From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Steven Ackerman" Subject: RE: Configuring lilo to boot from sda after RH 9.0 install Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 22:39:55 +0000 (UTC) Sender: linux-newbie-owner@vger.kernel.org Message-ID: <001001c31b32$d9b6daa0$1601a8c0@crypt> References: <5.1.0.14.1.20030415121527.01e96f68@celine> Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 15:39:30 -0700 In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.1.20030415121527.01e96f68@celine> List-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: 'Ray Olszewski' , linux-newbie@vger.kernel.org Cc: babydr@baby-dragons.com >I am a bit confused by this response. Sorry for the confusion. I'd like to blame it on all the drugs at Woodstock, but I wasn't even born yet. > > First, your initial message referred to a lilo.conf file > several times. > When I ask for the complete contents of that file, though, > referencing its > normal location (in /etc), you say there is no such file. You need to > explain this inconsistency in reporting. If *you* were > referring to this > lilo.conf.anaconda file you mention, then of course we need to see it. My bad. I was referring to that file and made the mistake of reporting that it was /etc/lilo.conf when it is actually /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda. I noticed that "anaconda" is the RH installer program. Someone may know if it has more functions than just installing. Here's the contents of /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda: prompt timout=50 boot=/dev/sda map=/boot/map install=boot/boot.b message=/boot/message linear image=/boot/vm-linuz-2.4.20-8smp lable=linux initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8smp.img read-only append="root=LABEL=1" image=/boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-8 lable=linux-up initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img read-only append="root=LABEL=/ > Second, in response to my asking "what does happen if you try > to boot from > sda", you reply "If I leave the boot disk in ...." I assume > you mean a > floppy here (otherwise, why "leave" it in?). This is not > booting (or trying > to boot) from sda. Yes, it's the floppy when I say "leave the boot disk in...". It is the boot disk that the install program gave me the option to create when I installed the OS. > > Third, the message you quote about DHCP *seems* to be from the BIOS, > attempting to do a network boot. I'm not sure what is going > on here, but it > is not a Linux "something", unless you've left out > information I can't > imagine well enough even to guess about. Prior to this > message, does the > BIOS ever indicate that it is attempting to boot from a hard > disk? If yes, > what is the message? It does refer to be "Searching for boot record from floppy" prior to this. Let me give you the exact messages. My comments follow the # sign. #this only happens when I don't have my boot disk (floppy)in the drive Searching for boot record from floppy..not found #if I have a bootable CDROM in the CD drive it boots to/from it Searching for boot record from CDROM..not found #this all happens with no 3.5 in. boot disk in the floppy drive Searching for boot record from SCSI..OK #slight pause then the exact output to screen is... Intel UNDI, PXE-2.0 (build 067) Copyright (c) 1997, 1998 Intel Corporation DHCP MAC ADDR: 00 D0 B7 DE F9 PX-E51: No DHCP or BOOTP offers received Invalid partition table > Fourth, going back to lilo ... it normally expects to find > its config file > as /etc/lilo.conf . If your setup, for some reason unknown to > me (quite > possible ... to a non-RH user like me, Red Hat seems to be > diverging more > and more from what I think of at Linux/Unix standards, so > this anaconda > stuff may be something specific to RH ... perhaps a Red Hat user can > comment???) uses a non-standard name for this file, you'll > need to pass it > to lilo. You'd do this with "lilo -C /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda" > ... but I do > not suggest your doing this until we determine if this really > is a sensible > lilo.conf file. Sounds right to me. That's exactly what I thought when I saw it in the /etc directory and no linux.conf file. > > Fifth, the format of fstab is a bit different from what I am > used to. Those > Label= lines cause it (I think ... I've never actually used > this setting) > to rely on lilo information about what partitions get mounted > as / and > /boot . This is (probably) OK, but it takes us back to > needing to see what > the lilo config-file settings are (as I said before, / being > /dev/sda is > almost surely wrong). > > Bottom line: this all reads like lilo does not boot the > system into Linux > because lilo was never properly installed. **Probably** all > you need to do > .. at least from the Linux side of