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Re: Weird Linux problem




> The problem starts here:  After I finished installing RedHat
>  4.2, LiLO
> didn't configure itself properly, even though it is configured ok.
> The problem is probably related to the following:
> 
> hda: QUANTUM FIREBALL ST3.2A, 3079MB w/81kB Cache, CHS=782/128/63
> hdc: QUANTUM FIREBALL ST3.2A, 3079MB w/81kB Cache, CHS=6256/16/63
> 
> Linux is on /dev/hdc, while Windows is on /dev/hda. But, notice the
> geometry translation difference. At home it works fine, by the way.
> 

I just installed Redhat 4.1 (kernel 2.0.27) on my Fireball ST3.2A.  
The physical CHS is 6256/16/63, but it is reported as a "logical" 
geometry of 782/128/63.  See /usr/src/Linux-2.0/Document/ide.txt 
where it is stated that kernels 1.1.39 and higher "shift" two bits 
from the cylinder# field to the head# field automatically in order 
to avoid the INT13 BIOS limitation of 1024 cylinders.  (LILO uses the 
INT13 interface to load the kernel at boot.)
Could be that your BIOS doesn't support this kind of drive 
translation.  Or maybe try reinstalling the kernel.  The above 
mentioned document lists other solutions also.

I had a different problem (I hope I'm not wasting bandwith with 
newbie stuff).
I partitioned my drive:
hda1 cyl 1-390 w95
hda2   391-399 linux swap
hda3  400-782 linux  
The HD came with the w95 installed in hda1 (with EZ-Drive disk 
manager instead of the "normal" w95 MBR) and a second (empty) 
partition which I converted to hda2 and hda3.  LILO was installed in 
the first sector of hda3, which was marked as the active boot 
partition.  EZ-Drive starts to boot, then hands off to LILO, from 
where I can choose either linux or w95.  So far so good.
The problem:

I have a second HD (Seagate 1.6G) with three DOS6.22 partitions (was
once 1st HD).  This HD is now hdb.  I wanted to also be able to boot
this drive from LILO by adding to /etc/lilo.conf  :
other=/dev/hdb1
	label=dos
	loader=/boot/any_d.b
	table=/dev/hdb
and updating  /sbin/lilo .  But when I try to boot dos through LILO, 
I get the friendly message:
"Non-System disk or disk error.
Replace and press any key when ready"
After hitting a key, another note:
"EZ-Drive:  initializing...
EZ-Drive:  Not loading since EZ-Drive is not controlling any drives."
Then repeats:
"Non-System disk (etc)"
(The second (dos) disk is readable from w95 for sure, haven't yet 
tried to read it from linux.)
Any clues, folks?

> Now, to the /etc/lilo.conf file:
> 
> boot=/dev/hda
> map=/boot/map
> install=/boot/boot.b
> prompt
> append="mem=96M"
> image=/boot/vmlinuz
>         label=linux
>         root=/dev/hdc1
>         read-only
> other=/dev/hda1
>         label=dos
>         table=/dev/hda
> 
> This is pretty standard.
> 
> But, no matter what, the machine boots up with a:
> LI
> :)
> 
> Any ideas ?

In the LILO guide, it states that if LILO is given incorrect disk 
geometry information, booting typically fails with an incomplete 
"LILO" banner message.  You can specify the correct geometry in the
/etc/lilo.conf file with the variables BIOS=,SECTORS=,HEADS=, 
CYLINDERS=,PARTITION=,START=.

I never got a smiley in error messages!

Hope this helps.
Moshe
---
Moshe Davis
<davis@sefer.org>