[NTLUG:Discuss] lilo

[Dan Carlson]

The first thing to check when LILO fails is that the kernel it is trying to
load resides entirely below cylinder 1024 on your hard disk.  If the kernel
resides above cyl 1024 (even partially) then LILO cannot load it.  If this
is the case there are two approaches that will usually solve the problem: 1)
Create a separate /boot partition containing your kernel(s) that resides
entirely below cyl 1024, or 2) Turn on the LBA (logical block addressing)
setting in your BIOS, if it isn't already on.

For (1) the /boot partition doesn't need to be very big, usually 8-16 MB is
sufficient.  Using this approach is easy and painless if you have the
freedom to repartition your disk.  However, if you have other OSes on the
disk that you want to preserve without having to backup and restore them,
then you may not be able to repartition your disk in a manner that will put
/boot entirely below cyl 1024.

The (2) approach is also usually easy and painless, at least on disks 8 GB
or less in size.  On disks larger than 8 GB there may still be more than
1024 logical cylinders even with LBA turned on, so you might still have to
create a separate /boot partition in this case.  Turning on LBA can
potentially cause problems with other OSes, depending on how those other
OSes obtain the disk geometry.  If they get it from the BIOS on every boot,
then they should continue to work.  If they stored it away somewhere before
you turned LBA on, then they may fail afterwards.

Dan Carlson

P.S. Here is some text from Bootdisk-HOWTO that describes the LILO error
codes.  I don't see one that matches what you are seeing:

  When LILO loads itself, it displays the word ``LILO''.  Each letter is
  printed before or after performing some specific action.  If LILO
  fails at some point, the letters printed so far can be used to
  identify the problem.

     (nothing)
        No part of LILO has been loaded.  LILO either isn't installed or
        the partition on which its boot sector is located isn't active.

     L  The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started, but it
        can't load the second stage boot loader.  The two-digit error
        codes indicate the type of problem. (See also section ``Disk
        error codes''.)  This condition usually indicates a media
        failure or a geometry mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters)

     LI The first stage boot loader was able to load the second stage
        boot loader, but has failed to execute it. This can either be
        caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without
        running the map installer.

     LIL
        The second stage boot loader has been started, but it can't load
        the descriptor table from the map file. This is typically caused
        by a media failure or by a geometry mismatch.

     LIL?
        The second stage boot loader has been loaded at an incorrect
        address. This is typically caused by a subtle geometry mismatch
        or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer.

     LIL-
        The descriptor table is corrupt. This can either be caused by a
        geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/map without running the map
        installer.

     LILO
        All parts of LILO have been successfully loaded.

  If the BIOS signals an error when LILO is trying to load a boot image,
  the respective error code is displayed.  These codes range from 0x00
  through 0xbb.  See the LILO User Guide for an explanation of these.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joey_Berry at compusa.com <Joey_Berry at compusa.com>
To: discuss at ntlug.org <discuss at ntlug.org>
Date: Friday, October 22, 1999 1:27 PM
Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] lilo


>
>
>On a machine with AMD K6-300 with 64MR, 8GHD, on the ENPC EP-PT11 mother
board,
>trident 4mg video. I installed RH60 after install and rebooting I get
this..
>
>LI LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO LO "OVER &
OVER"
>
>So I took out all partions then fdisk /mbr
>
>reinstalled same results.....
>
>Any feed back would be valued.
>
>Thank You,
>Joey
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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>