things ... is boot the > system from a > floppy, but with the correct root filesystem. Then run lilo with an > appropriate config file to install it on the boot drive, > probably /dev/sda > Then reboot. I say "from the Linux side" because the BIOS > needs to be > able to boot this system from sda, and that's really a > hardware/BIOS issue, > not a Linux issue, if it does not. Hopefully, all the information I've posted will help. > > Oh, an incidental. If this system is intended to run with 4 > SCSI drives, > you'll need more partitions entered in /etc/fstab (unless you > mount them in > some other way). Assuming root and boot are on sda, you have > no entries for > sdb# and sdc# partitions (replacing # with actual partition numbers). Is there a way for me to find that information for this box? Thanks again. At least I'm learning proper boot sequence settings for a linux box. I really need a good reference book for Linux. Something I can look stuff up in, not read "in 21 days". Something for RH 9.0, too. If something's out yet. -Steve > > At 11:58 AM 5/15/2003 -0700, Steven Ackerman wrote: > >Thanks for the timely responses. Here's all the info that > was requested. > >Took me a little while to get to it and then to actually do > it. I'm a little > >slow with Linux. All details are inline. > > > >Ray Olszewski [ray@comarre.com] in part, wrote the following: > > > >OK. We probably need to see a bit more than James asked for. > Please provide: > > > >1. The complete /etc/lilo.conf > > > >There is nothing in /etc/lilo.conf. When I go to the /etc > directory and type > >vi lilo.conf, it is a new file. There is an > /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda. I can > >send the contents of that if necessary. It looks like other > lilo.conf that > >I've seen. > > > >2. The contents of /etc/fstab > > > >The /etc/fstab file looks like this: > >Label=/ / ext3 defaults 11 > >Label=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 12 > >none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=62 00 > >none /proc proc defaults 00 > >none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 00 > >/dev/sdd1 /swap swap defaults 00 > >/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9600 > noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 00 > >/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 00 > > > >3. A description of what does happen if you try to boot from sda. > > > >If I leave the boot disk in it searches for DHCP and then gives the > >following output to the screen: > >DHCP MAC Address: > >PXE-E51: No DHCP or Bootp offers recieved > >Invalid partition table > > > >4. Do you know that the hardware is capable of booting from > a SCSI drive? > >Yes. > >How? > >I have loaded other OS's on this box and booted. It looks > like some kind of > >linux configuration to me. > >5. If you boot from floppy, log in as root, and run the > command "lilo", > >what is the result? > >/etc/lilo.conf: no such file or directory. > > > >What gets printed to the screen? > >The above line gets printed to the screen. > > > >The root directory (almost) surely is NOT /dev/sda....---88--- > > > >Thanks for the info. I like to know how things work. I need > to learn all I > >can about this thing. > > > >Finally, is this by any chance a RAID server? > > > >No it is a standard scsi card with no RAID enabled hardware > or software. I > >had a scsi RAID card in it but took it out and installed a > regular scsi card > >in it. I think it's a mylex. I don't remember. > > > >I hope that helps. Let me know if there's anything else I > can send. Thanks > >for all the help. > > > >-Steve > > > >---snip--- > > > > > > > >I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots > from floppy. In > > >lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says > boot=/dev/sda. In the > > >same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. > I don't even know > > >what I should be posting to help anyone answer my > question. This is a rack > > >mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I > >remember > > >right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the > default is. I can give > > >you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how > to do it, but > > >usually I can do that. > > > > > >I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, > documentation, pointers to > >some > > >documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer > to using ide > > >devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever > lilo is installed or > > >the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing > all the linux > > >internals, I don't even know how to find that out. > > > > > - > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe > linux-newbie" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs > > - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs