lilo Problem

[saden1]

So I have a previous installation of Mandrake on hdb5 and I had Mandrake install lilo on MBR.

Now I just installed Knoppix debian style on hdb5 (replace mandrake). During the installation I was asked if I wanted to install lilo on the MBR and I said yes.

After installation was complete I rebooted the system and was presented with my old lilo screen with mandrake logo decorations. Anyone know why? Maybe Knoppix didn't install lilo? I've checked around and made sure to disable BIOS virus protection.

Using the live cd i was able to get access to the lilo.conf which is located /mnt/hdb5/etc/. It seems like there isn't any connection between the lilo on MBR and the config file. Anyone know how I can re-install lilo?

#####################
boot=/dev/hda
vga=791
prompt
timeout=50
append = "hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi apm=power-off nomce"

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
label=knoppix
root=/dev/hdb5
read-only
initrd=/boot/initrd.gz

## A Windows installation, example for partition 1 on first IDE harddisk
# other=/dev/hda1
# label=dos
# optional
# table=/dev/hda

###########################

[m_yates]

The line:

boot=/dev/hda

means that lilo will install in the master boot record of hda (the master IDE drive). If it isn't installed, you can install it using the command "lilo". If you can't boot Linux, you can boot with the Knoppix Cd and chroot to the Linux partition:

chroot /mnt/hdb5

Then enter the command "lilo". Exit and reboot. From your lilo.conf it appears that you have two drives. I have always only used one, so maybe there is something different you have to do. Hopefully someone else will post if what I have said is not right.

[saden1]

I have one hard drive that has 6 partitions. The problem seems really odd because Knoppix should have installed lilo on the MBR during installation. During the installation there seemed to be a few errors (or at least what I think were errors) but they want by too fast. Does Knoppix generate some kind of error log during the installation so I can take a look at it after the installer is done?

As a last resort maybe I should install lilo on the hdb5 partition? I mean should the MBR take precedence over the partition? Are there any dangers to doing this?


Thanks for the reply...

[baldyeti]

Your lilo.conf looks fine - but it would boot knoppix only, as your windows section is commented out. Is there nothing on hda which you still want to be able to boot? Otherwise, try "lilo -v" and pay attention to possible error messages.

[saden1]

The problem is I still have the lilo Mandrake installed on MBR and not the lilo Knoppix should have installed.

When I boot my system I get lilo boot screen but it is the lilo that Mandrake installed and it is able to boot into Windows. Basically, I can accesses Win2k through lilo (installed by Mandrake) but since I overwrote the installation of Mandrake with Knoppix my the Linux option on lilo doesn't take me anywhere (previously booted into Mandrake).

[baldyeti]

Did you re-run "lilo -v" with the above conf file ? It may have been correctly built but left unused by the installation script...

[saden1]

Even though I have uncheck the read-only checkbox on all my drives I get "Permission Denied on /dev/hda/" error when I run lilo -v.

This is what I did:
- Inserted live CD
- Let it boot into KDE.
- Unchecked read-only checkbox on all my hard drive partitions.
- Hit CTRL+ALT+F1
- chroot to /mnt/hdb5
- lilo -v

This is really starting to frustrate me

[tearinghairout]

There is another option that you need to use when mounting your hdb5. It is -o dev. Have a look at this topic http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1789#17551