re-setting up LILO?

re-setting up LILO?

[Mark Johnson]

Hello all,
    I recently installed Windows XP and reformatted to NTFS.  I then 
Installed my partition magic and bootmagic, and boot magic wouldn't 
install to the ntfs partition.  well, my problem is that boot magic said 
to not use lilo in the mbr so I told lilo to boot from ext2 partition 
and bootmagic booted lilo from the partition.  now that I don't have 
bootmagic I have to boot from floppy as Lilo doesn't come up.  I read 
through the man pages and the help from "lilo --help" and I can't figure 
out how to get Lilo to boot from the MBR again?  does anyone know which 
option tells LILO to boot from the MBR instaed of the ext2 partition?

Thanks
    -=Mark=-


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Re: re-setting up LILO?

[Richard Adams]

On Tuesday 18 June 2002 20:16, Mark Johnson wrote:
> Hello all,
>     I recently installed Windows XP and reformatted to NTFS.  I then
> Installed my partition magic and bootmagic, and boot magic wouldn't
> install to the ntfs partition.  well, my problem is that boot magic said
> to not use lilo in the mbr so I told lilo to boot from ext2 partition
> and bootmagic booted lilo from the partition.  now that I don't have
> bootmagic I have to boot from floppy as Lilo doesn't come up.  I read
> through the man pages and the help from "lilo --help" and I can't figure
> out how to get Lilo to boot from the MBR again?  does anyone know which
> option tells LILO to boot from the MBR instaed of the ext2 partition?

Simpel;
In /etc/lilo.conf
boot=/dev/hda

Or is you have a SCSI disk;
boot=/dev/sda

A typical config for dual boot would be;

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
message=/boot/message
linear

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.19-pre9
        label=2.4.19-pre9
        vga=normal
        read-only
        root=/dev/hdb6

other=/dev/hda1
        optional
        label=dos

Make sure your lilo config file is ok with;

/sbin/lilo -t
and/or if you like a lot of verbose messages;
/sbin/lilo -t -v -v

If no errors are returned by lilo -t then do;
/sbin/lilo to install lilo onto the MBR.

>
> Thanks
>     -=Mark=-

-- 
Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

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Re: re-setting up LILO?

[lawson_whitney]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: TEXT/PLAIN, Size: 1172 bytes --]

On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, Mark Johnson wrote:

> Hello all,
>     I recently installed Windows XP and reformatted to NTFS.  I then
> Installed my partition magic and bootmagic, and boot magic wouldn't
> install to the ntfs partition.  well, my problem is that boot magic said
> to not use lilo in the mbr so I told lilo to boot from ext2 partition
> and bootmagic booted lilo from the partition.  now that I don't have
> bootmagic I have to boot from floppy as Lilo doesn't come up.  I read
> through the man pages and the help from "lilo --help" and I can't figure
> out how to get Lilo to boot from the MBR again?  does anyone know which
> option tells LILO to boot from the MBR instaed of the ext2 partition?
>
> Thanks
>     -=Mark=-
To put lilo's first sector in the mbr of the first IDE HD,

boot=/dev/hda

(the MBR is not in any partition, but is the first sector of the whole
device.)

FAIK this will make the NTFS unbootable.  I know nothing about XP, but I
think the NT bootloader can be installed into the partition boot record
where lilo can chain-boot it if you scrabble through the options.  I
suspect it will try to use the MBR if you let it.

Lawson
---oops---

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lilo    micro-howto version 0.0.6 <lawson_whitney@juno.com>
29 February 2000  	Use, distribute or change at your own risk.

The definitive doco for lilo is the README file that comes with the lilo
source.  Usually there is also a copy in /usr/doc[s]/lilo*/README.  It
is long, boring, and very complete, really an excellent piece of
technical writing.  It and man bash are good reasons to be grateful less
has a string search capability.

If you don't have the README, I urge you to install the lilo source to
get it.  It really is fine doco.  I can't think how to say it any
better.

