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Old 06-25-2006, 02:06 PM   #1
natewlew
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Boot Suse 10.1 from Lilo help!


I already had slackware installed so I install Suse 10.1. Somehow I messed up grub and didn't install it on the MRB. I booted slackware from a floppy and ran Lilo. I have tryed to add suse to the Lilo but it stops after it says "can't mount root, Kernel panic".

Here is my Lilo.conf:

Quote:
boot = /dev/hda
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout = 200
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
#vga = 787
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
# Windows bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda2
label = Slackware
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/hda1
label = Windows
table = /dev/hda
# Windows bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Suse
initrd = /boot/initrd
append="resume=/dev/hda5 splash=silent showopts"
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config ends
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = SuseSafe
initrd = /boot/initrd
append="showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3"
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
Here is the menu.list from Suse that didn't get install to the MRB:

Quote:
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Jun 25 06:08:11 UTC 2006

color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,2)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE Linux 10.1
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 vga=0x314 resume=/dev/hda5 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
chainloader (fd0)+1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE Linux 10.1
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /boot/initrd
Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Last edited by natewlew; 06-25-2006 at 02:09 PM.
 
Old 06-26-2006, 07:50 PM   #2
blackhole54
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I have an idea what the problem might be, but I am not totally sure I have it all figured out. (The worst that could happen is one more failed boot, right?)

I think the problem has to do with the difference between the way LILO and GRUB work. GRUB, as I understand it, basically interprets a configuration file at boot time. LILO, in effect, "compiles" the info from lilo.conf and stores absolute disk locations of the relevant items. So the interpretation of most or all of the paths in lilo.conf is in terms of the system running when you run lilo. I.e. in your case, when slackware is running.

So I think when you try to boot Suse, even though you tell it to use /dev/hda3 as /root, you are still telling it to use the kernel and initrd from your slackware install.

So after booting slackware from your floppy, I think you need to mount /dev/hda3 somewhere, for example, at /mnt/hda3. And then change ...

Code:
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Suse
initrd = /boot/initrd
to
Code:
image = /mnt/hda3/boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hda3
label = Suse
initrd = /mnt/hda3/boot/initrd
and then run lilo.

I have experimented with something like this on one of my systems, but w/o an initrd. It seems to work like I think it should, except the boot command line reported in the log is a little crazy with regard to the path of the kernel image.
 
Old 06-26-2006, 11:21 PM   #3
natewlew
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Thanks for the Reply!

I tryed what you said and it quit while it was loading the image. Lilo is strange.

I think I'm going to have to reinstall Suse and try to get grub on the MRB.
 
Old 06-27-2006, 12:41 AM   #4
natewlew
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I finally figured it out. My solution was very similar to yours.

I found out what vmlinuz and initrd linked to and copyed them to /boot/suse (I guess the symbolic link doesn't work).

I haven't tried out safemode yet but it should work.

Here is my new lilo.conf

Quote:
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/suse/vmlinuz-2.6.16.13-4-smp
root = /dev/hda3
label = Suse
initrd = /boot/suse/initrd-2.6.16.13-4-smp
append="resume=/dev/hda5 splash=silent showopts"
vga=0x314
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config ends
image = /boot/suse/vmlinuz-2.6.16.13-4-smp
root = /dev/hda3
label = SuseSafe
initrd = /boot/suse/initrd-2.6.16.13-4-smp
append="showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3"
vga=normal
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

Last edited by natewlew; 06-27-2006 at 12:42 AM.
 
Old 06-27-2006, 01:13 AM   #5
blackhole54
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I am glad you got it working. If I understood you correctly, when you tried my suggestion it started to load the kernel but didn't finish. This sounds like it may have been a problem with disk addressing. Originally, LILO had 1024 cylinder limit. Everything that is normally in the the /boot directory had to be in the first 1024 cylinders of the disk, which I think generally works out to about 8.4 MB. Newer versions of LILO could overcome this limitation, but you had to specify the lba32 global option to LILO. Since /dev/hda3 has higher disk addesses than /dev/hda2, this sounds like a plausible explanation.

Interpreting symlinks is a function of a running kernel, so I wouldn't expect them to work at boot time.

Again, congratulations.
 
Old 06-27-2006, 01:49 AM   #6
natewlew
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Thanks

It may take me a while, but I am learning!
 
  


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