Configuring lilo to boot from sda after RH 9.0 install

Dear list,

I read the faq for the list. Searched tldp.org
(http://tldp.org/LDP/lame/LAME/linux-admin-made-easy/install-lilo.html) and read the linux faq (ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/faqs/!INDEX.html) before posting. I also read the faq for this list. At that point I got frustrated and am sending this message. I know this is easy but I can't figure it out. I am not a linux guru. Just an enthusiast and that makes me the best man for the job at hand.

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots from floppy. In lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says boot=/dev/sda. In the same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. I don't even know what I should be posting to help anyone answer my question. This is a rack mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I remember right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the default is. I can give you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how to do it, but usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, documentation, pointers to some documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer to using ide devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever lilo is installed or the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing all the linux internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

(quoted diff) +0 -2

-Steve
 
 
-

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Dear list,

I read the faq for the list. Searched tldp.org
(http://tldp.org/LDP/lame/LAME/linux-admin-made-easy/install-lilo.html) and read the linux faq (ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/faqs/!INDEX.html) before posting. I also read the faq for this list. At that point I got frustrated and am sending this message. I know this is easy but I can't figure it out. I am not a linux guru. Just an enthusiast and that makes me the best man for the job at hand.

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots from floppy. In lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says boot=/dev/sda. In the same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. I don't even know what I should be posting to help anyone answer my question. This is a rack mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I remember right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the default is. I can give you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how to do it, but usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, documentation, pointers to some documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer to using ide devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever lilo is installed or the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing all the linux internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots from floppy. In lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says boot=/dev/sda. In the same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. I don't even know what I should be posting to help anyone answer my question. This is a rack mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I

right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the default is. I can give you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how to do it, but usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, documentation, pointers to

documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer to using ide devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever lilo is installed or the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing all the linux internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

Thanks for the timely responses. Here's all the info that was requested. Took me a little while to get to it and then to actually do it. I'm a little slow with Linux. All details are inline.

Ray Olszewski [[email protected]] in part, wrote the following:

OK. We probably need to see a bit more than James asked for. Please provide:

1. The complete /etc/lilo.conf

There is nothing in /etc/lilo.conf. When I go to the /etc directory and type vi lilo.conf, it is a new file. There is an /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda. I can send the contents of that if necessary. It looks like other lilo.conf that I've seen.

2. The contents of /etc/fstab

The /etc/fstab file looks like this:

Label=/ /       ext3    defaults        11
Label=/boot     /boot   ext3    defaults        12
none    /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=62   00
none            /proc   proc    defaults        00
none    /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        00
/dev/sdd1       /swap   swap    defaults        00
/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom      udf,iso9600 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro       00
/dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy     auto    noauto,owner,kudzu      00

3. A description of what does happen if you try to boot from sda.

If I leave the boot disk in it searches for DHCP and then gives the following output to the screen:
DHCP MAC Address: <It lists my MAC address here>
PXE-E51: No DHCP or Bootp offers recieved
Invalid partition table

4. Do you know that the hardware is capable of booting from a SCSI drive? Yes.
How?
I have loaded other OS's on this box and booted. It looks like some kind of linux configuration to me.
5. If you boot from floppy, log in as root, and run the command "lilo", what is the result?
/etc/lilo.conf: no such file or directory.

What gets printed to the screen?
The above line gets printed to the screen.

The root directory (almost) surely is NOT /dev/sda....---8<snip>8---

Thanks for the info. I like to know how things work. I need to learn all I can about this thing.

Finally, is this by any chance a RAID server?

No it is a standard scsi card with no RAID enabled hardware or software. I had a scsi RAID card in it but took it out and installed a regular scsi card in it. I think it's a mylex. I don't remember.

I hope that helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can send. Thanks for all the help.

-Steve

---snip---

Quoted 6 lines

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots from floppy. In lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says boot=/dev/sda. In the same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. I don't even know what I should be posting to help anyone answer my question. This is a rack mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I

remember

Quoted 5 lines

right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the default is. I can give you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how to do it, but usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, documentation, pointers to

some

Quoted 4 lines

documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer to using ide devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever lilo is installed or the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing all the linux internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

Thanks for the timely responses. Here's all the info that was requested. Took me a little while to get to it and then to actually do it. I'm a

slow with Linux. All details are inline.

