Re: Linux 4.2 question

[Paul Johnson]

I thought I might send this to you directly, but then figured that others
might come across your note and wonder what the answer is.  I had this
exact problem, with my winNT machine, and here is the best answer I can
give.

If you want to try to resurrect things as they are, look for a program
called bootpart that is on the net.  (same author as winimage,
incidentally).  Bootpart can restore a damaged MBR, and according to its
publicity and documents it is a nice way to install linux and winnt and
other OS.  Other people will tell you to get system commander, but I
couldn't get it to work because I did not have a clean DOS partition for
it to run in.

Anyway, to avoid these problems in the future, consider this approach to 
installing the several operating systems.  If a system is hung at the LI
in LILO, it means the MBR/lilo install has been damaged, and your linux
install may be fine, if you could only make the startup find it.  Same for 
WinNT, etc.  So try this.

1. On a functioning win95 (or dos) system, make a boot floppy, (put the
system on it), and copy onto it files like format and fdisk from the
windows\command directory.

Use that disk to start the pc where you have the hang on startup, and you
can use fdisk to survey the disk partitions, see if they are the way you
remember. To restore the windows startup ability, type
   fdisk /mbr  (hmm, wonder if the slash is necessary, my notes say yes,
don't recall why).
This will restore the master boot record. WinNT or win95--whichever is on
the first partition as I recally, will startup when you reboot.  You can
use fdisk to change the active partition if there's something on your
first partition that you don't want to boot.

2.  Install lilo on the partition boot record, NOT the MASTER boot record.
If you can get linux running at all, with a boot floppy, you just edit
lilo.conf and then run it.  In the conf file, you can tell it to make
winNT and win95 available as well.  Recall, when you installed linux the
first time, it asked if you want lilo in the MBR, the partition boot
record, or a floppy.  The temptation is MBR, but use partition boot record 
instead.  That means why you run "lilo", it puts the startup stuff in the
linux partition.

The reason I say to install in the PARTITION boot record, 
is that the lilo can live on
the root partition and it is never going to be damaged by WinNT again.
If you put it in the MBR, it is always vulnerable because MS operating
systems are, well, cloddish and egocentric.

After you get lilo installed into the partition boot record, you aren't
done, because upon reboot the system will still start off with WinNT or
whatever is on the active partition.  That's why you change the active
partition!
All you need to do is restart your pc with the startup win95 disk, then 
run fdisk, and change the active partition marker from the first
partition, which the fdisk /mbr command caused, to the partition where the
root linux partition is installed.  This, in my experience, means linux
has to be on the first hard disk. I know the docs say it can be on the
second, but I could never get a partition on the second disk to be marked
active.

The beauty of this approach is that your different operating systems are
separated.  You can erase and reinstall win95 or winNT and it does not
affect linux, as long as you leave that partition alone.  The MBR
approach, even though I hear Microsoft recommends it, has brought be
nothing but trouble.  The lilo startup does a fine job of starting any 
other OSs, no trouble for me so far.


On Wed, 31 Dec 1997 address@hidden wrote:

> Hi,
> I hesitated sending this message, since we'll all get one of those
> "automated" reponses from Randel, but anyway...
> 
> I have been trying to install Linux 4.2 on two seperate machines and
> have different, yet simular problems...
> 
> (Note: I decide to use 4.2 instead of 5.0 since 5.0 just came out, and
> might not be as bug free as 4.2.  I have been using 4.1 on a work
> machine with little problems, unfortunately I dont have the install disk
> for 4.1, and do have 4.2.)
> 
> On my home PC, I have Windows 95 (my guess as a problem causer) and Win
> NT (installed on a standard Fat 16 partition).
> I partitioned a Linux Native, and linux swap, and when through the Linux
> install, with "No problems?", but when I try to boot to linux, it
> hangs,  I tried the standard linux lifo, and also system commander (a
> multiple boot program), both give me the same result, namely I get "Li",
> not "Linux:" at the bottom of the screen and it just hangs.
> 
> I also tried to install the same version on a laptop at work (a compaq).
> This machine has a drive that is totally linux native, with a linux swap
> disk, and installed Linux 4.2 with no problem, but when I try to boot
> up, it just gives me the simular "Li" and hangs.
> 
> Does anyone have any ideas that might be helpful?  Or can you direct me
> to a source that might.  I got Redhat 4.2 from a Linux book, and not
> Redhat, so I dont think I can get support from them???
> 
> Thanks in advance for any offered help,
> Have a happy new year,
> Brad.
> 
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Paul E. Johnson                           address@hidden
Dept. of Political Science                Office: (913) 864-9086
University of Kansas                      FAX: (913) 864-5700
Lawrence, Kansas 66045                    Home: (913) 842-9916                  
   


                  ==================================
   Swarm-Support is for discussion of the technical details of the day
   to day usage of Swarm.  For list administration needs (esp.
   [un]subscribing), please send a message to <address@hidden>
   with "help" in the body of the message.
                  ==================================