Topic: Stuck on LI need LO

[Dean]

Hi,

Having installed and configured 4.1.1, I've got this weird problem - the machine stops half-way through the boot and the cursor just blinks after typing LI_ and fails to go any further.
If I boot from the floppy, the machine goes through LILO without a hitch and runs like a charm.
Any idea what might be causing this?
I mean, if I had a hardware problem, the machine wouldn't stop in the middle of a word, right?

[Des Dougan]

Thisis a fairly common problem, and in fact, LILO will stop part way through the display of the four letters when it has a problem (see the LILO man pages for more information). Generally, LI means that LILO has a problem with your disk geometry. You need to add the "linear" option in lilo.conf. Search on this and the Advanced forums for LILO and you'll get more background.


Des Dougan

[Charlie Brady]

Des Dougan wrote:
>
> Thisis a fairly common problem, and in fact, LILO will stop
> part way through the display of the four letters when it has
> a problem (see the LILO man pages for more information).
> Generally, LI means that LILO has a problem with your disk
> geometry. You need to add the "linear" option in lilo.conf.
> Search on this and the Advanced forums for LILO and you'll
> get more background.

Version 4.1.1 has the "linear" option. Trying without the "linear" option would be a good idea. Another would be "lba32". Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution

Charlie

[Dean]

Charlie, Des

Thanks for replying to my post, I'll follow up on this as advised.
I should have probably given more detail on my hardware setup - it's a Digital Prioris LX590 upgraded to 233MMX with a Powerleap adapter.
The HDD is a 2.2G Quantum Fast SCSI-2 (narrow) that has a SCA connector connected to on-board Adaptec 78xx AIC via a SCA to 50pin adapter.

I've had a lot of trouble getting its propriatory BIOS configured, and at first, the hard drive was VERY slow - 4.1.1 took more than an hour to install. But it loaded without a problem !

I can't remember changing any BIOS settings, but I "wiped" the disk prior to installing 4.1.1 and let e-smith do all the partitioning and formatting.
All IDE-related stuff is disabled in BIOS and in SCU, but i'll double check.
Perhaps, I should Fdisk and format the drive first (in DOS), then run E-smith installation?

My problem is that I am without a clue on Linux commands - what should I type at the command prompt to find, open and edit the file, in order to disable the "linear" function in it?

[Charlie Brady]

Dean wrote:

> I've had a lot of trouble getting its propriatory BIOS
> configured,

This is a BIOS issue...

> and at first, the hard drive was VERY slow -
> 4.1.1 took more than an hour to install.

Not good.

> Perhaps, I should Fdisk and format the drive first (in DOS),
> then run E-smith installation?

No.
 
> My problem is that I am without a clue on Linux commands -
> what should I type at the command prompt to find, open and
> edit the file, in order to disable the "linear"
> function in it?

pico /etc/lilo.conf

To run the lilo command after making the change, type

/sbin/lilo -v

Then fingers crossed, reboot.

Regards

Charlie

[Dean]

Charlie, I followed your instructions and was able to pico-edit .

Des - you were spot-on about the command.  As soon as I added it right under the dev/sda (first) line, LILO was able to boot into Linux.

Thanks for the help, guys!

Dean