Topic: Editing lilo.conf

[altamaiz]

Unfortunately http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/mitel/howto/esmith-up_lilo.conf-howto.html
seems to be offline.

I just installed SME6 onto an old i386 something or another, over a Mandrake installation that may have been using grub instead of lilo.

In any event after rebooting all I see is "L", unless I boot from the backup(rescue) floppy.

I know this likely means the mbr is messed up and I believe I can solve this by editing my /etc/lilo.conf, but I've never edited lilo.conf before, in fact tonight was the first time I've even taken a look at it.

Any resources/direction you can provide would be greatly appreciated.  

[altamaiz]

Here's what I currently have:
------------------------------------
prompt
timeout=50
default=vmlinuz
boot=/dev/hdb
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/mitel.pcx
linear
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.7smp
        label=Mitel-SME-smp
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-18.7smp.img
        read-only
        root=/dev/hdb3
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-18.7
        label=Mitel-SME-up
        initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.20-18.7.img
        read-only
        root=/dev/hdb3

[boss_hog]

Hey altamaiz,
first try changing the line:
default=vmlinuz
to this;
default=Mitel-SME-smp
The above line assumes that you need dual CPU support. If you are running a single CPU use this line:
default=Mitel-SME-up
After making the changes to lilo.conf, save and exit your editor, then issue the command: lilo
Then reboot and let us know what happens.
Good luck.
Joe

[altamaiz]

Hey Joe, thanks for the reply.
I made your suggested changes, and ran lilo.
The response was:
"/dev/hdb is not on the first disk"
Now with my limited disk commands knowledge I ran "df" and could see two entries listed hdb1 and hdb3.
I modified /dev/hdb to /dev/hdb1 and to /dev/hdb3 but I still received the same message (only with hdb1 and hdb3 instead of hdb).
I still am not able to boot without the floppy.

[raem]

Moved to
http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/smeserver/

[boss_hog]

Hey altamaiz,
could you explain EXACTLY what your drive arrangement is? It looks like you are trying to install this on the primary-slave? Are you trying to run SME in a dual boot, or multi-O/S environment?
Lilo appears to be saying that SME is on hdb(primary-slave).
If you run the command: lilo --help You will see all the options for lilo, which is very powerful and easy to use.
Hope this helps.
Joe

[altamaiz]

I bet you're right Joe, fdisk:

Disk /dev/hdb: 16 heads, 63 sectors, 19885 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start       End    Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdb1   *         1       203    102280+  83  Linux
/dev/hdb2           204       723    262080   82  Linux swap
/dev/hdb3           724     19885   9657648   83  Linux

There's only one hd on this box. It's an old one from work I've set up at home for a dev server. I didn't look at the hardware at all, just added RAM. They probably had a second hd and I didn't know about it.

What I don't understand though, is why this would cause a problem with lilo? I may have mentioned earlier, I ran a Mandrake desktop on it for a few months before installing SME. And had no issues, despite the bad hd configuration?

[CharlieBrady]

The above line assumes that you need dual CPU support.

On an old i386? Sounds unlikely.

I'm quite surprised that 6.0 installs on an old i386....

[boss_hog]

Hey altamaiz,
I would check the pin assignments on the drive first. See if it is set as a slave. Change as needed.
Before making changes, is this a test box?
As for the MDK comparison, well, SME is a server appliance O/S. MDK is a desktop or server depends on how you install it. They run slightly different courses. The mainstream linux desktops spend a lot of effort getting the system to boot in many different scenarios. SME uses the shotgun effect: you want a great server, insert cd-rom, reboot computer----kaboom, you now have a server! All fun intended.
Joe

Edit: Sorry, the above should have said "jumper pin assignments".

[boss_hog]

The above line assumes that you need dual CPU support.

On an old i386? Sounds unlikely.

I'm quite surprised that 6.0 installs on an old i386....

Hey Charlie,
that is a good point. I didn't take what he said literally, hhmmm.. maybe i should have!
I figured he meant i386 arch..
Wow, speak about a revival!
Joe

[altamaiz]

I will check the pin assignments, it's quiet likely they're messed up, the more I think about it the more that makes sense.

Thanks a lot for your help Joe!