To do anything at all fancy with lilo, what you must
understand is that lilo.conf must describe the files you need to boot
each image = and/or other = in terms of the devices and filesystem(s) 
_as they are at the time you run the lilo installer /sbin/lilo._  This
includes the files named in image =, map =, initrd =, and install =,
(you only need an initrd if you have to load a driver module to mount
/, say if / is on a SCSI device and you use a modular kernel)
and applies to making a good reliable lilo boot floppy as well:

to make a lilo boot floppy you must 

[make a filesytem on the floppy]
mount it, and copy your image, initrd, and /boot/boot.b files
to files on the floppy that will be named in image =, initrd =,
and install = parameters.  You don't create the file named in
map =,  you just name the place where lilo will put its map file, so
it can store a physical pointer to it in boot.b, likewise the boot
sector itself must know where boot.b will be.

Of course, you can make a lilo boot floppy by just copying a premade
image to a floppy, but someone has to have done the work of installing
lilo the right way, or it won't work.

If you can understand that, you can do anything you like with lilo.

As a side note, if lilo is installed into a partition boot record
(boot = <partition device name>), another lilo installed in another
partition or in the MBR can boot that linux partition as an 

other = 

OS instead of an image.  You might find that an easier way to manage
multiple linux partitions.

PAY ATTENTION to the messages when running lilo.  Any message other
than

Added <label> [*]

is probably an abort message, and probably means lilo did not do anything.
Look it up in the README.  If it is a fatal error, you have to fix it
and rerun lilo before you can expect a successful boot.

Credit Richard Adams <pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl> for reminding me:

If you have both IDE and SCSI drives on your machine, lilo has no way
to tell which the BIOS thinks is first, and will guess the IDE.  If the
BIOS is set so the SCSI drives are first, you must tell lilo:

disk = /dev/sda
  bios = 0x80
disk = /dev/hda
  bios = 0x81

This is an example only.  Please use your own good sense.  Pretty
please?  Pretty please with maple syrup?

I have had reports that BIOS's that let you boot from other than the
first hd act as if whichever hd was booted is the first hd, and has to
be addressed as 0x80.  In that case, if you boot FI /dev/hdb with the
BIOS to start lilo, you will have to tell lilo

disk = /dev/hdb
  bios = 0x80

Generally, I think this is a bad idea, but you may have some reason to
do it, so you may as well know about it.

Re: re-setting up LILO?

[Richard Adams]

On Tuesday 18 June 2002 22:03, lawson_whitney@juno.com wrote:

> FAIK this will make the NTFS unbootable.  I know nothing about XP, but I
> think the NT bootloader can be installed into the partition boot record
> where lilo can chain-boot it if you scrabble through the options.  I
> suspect it will try to use the MBR if you let it.

XP will boot just like dos does, no problem at all.
I have 2 machines here with XP and there is no problem at all.

>
> Lawson


-- 
Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

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Re: re-setting up LILO?

[Elias Athanasopoulos]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 10:23:21PM +0000, Richard Adams wrote:
> On Tuesday 18 June 2002 22:03, lawson_whitney@juno.com wrote:
> 
> > FAIK this will make the NTFS unbootable.  I know nothing about XP, but I
> > think the NT bootloader can be installed into the partition boot record
> > where lilo can chain-boot it if you scrabble through the options.  I
> > suspect it will try to use the MBR if you let it.
> 
> XP will boot just like dos does, no problem at all.
> I have 2 machines here with XP and there is no problem at all.

Lawson is correct. LILO can't but an NTFS partition. XP may use NTFS. 

Elias

-- 
http://gnewtellium.sourceforge.net			MP3 is not a crime.	
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Re: re-setting up LILO?

[Richard Adams]

On Wednesday 19 June 2002 14:36, Elias Athanasopoulos wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 18, 2002 at 10:23:21PM +0000, Richard Adams wrote:
> > On Tuesday 18 June 2002 22:03, lawson_whitney@juno.com wrote:
> > > FAIK this will make the NTFS unbootable.  I know nothing about XP, but
> > > I think the NT bootloader can be installed into the partition boot
> > > record where lilo can chain-boot it if you scrabble through the
> > > options.  I suspect it will try to use the MBR if you let it.
> >
> > XP will boot just like dos does, no problem at all.
> > I have 2 machines here with XP and there is no problem at all.
>
> Lawson is correct. LILO can't but an NTFS partition. XP may use NTFS.

Now thats funny then as i use lilo to boot XP, as i said, "no propblem at 
all".

>
> Elias

-- 
Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

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