Ray Olszewski [[email protected]] in part, wrote the following:

OK. We probably need to see a bit more than James asked for. Please

1. The complete /etc/lilo.conf

There is nothing in /etc/lilo.conf. When I go to the /etc directory and

vi lilo.conf, it is a new file. There is an /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda. I can send the contents of that if necessary. It looks like other lilo.conf that I've seen.

2. The contents of /etc/fstab

The /etc/fstab file looks like this:

Label=/ /       ext3    defaults        11
Label=/boot     /boot   ext3    defaults        12
none    /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=62   00
none            /proc   proc    defaults        00
none    /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        00
/dev/sdd1       /swap   swap    defaults        00
/dev/cdrom      /mnt/cdrom      udf,iso9600 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro       00
/dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy     auto    noauto,owner,kudzu      00

3. A description of what does happen if you try to boot from sda.

If I leave the boot disk in it searches for DHCP and then gives the following output to the screen:
DHCP MAC Address: <It lists my MAC address here>
PXE-E51: No DHCP or Bootp offers recieved
Invalid partition table

4. Do you know that the hardware is capable of booting from a SCSI drive? Yes.
How?
I have loaded other OS's on this box and booted. It looks like some kind of linux configuration to me.
5. If you boot from floppy, log in as root, and run the command "lilo", what is the result?
/etc/lilo.conf: no such file or directory.

What gets printed to the screen?
The above line gets printed to the screen.

The root directory (almost) surely is NOT /dev/sda....---8<snip>8---

Thanks for the info. I like to know how things work. I need to learn all I can about this thing.

Finally, is this by any chance a RAID server?

No it is a standard scsi card with no RAID enabled hardware or software. I had a scsi RAID card in it but took it out and installed a regular scsi

in it. I think it's a mylex. I don't remember.

I hope that helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can send. Thanks for all the help.

-Steve

---snip---

Quoted 4 lines

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots from floppy. In lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says boot=/dev/sda. In the same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b. I don't even

Quoted 1 line

what I should be posting to help anyone answer my question. This is a

Quoted 1 line

mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I

remember

Quoted 1 line

right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the default is. I can

Quoted 4 lines

you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how to do it, but usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links, documentation, pointers to

some

Quoted 2 lines

documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer to using ide devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever lilo is installed

Quoted 2 lines

the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing all the linux internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

I am a bit confused by this response.

First, your initial message referred to a lilo.conf file several times.
When I ask for the complete contents of that file, though, referencing its
normal location (in /etc), you say there is no such file. You need to explain this inconsistency in reporting. If *you* were referring to this
lilo.conf.anaconda file you mention, then of course we need to see it.

Second, in response to my asking "what does happen if you try to boot from
sda", you reply "If I leave the boot disk in ...." I assume you mean a
floppy here (otherwise, why "leave" it in?). This is not booting (or trying
to boot) from sda.

Third, the message you quote about DHCP *seems* to be from the BIOS, attempting to do a network boot. I'm not sure what is going on here, but it
is not a Linux "something", unless you've left out information I can't
imagine well enough even to guess about. Prior to this message, does the
BIOS ever indicate that it is attempting to boot from a hard disk? If yes,
what is the message?

Fourth, going back to lilo ... it normally expects to find its config file
as /etc/lilo.conf . If your setup, for some reason unknown to me (quite
possible ... to a non-RH user like me, Red Hat seems to be diverging more
and more from what I think of at Linux/Unix standards, so this anaconda

stuff may be something specific to RH ... perhaps a Red Hat user can comment???) uses a non-standard name for this file, you'll need to pass it
to lilo. You'd do this with "lilo -C /etc/lilo.conf.anaconda" ... but I do
not suggest your doing this until we determine if this really is a sensible
lilo.conf file.

Fifth, the format of fstab is a bit different from what I am used to. Those
Label= lines cause it (I think ... I've never actually used this setting)
to rely on lilo information about what partitions get mounted as / and
/boot . This is (probably) OK, but it takes us back to needing to see what
the lilo config-file settings are (as I said before, / being /dev/sda is
almost surely wrong).

Bottom line: this all reads like lilo does not boot the system into Linux
because lilo was never properly installed. **Probably** all you need to do
.. at least from the Linux side of things ... is boot the system from a
floppy, but with the correct root filesystem. Then run lilo with an appropriate config file to install it on the boot drive, probably /dev/sda
Then reboot. I say "from the Linux side" because the BIOS
needs to be
able to boot this system from sda, and that's really a hardware/BIOS issue,
not a Linux issue, if it does not.

