Re: [Plug] A question about installing Linux

[John Nolan <jpnolan@Op.Net>]

> 
> Sometimes booting into dos with a floppy and doing a fdisk /mbr then
> booting back into linux with a floppy and reinstalling lilo works for me.
> Of course that works great when lilo mysteriously disappears and windows
> boots up without my permission.

When LILO halts after just printing "LI", it means that it can't
find the kernel on the disk.  This can happen if you install LILO
with the wrong parameters, but it can also happen if for some reason 
the kernel is deleted or destroyed.  This can happen if you
inadvertantly delete a partition, or the partition goes bad,
or if you just delete the kernel file and then boot.  
LILO must won't boot at all without a kernel, it hangs after "LI". 

If you are running Linux off of a DOS partition, and you sometimes
run DOS/Windows on that partition, then kernel file can be moved
(say, during a defrag) then at next boot-up LILO will not be able 
to find it.  LILO does not use the filesystem to find the kernel,
it remembers its physical location on the disk.  So even if 
the kernel file is still there on the DOS filesystem, if it
is in a new physical location, LILO is hosed.  

(I'm pretty sure this is how it works.... someone please correct
me if I'm wrong.)

The only way to fix this is to reinstall LILO.  You can first 
install a new DOS mbr (as described above) or just reinstall LILO
directly.  This is why the installation manuals warn you to create
boot floppies, you can boot off of them in just this kind of emergency. 


> > > swap partitions, choose the packages to install.  Everything is fine
> > > until it is time to reboot.  I get the Ram Check, EZ Bios runs and
> > > then I just get "LI" and the box freezes up.  Now I can not get at the
> > > Win95.  Is Linux compatible with EZ Bios?  Is there something else I
> > > am missing?  TIA Andrew Bradley

-- 
##--------------------------------
##  John Nolan
##  jpnolan op net 
##--------------------------------         

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