[SOLVED] Problem installing LILO

plisken · 01-10-2023, 04:32 AM

Having done many Slackware installs over the years, this one has me stumped.

there is a bit of a backstory, but importantly, I have 2 nvme disks, one of which has a Debian installation which will also no longer boot, hence the reason to install Slackware onto the other.

So, cutting a long story short, I have installed Slackware 15 as I would normally do, in this case to the first nvme disk, named nvme0n1 and installed LILO to the MBR of this device but of course it wont boot.

I can boot into the installation using the installation media and when I run lilo -A /dev/nvme0n1 it responds with not a device with partitions /dev/nvme0n1

The output of fdisk -l is as below;

Code:

Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk model: WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512G-1001          
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 36C48B03-2983-4F81-9FC6-BD1D9A9C4AD3

Device             Start        End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/nvme0n1p1      2048    2099199   2097152    1G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p2   2099200  316671999 314572800  150G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p3 316672000  979372031 662700032  316G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme0n1p4 979372032 1000215182  20843151  9.9G Linux swap


Disk /dev/nvme1n1: 476.94 GiB, 512110190592 bytes, 1000215216 sectors
Disk model: WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512G-1001          
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 45B7E6D2-F972-469C-BD56-EF3B07AA7069

Device             Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/nvme1n1p1      2048    1953791   1951744   953M Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p2   1953792  392579071 390625280 186.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p3 392579072  783204351 390625280 186.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/nvme1n1p4 980684800 1000214527  19529728   9.3G Linux swap


Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: Crucial_CT500MX2
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xcd140a6d

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *     2048 976773119 976771072 465.8G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Disk /dev/sdb: 3.75 GiB, 4027580416 bytes, 7866368 sectors
Disk model: UDisk           
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x50902039

Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *        0 7383871 7383872  3.5G  0 Empty
/dev/sdb2        3344    6223    2880  1.4M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

Ignore the sda and dsb from above.

my lilo.conf file looks like the below;

Code:

 # LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/nvme0n1

# This option loads the kernel and initrd much faster:
compact

# Boot BMP Image.
# Bitmap in BMP format: 640x480x8
  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
# Menu colors (foreground, background, shadow, highlighted
# foreground, highlighted background, highlighted shadow):
  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0
# Location of the option table: location x, location y, number of
# columns, lines per column (max 15), "spill" (this is how many
# entries must be in the first column before the next begins to
# be used. We don't specify it here, as there's just one column.
  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16
# Timer location x, timer location y, foreground color,
# background color, shadow color.
  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255
# Standard menu.
# Or, you can comment out the bitmap menu above and
# use a boot message with the standard menu:
#message = /boot/boot_message.txt

# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" "
prompt
timeout = 50
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
# Ask for video mode at boot (time out to normal in 30s)
#vga = ask
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/nvme0n1p2
  label = Slackware
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
 # Linux bootable partition config ends

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

camorri · 01-10-2023, 08:57 AM

It looks to me as your system is UEFI. You have the disks set up as GPT disks, not MBR ( MS-DOS ).

You have an efi partition on sdb2.

You should be using elilo, or grub to boot, lilo is for mbr only. The install media will boot on a MBR drive or GPT drive. You have seen that.

Give elilo a try, it should work. You need to mount point at /boot/efi. You also need a valid entry in the UEFI that directs the system to go to your EFI partition.

I have 3 disks in my system, 1 is nvme, sda id spinning rust and is GPT, sdb is mbr and is a SSD. To boot any mbr disk, you need to turn on compatability mode in the UEFI. Most boards support that, but not all.

hazel · 01-10-2023, 09:16 AM

If you are used to lilo, I definitely recommend elilo for UEFI boots and not grub. Although the internals of the program are quite different, it's designed to use a very similar configuration file. The main difference in practice is that elilo.conf lives on the ESP alongside the elilo.efi program and your kernel/initrd combo, and not in the /etc directory. So there is no longer any need to run a separate configuration program; just edit elilo.conf to create new entries and elilo will read the changed version on the next boot.

plisken · 01-10-2023, 11:03 AM

I had completely missed the gpt partition type if I'm honest. I eventually solved by changing the BIOS setting to LEGACY as opposed to (both or UEFI) and completed a fresh installation and on partitioning the drives used fdisk -z /dev/nvme0n1 this then allowed me to choose dos/msdos partition type and carry on regardless, however...

Another problem presented itself in so far as I could now see the familiar LILO screen on boot, I kept on getting kernel panics, long story short, this was down to there being two disks, nvme0n1 and nvme1n1 (the latter having a Debian install that believe it or not was also having issues booting) and for whatever reason, it just didn't like it. I followed the guide here which allowed me to boot successfully.

camorri · 01-10-2023, 12:40 PM

Is this solved? if yes, could you mark the thread solved. If not, do you need more guidance?