Jump to content

L 99 99 99 error on boot after install


machschnell
 Share

Recommended Posts

Total newbie to Linux, trying to install 9.1 from CD, everything goes fine, 15 mins later I reboot and get the error "L 99 99 99 99..." the '99' repeats itself about 100 times. I changed the BIOS to boot to the C drive after finishing the install.

 

I haven't found anything anywhere about this specific message, so I need some help.

 

Machine's a PII 333, 256 RAM, 13G drive. Previously had Windows 98 on it, I chose to have it erased, and Linux installed to the MBR. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

PJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I set my bios for boot order: 1st is cdrom, 2nd is ide primary, third is floppy. I just leave it like that because the bios will boot the computer via the first boot record it finds.

 

Take the first cd and boot from it, like you are going to install. At the splash screen, hit F1, type "rescue".

 

You will be presented with a menu. Choose to reinstall lilo at the mbr. Reboot, remembering to take the disk out of the drive, and you should be fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't work, same thing. This is the second time trying to reinstall it, are there any options I can try differently? I chose to install to MBR the last time, should I choose root partition next time? anything else I can try differently? I didn't run fdisk or format on the drive before doing any of this - make any difference?

 

Thanks again,

PJ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do a search on the forum, you will find a much longer thread on this exact problem. According to that thread, the problem actually lies with LILO and not with your mandrake linux installation. Based on that, I would suggest reinstalling and using Grub as your bootloader instead of lilo. You may need to do an expert install to get this option.

 

If I can find the thread, I will post a link here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always like to have a clean drive prior to an install, although theoretically it should make no difference. You could restore the mbr, reboot, and install again, but fuzzylizard is correct. There are several who have gone to grub because of what appears to be a lilo bug with certain hardware combos. You could do an upgrade at this point, only changing to grub, and the entire installation will remain intact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's your /etc/lilo.conf file say? Does it match what you think it should be? Run the installer and do a custom install and stop at the partitioning screen. What does it look like? Is your lilo.conf stating lilo is on /hdb for example, when its now on hda? The bootloader has to be able to find the vmlinuz. Check your /etc/fstab file, does it look right? So on... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...
Guest JohnM

PJ

 

I have had the same 99 error happen to me twice. I am using Windows 7 using an Asus mainboard. I found a workaround for this. If you use a program such as Norton Utilities put the installation disk into the CD/DVD player an reboot. If the system asks if you want to start the computer normally select yes. Take the disk out of the drive and reboot using CTRL+ALT+DEL. My computer then restarts normally. I hope that this has been of any help to you. John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...