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Old 12-08-2004, 09:37 PM   #16
gd2shoe
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Here's a suggestion. Install GRUB in the boot sector of the hda8 partition. Then you can tell lilo to boot whatever is in there. I'm not sure what the lilo command is. It would be the same as the one you use to boot a windows partition (In GRUB this would be "chainloader +1").

If you can get SuSE booted again, YaST has a tool for configuring your bootloader. Just tell it to put the boot loader in /dev/hda8, configure lilo again from slackware, and enjoy.

If you can't get SuSE back up again, then tell grub to install to (hd0,7) instead of (hd0).
 
Old 12-08-2004, 09:51 PM   #17
mdarby
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From: http://www.madirish.net/tech.php?section=5&article=95

"If your BIOS supports LBA then there is also no problem reading beyond 1024 cylinders (if you use GRUB)."

So it looks like that is your problem -- The kernel is beyond the first 1024 cylinders and LILO cannot load it. Seemingly, GRUB isn't hidered by this.
 
Old 12-08-2004, 10:21 PM   #18
tw001_tw
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This is not a post to help, but I too would love to hear the solution to this.

I have tried and tried to do what stevesk is trying to do. The only difference
in mine was that suse was on hdb1 & slack on hda1.

I tried getting lilo (hda mbr) to boot grub (mdb mbr) (as suggested by gd2shoe)
tried both lilo & grub on hda mbr
tried grub (hdb mbr) to boot lilo (hda mbr) OR slack (on hda1)
tried help forums, emailed people - nothing worked. (yet!)

So I resorted to changing boot sequence in bios - pain in the butt, yet effective.

Too bad I lost all my experimental lilo.conf's in a HD crash. Atleast that would
help on what DOESN"T work.
 
Old 12-09-2004, 03:09 PM   #19
stevesk
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lethargo: man, you got it! PROBLEM SOLVED! I have just added an initrd line to my lilo.conf and SuSe now loads normally:

# SuSe comes here, guys
image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.4-52-smp
root = /dev/hda8
initrd= /boot/initrd-2.6.4-52-smp
label = SuSe
#SuSe ends

I just would like to know better (sorry for the nb question) why did I have to add this line and how does this "initrd" work. Does anyone have a link for any site who explains this kind of stuff?

bornhj: as you see, the problem was not the kernel...

mdarby: well as you can see that was not the problem...

BUT, if I have a hard disk where the BIOS does not support that, what is the solution? Create a "/boot" partition in the first 1024 cilinders? If it is that, what should be its size?

gd2shoe: although the problem was already solved, I will try what you suggested me just to see what happens, because I think it is interesting at least to learn somethings...I will soon post the results here.

tw001_tw: as you see, at least my problem was solved just adding one line in the /etc/lilo.conf. Just be sure that it is before the "label=" line or you will get errors when running 'lilo' to write in the mbr.

I thank so much lethargo for solving the problem and everyone also for trying to help me! You are great!

Last edited by stevesk; 12-09-2004 at 03:11 PM.
 
Old 12-09-2004, 03:21 PM   #20
gd2shoe
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I don't know of any good sites that explain the initrd. I've only recently figured it out. It is a compressed file that holds a file system. The bootloader loads the compressed file into ram before it gives the kernel control. The kernel sees the initrd in memory, unpacks it, and finds configuration files and drivers inside.

Many systems will boot just fine without the initrd. Others, particularly if you have scsi, raid, or (I think) sata need the modules (drivers) or else they are unable to find the hard drive, and cannot boot. This is probably what happened in your case.

If you ever need to modify your initrd (playing with some new hardware, for example), you can use the mkinitrd tools.
 
Old 12-09-2004, 03:27 PM   #21
gd2shoe
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P.S.

I think the reason I didn't think of the initrd was because my kernel cannot read mine, and yet my system seems to boot up normally. Some need it, others don't. (Though I think it is always recommended, just in case.)
 
Old 12-09-2004, 04:04 PM   #22
stevesk
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gd2shoe: Thanks for the explanation friend! . Thats a little weird that SuSe needs that "initrd" and Slackware does not (or maybe I will see that Slackware needs when I try to configure more of my hardware parts :P). So initrd does something kernel has not support to do? It is like an "add-on" for the kernel?

Oh and I've tried what you said, it worked also . I have loaded SuSe and installed the grub under /dev/hda8 and I have set this configuration in lilo.conf under slackware:

////////

other = /dev/hda8
label = SuSe

////////

So the slackware's lilo has loaded and when I choosed "SuSe", the grub.
 
Old 12-10-2004, 10:03 AM   #23
lethargo
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Cool! I'm glad it worked, stevesk. (I'm rather excited about it myself, since I'm still a novice at all this stuff, and I don't know that I've actually managed to help anyone in a forum before :-)

I don't know the details about initrd. I think it stands for initial ramdisk. One thing I do know is this: If your kernel does not have all the drivers required to access your "real" root filesystem, then it will need an initrd that contains those drivers. Using the drivers, it can then access the real root filesystem. Those drivers could be for the device the real root filesystem is on, or for the type of filesystem the real root filesystem is formatted as (or maybe other things.)

It seems that when Slackware moves to the 2.6 kernel, that it will then use an initrd as well (although you can maybe get around it by compiling your own kernel with the drivers you need.) Here is a link to something about initrd and the Slackware 2.6 kernel that I'd recommend you check out. It explains things better than I can :-)

http://slackware.at/data/slackware-1.../README.initrd

<edit>I should mention in case that link goes away someday -- It's called the "Slackware initrd mini HOWTO", and I think it is included in the 2.6 kernel testing package included in the testing section of the Slackware 10 CD's</edit>

Last edited by lethargo; 12-10-2004 at 10:06 AM.
 
Old 12-10-2004, 10:22 AM   #24
stevesk
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Lethargo: You can be novice but as I said you really got it worked 100%. Maybe you are right about Slackware's kernel because I am still using 2.4 (and I had never compiled a kernel before). I will check out the link you mentioned. And thanks so much again for the help!
 
Old 12-10-2004, 06:49 PM   #25
gd2shoe
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Lethargo: Sounds about right. When you compile a kernel, you get to choose which parts to make into modules, and which simply become a part of the kernel. There are certain modules that have to do with reading the hard drive that must either be compiled in or must be in the initrd (which I have been told does stand for initial ramdisk).

(required modules include the one for the filesystem, and any needed for scsi etc.)
 
Old 12-10-2004, 09:35 PM   #26
tw001_tw
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Just for reference for others - I finally got it
(thanks to stevesk for bringing this long standing issue back up
for me to resolve, and the hint for getting it working)

Stevesk solution didn't work for me (I think) because my Suse
was on hdb, not on anather hda partition.

Here is my lilo.conf section to boot suse.

# Suse config begins
other = /dev/hdb
boot-as = 0x80
label = Suse
# Suse config ends

(SO simple. Can't belive I didn't run across that combination of lines before now!)

And again for future reference of others:
hda1 - slackware (w/ lilo on mbr of hda)
hdb1 - suse (w/ grub on mbr of hdb)

Now selecting suse via lilo, grub starts and boots Suse.

-tw
 
Old 12-15-2004, 01:17 PM   #27
jordo1
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Does Slackware support the reiserfs file system? If it does you probably have to install support for it?
 
  


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