Bootloader and ATA-Raid

[RealNeo]

Hi Guys,

I have a problem with my Bootloaders(lilo, XP-Boot)! I have a ata-raid system wich is not supportetd by Linux, where my Xp is installed! And a second HD (samsung 120GB) where Linux ist stored! I can't manage that one Bootloader boot both OS! Lilo don't load Xp because the raid...and Xp-Loader (with the bootsec.lin from lilo) only says L 99 99...with linear, cylinders, heads and so on, too!
The only way to boot Linux without Floppy ist writing The MBR from Linux to the 2 HD...but how cann i tell the XP-Loader to start (search) a other MBR???
Whats wrong (with me)???

[garyng]

just curious, how can you know that putting lilo at the MBR of the second HD works ?

[RealNeo]

I tried it already! :D Made the 2 HD to the first boot device...and voila, BOOTING! (But only linux) :(

[garyng]

If that is the case, it may have something to do with the disk ID when you are configuring LILO. You may need to read the LILO documentation about this.

I assume you have already tried dd the MBR(on the second HD) and allows NT boot loader to load it.

[RealNeo]

Yes i already tried "dd if=/dev/hda1 bs=512 count=1 of=/boot/bootsec.lin" (right syntax?)
hda1=second Linux HD
hdg+hde=Xp Raid!

Wich type of ID you mean? I tried everything i think...bios=0x81-0x86!
But the problem is...i don't know which ID exactly it is!

[garyng]

My WAG:

When you boot with XP, your Linux disk is no longer hda but being pushed to say hdb/hdc/hdd etc.(I believe bios=0x80 is hda)

I think this is similar to the case of bootable SCSI card. you may google and see if there is additional information.

May be just set a number of lilo entries with something like the following :

disk=/dev/hda
bios=0x80-5

such that you have 6 LILO entries and see if any one of them works, without running the lilo again and again.

BTW , you said if=/dev/hda1, shouldn't it be if=/dev/hda if you ask LILO to write to MBR ?


Yes i already tried "dd if=/dev/hda1 bs=512 count=1 of=/boot/bootsec.lin" (right syntax?)
hda1=second Linux HD
hdg+hde=Xp Raid!

Wich type of ID you mean? I tried everything i think...bios=0x81-0x86!
But the problem is...i don't know which ID exactly it is!

[RealNeo]

that was the code to read out the bootsec.lin from the rootpart. which is hda1! I try now the different ID...again :shock:

[baldyeti]

that was the code to read out the bootsec.lin from the
rootpart. which is hda1! I try now the different ID...again :shock:

What does the line "boot=XYZ" look like in your /etc/lilo.conf look like?
That's the device where lilo wrote its boot sector. MBR would be hdX,
a partition would add a number to this, eg hdXn.

Look at that "XYZ", value and use it in your dd command, as "if" parameter.
You probably cannot copy this bootsector directly to your XP C: drive,
not if it is formatted as NTFS. Instead send the boot sector to a (FAT) floppy:
dd if=/dev/XYZ bs=512 count=1 of=/dev/fd0/knoppix.bs
Then boot under XP, copy the floppy file to C:\knoppix.bs, and add
an entry for it in your C:\boot.ini file:
C:\knoppix.bs="Knoppix"

These are generic instructions, which might be thwarted by the RAID
controller affecting your device names, and the boot disk switching...

Anyway, since you'll only be writing to floppy, there's no risk involved.
It may be worth a try....

[RealNeo]

I tried both boot=hda and hda1 (hda1 for non MBR install with a bootsctor file)! And both is not working....again and again L 99 99 99....
And ID, Sector and Head adresses won't work!!!....and the biggest problem is...i have smoked 30 cigartettes since the beginging of this s**t!