Oh, an incidental. If this system is intended to run with 4 SCSI drives,
you'll need more partitions entered in /etc/fstab (unless you mount them in
some other way). Assuming root and boot are on sda, you have no entries for
sdb# and sdc# partitions (replacing # with actual partition numbers).

Quoted 1 line · Steven Ackerman

Thanks for the timely responses. Here's all the info that

was requested.

Quoted 1 line

Took me a little while to get to it and then to actually do

it. I'm a little

Quoted 5 lines

slow with Linux. All details are inline.

Ray Olszewski [[email protected]] in part, wrote the following:

OK. We probably need to see a bit more than James asked for.

Please provide:

Quoted 4 lines

1. The complete /etc/lilo.conf

There is nothing in /etc/lilo.conf. When I go to the /etc

directory and type

Quoted 1 line

vi lilo.conf, it is a new file. There is an

/etc/lilo.conf.anaconda. I can

Quoted 1 line

send the contents of that if necessary. It looks like other

lilo.conf that

Quoted 4 lines

I've seen.

2. The contents of /etc/fstab

Quoted 8 lines

The /etc/fstab file looks like this:

Label=/ /       ext3    defaults        11
Label=/boot     /boot   ext3    defaults        12
none    /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=62   00
none            /proc   proc    defaults        00
none    /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        00
/dev/sdd1       /swap   swap    defaults        00

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9600

noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 00

Quoted 11 lines

/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 00

3. A description of what does happen if you try to boot from sda.

If I leave the boot disk in it searches for DHCP and then gives the following output to the screen:
DHCP MAC Address: <It lists my MAC address here>
PXE-E51: No DHCP or Bootp offers recieved
Invalid partition table

4. Do you know that the hardware is capable of booting from

a SCSI drive?

Quoted 3 lines

Yes.
How?
I have loaded other OS's on this box and booted. It looks

like some kind of

Quoted 2 lines

linux configuration to me.
5. If you boot from floppy, log in as root, and run the

command "lilo",

Quoted 9 lines

what is the result?
/etc/lilo.conf: no such file or directory.

What gets printed to the screen?
The above line gets printed to the screen.

The root directory (almost) surely is NOT /dev/sda....---8<snip>8---

Thanks for the info. I like to know how things work. I need

to learn all I

Quoted 5 lines

can about this thing.

Finally, is this by any chance a RAID server?

No it is a standard scsi card with no RAID enabled hardware

or software. I

Quoted 1 line

had a scsi RAID card in it but took it out and installed a

regular scsi card

Quoted 3 lines

in it. I think it's a mylex. I don't remember.

I hope that helps. Let me know if there's anything else I

can send. Thanks

Quoted 8 lines

for all the help.

-Steve

---snip---

Quoted 2 lines

I installed RH 9.0 as a server and the machine only boots

from floppy. In

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

lilo.conf the boot= line in the first section says

boot=/dev/sda. In the

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

same section the install= line says install=/boot/boot.b.

I don't even know

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

what I should be posting to help anyone answer my

question. This is a rack

Quoted 3 lines

Quoted 1 line

mount server with 4 SCSI drives. I don't know if that matters. If I

remember

Quoted 1 line

right, the root directory is /dev/sda. Whatever the

default is. I can give

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

you whatever info you need. I may have to figure out how

to do it, but

Quoted 3 lines

Quoted 3 lines

usually I can do that.

I need help. I don't mind pointers to links,

documentation, pointers to

Quoted 2 lines

some

Quoted 1 line

documentation I missed, ect. All the doc's I found refer

to using ide

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

devices and pointing to the root directory or wherever

lilo is installed or

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

the root directory is or something like that. Not knowing

all the linux

Quoted 1 line

Quoted 1 line

internals, I don't even know how to find that out.

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
the body of a message to [email protected]
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs

prompt
timout=50
boot=/dev/sda
map=/boot/map
install=boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
linear

image=/boot/vm-linuz-2.4.20-8smp
lable=linux

initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8smp.img
read-only
append="root=LABEL=1"

image=/boot/vmlinux-2.4.20-8
lable=linux-up

initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img
read-only
append="root=LABEL=/

OK. It sounds to me like you do NOT have the lilo bootloader installed on sda. To do that, you should do the following (as root):

1. Copy the file to the usual name, with "cp
/etc/lilo.conf.anaconda /etc/lilo.conf".

2. Edit lilo.conf so it works (I'll return to this).

3. Run lilo.