[SOLVED] Configuring LILO

kantu · 08-13-2011, 03:10 AM

I had installed Windows XP and slackware 2 years back now tried to install again , but after installing LILO i am not able to boot to windows i checked lilo.conf and everything seems to be correct
I have 2 Hard drives , sda(windows+data) sdb(only data)
In lilo.conf

Code:

image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda3
  label = Slackware
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda1
  label = WindowsXP
  table = /dev/sda
# Windows bootable partition config ends

sda1 is bootable as seen in cfdisk as well,
But still when i hit windows i get error

Code:

A disk read error occured

Can some one help me out here ?

Konphine · 08-13-2011, 03:25 AM

Did you run "lilo" in command prompt afterwards?

kantu · 08-13-2011, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konphine

Did you run "lilo" in command prompt afterwards?

I didnt configure lilo after setting up slackware default lilo installation only fails , after logging in through slackware , i checked conf file and it seemed to be correct , so i guess no need to run lilo again crt me if wrong

markush · 08-13-2011, 03:36 AM

I think you don't need the line "table = /dev/sda".

Markus

kantu · 08-13-2011, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markush

I think you don't need the line "table = /dev/sda".

Markus

No Luck

i commented out that line and ran lilo it showed added slackware added windows but still a disk read error occired error i am getting

Martinus2u · 08-13-2011, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kantu

I didnt configure lilo after setting up slackware default lilo installation only fails , after logging in through slackware , i checked conf file and it seemed to be correct , so i guess no need to run lilo again crt me if wrong

??? you need to run lilo after every change to lilo.conf because the info needs to be written into the bootloader.

also, you didn't list the general section of your config. I presume it says something like

Code:

boot=/dev/sda
lba32
compact
large-memory

keep the table= statement.

the read error is issued by windows, right?

kantu · 08-13-2011, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinus2u

??? you need to run lilo after every change to lilo.conf because the info needs to be written into the bootloader.
Yes , but i dont think we need to run after setting up slackware initially as it would have run itself right ? k anyways i already changed somethings and have ran lilo
also, you didn't list the general section of your config. I presume it says something like

Code:

boot=/dev/sda
lba32
compact
large-memory

keep the table= statement.
ok
the read error is issued by windows, right?

Yes its caused only when i boot into windows , i can recover it through fixboot and fixmbr but i will loose linux then , so can i fix it through slackware itself
Global section of lilo

Code:

 Start LILO global section and rest of it
boot = /dev/sda
#compact        # faster, but won't work on all systems.
# Boot BMP Image.
# Bitmap in BMP format: 640x480x8
  bitmap = /boot/slack.bmp
# Menu colors (foreground, background, shadow, highlighted
# foreground, highlighted background, highlighted shadow):
  bmp-colors = 255,0,255,0,255,0
# Location of the option table: location x, location y, number of
# columns, lines per column (max 15), "spill" (this is how many
# entries must be in the first column before the next begins to
# be used.  We don't specify it here, as there's just one column.
  bmp-table = 60,6,1,16
# Timer location x, timer location y, foreground color,
# background color, shadow color.
  bmp-timer = 65,27,0,255
# Standard menu.
# Or, you can comment out the bitmap menu above and
# use a boot message with the standard menu:
#message = /boot/boot_message.txt
# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" vt.default_utf8=0"
prompt
#timeout = 300
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga = 773
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda3
  label = Slackware
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda1
  label = WindowsXP
  table = /dev/sda
# Windows bootable partition config ends

CFDISK

Code:

  Name        Flags      Part Type  FS Type          [Label]        Size (MB)
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    sda1        Boot        Primary   NTFS             [^B]            20974.08*
                            Pri/Log   Free Space                           0.42*
    sda5        NC          Logical   NTFS             [^F]            52427.91*
    sda6                    Logical   NTFS             [^F]            52427.94
    sda7                    Logical   Linux swap                         501.75
    sda3                    Primary   Linux ext3                       33707.20

markush · 08-13-2011, 04:16 AM

After you selected "Windows" is there a screen with the text "booting Windows"?

Is it possible that your Windows-installation is damaged? When did you run Windows for the last time on this machine? How old is the computer?

Do you have a Windows-install-CD? if yes you could possibly try to fix the issue from Windows. Afterwards (because the Windows-repair-system will overwrite the MBR) you may have to reinstall lilo again, but then you could be sure that Windows can run properly.

Long story short: it is useless to search for a failure in lilo.conf when Windows is damaged. I'd recommend to exclude this.

Markus

kantu · 08-13-2011, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markush

After you selected "Windows" is there a screen with the text "booting Windows"?

Is it possible that your Windows-installation is damaged? When did you run Windows for the last time on this machine? How old is the computer?

Do you have a Windows-install-CD? if yes you could possibly try to fix the issue from Windows. Afterwards (because the Windows-repair-system will overwrite the MBR) you may have to reinstall lilo again, but then you could be sure that Windows can run properly.

Long story short: it is useless to search for a failure in lilo.conf when Windows is damaged. I'd recommend to exclude this.

Markus

Windows was fine , no issues with it when MBR was overwritten for slackware not able to boot to windows , so i was thinking may be MBR could be overwritten again through lilo , buts its not happening

markush · 08-13-2011, 04:22 AM

Could you please post the output of

Code:

fdisk -l

Markus

Martinus2u · 08-13-2011, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kantu

Windows was fine , no issues with it when MBR was overwritten for slackware not able to boot to windows , so i was thinking may be MBR could be overwritten again through lilo , buts its not happening

I don't fully understand what you're saying here. Markus asked a valid question: After you selected "Windows" is there a screen with the text "booting Windows"?

Assuming there is, and assuming the issue is about the boot environment the windows loader expects to find: try the options lba32 and compact in the general section, and boot-as=0x80 in the other= section.

What is the date in the BIOS greeting (in other words: how old is the BIOS)?

kantu · 08-13-2011, 06:51 AM

@Markus
Did what ever i saw on google pages nothing worked , i had a bootable usb stick , so i loaded win xp then fixboot fixmbr, windows was up but linux lilo loader was over written, booted through usb to slackware then ran lilo again , some how its working now ! issue was with windows loader it got corrupted first time when it was over written, glad i opted for the bootable usb

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martinus2u

I don't fully understand what you're saying here. Markus asked a valid question: After you selected "Windows" is there a screen with the text "booting Windows"?

Assuming there is, and assuming the issue is about the boot environment the windows loader expects to find: try the options lba32 and compact in the general section, and boot-as=0x80 in the other= section.

What is the date in the BIOS greeting (in other words: how old is the BIOS)?

Yep i used to get Booting Windows tried with lilo prompt as well to verify , and then i used to get Disk read error
Back to slackware 13.0 now