actually this is the reason why the huge kernel is "bigger" and the lilo reports it.
Anyway I think that the modules that you are trying to load in initrd are already built into the huge kernel.

AlleyTrotter · 05-06-2012, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guanx

Upgrade LILO.

guanx is correct
I had this same problem. Upgrading to the 'lilo' in current fixed it.

john

leeeoooooo · 05-06-2012, 09:09 AM

I've been 'testing' with huge.
Now I'm setting up an initrd to run with generic.

I'm running current. Don't I already have the newest lilo? 23.2

leeeoooooo · 05-06-2012, 01:09 PM

mkinitrd_command_generator.sh recommended:

mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.13-smp -f ext4 -r /dev/sda1 -m usb-storage:ehci-hcd:uhci-hcd:jbd2:mbcache:ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

When I tried to set up the resulting initrd.gz in lilo, it gagged with the error:

"Fatal: Setup length exceeds 63 maximum; kernel setup will overwrite boot loader."

I renamed the first initrd-tree to initrd1-tree and tried again:

mkinitrd -c -k 3.2.13-smp -m ext4 -u -o /boot/initrd.gz

...hoping for a slightly smaller output. Same result.

shall I just give up and stick with huge and all those extras that I just don't need?

wadsworth · 05-06-2012, 02:22 PM

Would using the "large-memory" option in lilo.conf make any difference here?

leeeoooooo · 05-06-2012, 03:50 PM

I didn't find any reference to "large-memory" in the lilo docs or man page, but I found an example in the forums here.

No difference.

Thanks anyway...

XGizzmo · 05-06-2012, 04:49 PM

It still sounds like you are loading an initrd with a huge kernel. Show the output of ls -l /boot/vmlinuz* and show us your lilo.conf.

leeeoooooo · 05-08-2012, 08:06 AM

I wiped my initrd-tree and rebuilt to be sure.

No difference.

Here are my vmlinuzes:

Quote:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 30 May 7 19:05 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-generic-smp-3.2.13-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3034896 Mar 23 23:22 vmlinuz-generic-smp-3.2.13-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6134240 Mar 24 04:02 vmlinuz-huge-smp-3.2.13-smp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Apr 28 21:55 vmlinuz1 -> vmlinuz-huge-smp-3.2.13-smp

zakame · 05-08-2012, 11:23 AM

What EeePC are you using? I ran into a similar issue with my Asus 1215B, but it only occurred once, when I built my first 3.3.4 kernel for my then-13.37 install(basing off config-huge-2.6.37.6.) I rebuilt my kernel later using config-generic-3.2.13 from -current and the LILO problem went away.

hua · 05-09-2012, 02:47 AM

Just use this in lilo.

Code:

...
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-3.2.13-smp
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
...

image = /boot/vmlinuz is good too, but the link must point to the correct image - this sometimes can mess up. (And point to different image as we expected)
(Best help for us to help you is to post your lilo.conf - /etc/lilo.conf)

wildwizard · 05-09-2012, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XGizzmo

It still sounds like you are loading an initrd with a huge kernel. Show the output of ls -l /boot/vmlinuz* and show us your lilo.conf.

Hmm some testing here and there is no difference in the sector count between the generic and huge kernel in Slackware despite the kernel image for huge been double that of the generic image.

Code:

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-generic-3.2.13
Setup length is 32 sectors.
Compaction removed 6042 BIOS calls.
Mapped 6172 sectors.
Mapping RAM disk /boot/initrd-3.2.13.gz
Compaction removed 6095 BIOS calls.
RAM disk: 6192 sectors.
The initial RAM disk will be loaded in the high memory above 16M.
Added Linux  +  *

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz-huge-3.2.13
Setup length is 32 sectors.
Compaction removed 12030 BIOS calls.
Mapped 12256 sectors.
Mapping RAM disk /boot/initrd-3.2.13.gz
Compaction removed 6095 BIOS calls.
RAM disk: 6192 sectors.
The initial RAM disk will be loaded in the high memory above 16M.
Added Linux-huge  +

leeeoooooo · 05-09-2012, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hua

Just use this in lilo.

Code:

...
image = /boot/vmlinuz-generic-smp-3.2.13-smp
initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
...

image = /boot/vmlinuz is good too, but the link must point to the correct image - this sometimes can mess up. (And point to different image as we expected)
(Best help for us to help you is to post your lilo.conf - /etc/lilo.conf)

THAT solved the problem! I used /boot/vmlinuz because I'm confident about the link.

The cryptic error did not show itself. Lilo updated successfully. Now I have to work on getting it to mount my SDD card on boot -- my next project.

For the record, this is an Asus Eeepc 2G Surf. Xandros was messed up when I got it, so for the first couple of weeks I ran an extremely cut down 13.37 on the 2G internal SDD 'HD' (no KDE, no CD stuff, no printing, no server, the barest bit of X), mostly just to prove it could be done.

I kept finding features I missed and it didn't leave me much free space (I was constantly trimming logs to free up space).

My solution was a *full* install, with a 16G SDD card mounted as /usr. This works really well, and leaves me lots of space for books and tunes and videos.

I couldn't find a driver for my new plug-in extension wi-fi antenna, so I upgraded to current and now everything works just fine.

I now take this little thing with me *everywhere* (it fits in my jacket pocket!) and use it for everything.