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Old 01-29-2001, 03:48 AM   #1
iqlinux
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i have installed red hat 6.2 on my machine. but i am constantly required to use a boot disk to boot the machine. this probably may mean that lilo has not been placed in the master boot records. while installation it never gave me the option to place lilo in the MBR.
i am installing redhat thru a CDROM.
thankyou
Manjula
 
Old 01-29-2001, 06:16 AM   #2
CragStar
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Next time that you have logged in (as root), open file etc/lilo.conf and change the first line of this file to:
/dev/hda

Save the file,open up a terminal window, then run the command:
lilo -t

This should say "Linux added" in its output. If you get no error messages, then run lilo WITHOUT the -t option. This will actually write LILO to the MBR.
 
Old 01-29-2001, 06:29 AM   #3
iqlinux
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Thanx for replying,
Could u please be a bit more precise in telling which type of installation does this pertain to. last when i got this problem i had used the Custom installtion. but trying something different i this time did KDE installation and now linux does not boot at all.now how do i solve this.
my installation does not even provide the KDE as shown in the red hat installation documentation. could u help me with this as well?
thanx a lot
Manjula
 
Old 01-29-2001, 06:50 AM   #4
trickykid
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Are you dual booting? If you did, did you install Another OS after Linux? Are you sure it didn't give you an option? Did you create the boot disk from a menu during the install? If you did, that is where your suppose to tell it to install LILO to the MBR. Anyways, if you need help to install LILO after installation, try http://www.linuxdoc.org for info and documentation in the HowTo's.
Or you could try this if LILO resides in your root partition or if you installed a OS like Windows after you installed Linux. Check it first, see if you have the lilo.conf in either /etc or check your /sbin/lilo
If you do...try this:

# mkdir mount
create a mount point, this is where the root partition of your lost Linux install will be mounted
# mount /dev/hda6 mount
mount your root filesystem under mount, if your /boot is a separate partition, then mount that under "mount/boot"
# mount /dev/hda1 mount/boot <~~~this is assuming your root is hda1, might be different under your configuration, you can check your partitions in the fstab file.
the boot partition has been mounted under "mount/boot"
# chroot mount
Now run a shell with your root directory as "mount", this references your root dir by /, so now when you say "cd /boot", your actually changing into "mount/boot"
# /sbin/lilo
run the lilo like above, this should install LILO to the MBR, at the next boot, the LILO prompt should be back.

Hopefully this helps, anything that might be wrong above, please correct me anybody.

Drew
 
Old 01-29-2001, 06:58 AM   #5
trickykid
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Guess I was slow in writing my response, looks like CragStar's got an easier way....hmmm Now why didn't I think of that, I guess I have only been showed the long way.
Well now with linux not booting at all, what errors are you getting when booting? Is it stopping at the lilo prompt or is the X windows not working?

Drew
 
Old 01-30-2001, 02:43 AM   #6
iqlinux
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CragStar told to edit the lilo.conf file. first of all i did not find lilo.conf neither in /etc nor /sbin. i used vi editor to create lilo.conf myself. but then i am now stuck up not knowing how to save this file. if i copy the lilo.conf from the boot floppy and try making changes to it, how do i save changes to this file.
thanx
Manjula
 
Old 01-30-2001, 06:06 AM   #7
trickykid
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If you want to make changes to the lilo.conf file or any file using vi, after insert mode, use esc to go back to command mode and then you can simply use a shift ZZ to save all changes.

Drew
 
Old 01-31-2001, 11:53 PM   #8
iqlinux
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Error Configuring Lilo.conf

Hi Cragstar,
As you suggested I trid to edit the lilo.conf file and also added the line
/etc/hda1
(as my disc is partitioned)
After doing this I saved using the sequence Esc followed by Shift+ZZ
But when I gave the command
lilo -t
on the prompt it says
Sorry dont know how to handle device 0x0700
Can u suggest something on that.
i would like to add that we do not have any network drivers installed and have been working on m/c as a stand alone.
Please reply ASAP
iqlinux
 
  


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