On Wed, 6 May 1998, Jeff Fellows wrote:
> << instead of the Lilo prompt, it gave me LI then froze up... >>
>
> This cracks me up.
>
> Last weekend I installed RHL 5.0 at a linux users group meeting from a
> borrowed CD and floppies. Later on after returning the install media, I
> decided to play around with my install by uninstalling Lilo *with datestamp*
> /sbin/lilo -u .
>
> I intended then to restore Lilo with a downloaded Lilo.RPM file. Before I
> totally lost the install, meaning I am unable to mount or find anything now,
> I would boot up and have the system freeze at:
>
> Lil-
>
> My solution, after hours of booting off the floppy boot.img and getting
> nowhere, is to wait for the complete official RHL CD I ordered today to
> arrive, and do a complete reinstall.
You should not need to do that. Try the following:
boot from the install floppy, at the lilo boot prompt type the
following: linux single root=/dev/hdx initrd= where x is your
linux root partition.
Now go in and rerun lilo. Reboot and you should be back in business.
There is also an option to lilo that you can use to tell it where the config
file is.
> I learned when in front of Unix, first sit on your hands ;-)
We all learn this the hard way.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Hatzakis, Jr MD [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 1998 8:17 PM
> To: Red Hat List Serv (E-mail)
> Subject: Install--> boot failure
>
>
> I re-installed my rh5.0 leaving unused space I had intended to assign to a
> dos partition later using linux fdisk. (would not install when I used druid
> to define a DOS>32m partition from the start)
> When I got the very end of the install it worked fine, then re-booted,
> instead of the Lilo prompt, it gave me LI then froze up...
>
> So, I read the manual, went into rescue mode, mounted my root partition
> using
I have never been able to get rescue mode to do anything useful.
>
> "Mount -t ext2 /dev/dha1 /mnt" and looked in the /etc directory where
> lilo.conf resides (I saw it using ls) assuming I just needed to run lilo and
> life would be wonderful. When I try to run lilo though, it tells me
>
> /etc/lilo.conf not found.
>
> So I tried explicitly /mnt/etc/lilo no luck. Remounted /hda1 as /etc and
> still no luck
>
> I am obviously not getting it...
>
> Is re-running lilo the ticket here ? Why can't I run lilo ?
Yes, see above. Because it cannot find the real /etc/lilo.conf file.
Lilo will look for it in /etc, but when you mount it that way it is
in /mnt/etc so lilo gets confused. If you mount things as I described above
the lilo.conf file is in /etc as lilo expects.
You might also look at the -C option to lilo. It will allow you to specify
an alternate config file to read, so something like
/sbin/lilo -C /mnt/etc/lilo.conf (or wherever your lilo config file really is)
should work but I have never tried it.
> Why am I
> getting hung up all these times? When I install, but account for all space
> on the disk, (ie., making spare space extended partiition) it boots up fine.
> When I use disk druid to define a DOS > 32m partition it also does not
> install.
Most if not all of the documentation I have read says to use DOS fdisk to make
DOS partitions and Linux fdisk to make Linux partitions. I have found this to
be the best approach.
>
> Is it really supposed to be this difficult...? Or are these idiosyncrasies
> of Linux install?
No and no. You just seem to be cursed. :) Actually I suspect that trying to
install the DOS crap is what is really making life nasty for you. If you
ever have to reinstall again I would strongly suggest that you only use the
Linux installation program to do Linux things. It is normally trivial to
get lilo and the DOS install programs to install DOS once you have Linux up
and running.
Hope this helps.
......Tom "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for you are crunchy and good with ketchup."
Unix IS user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.
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