How do I disable LILO?

[payasam]

My system runs Win 98 SE and MDK 10.1 OE with LILO. For some ten days now, it has been giving me enormous trouble. It hangs, always in Windows, and then refuses to boot either into Windows or into Linux. When finally it boots, always into Linux, after a dozen or twenty resets, or more quickly after the power has been turned off and then on again, it runs all right in Windows too until the next time it hangs.

 

In Windows, Scandisk generally hangs when incomplete; and Defrag *always* hangs. I have run the utility Hutil, made by Samsung for drives of its own manufacture, and that too has hung.

 

One possibility is that there is something wrong with my Windows installation; although the fact that MDK too does not boot for some while points to a difficulty with hardware.

 

I have tried to over-write Windows over itself, something I have done in the past when that was the only OS I used, but LILO comes in the way. Is there any means of disabling LILO, repairing the Windows installation, and then re-enabling LILO?

 

On Windows I have C: and D:, and on MDK there are three partitions.

[devries]

I think win98 you can do the same as with winxp (only experience I have). Install the windows bootloader, install windows again, insert the Mandriva CD1, hit f1 type 'rescue' and install LILO.

[AussieJohn]

Hello once again Payasam. Nice ot see a post from you again.

From my own experience, I have found intermittentant freezes and irregular problems that are occuring in Windows and Linux are usually due to hardware memory failings. This is mostly the case where the system has been running AOK for some time and then becomes erratic.

If you have two memory sticks then try one at a time and running for a while on each occassion. Sometimes just pulling out the memory sticks and reinserting them 3 or 4 times can actually work wonders.

 

Cheers good friend. John.

[payasam]

Hello, Devries. Trouble is, I can't get to install any part of Windows because LILO comes in the way. I've tried both the start-up disk method and the F8 method.

 

AussieJohn, you may well be right. It did not occur to me to check my RAM, though I've had trouble with the thing in the past. Thanks.

[payasam]

No go, AussieJohn. I pulled out the single 128 MB memory stick, wiped it and swore at it, pushed it back in. Then started up and ran Defrag. Drive C: got done, as it has done earlier; but drive D: stopped at 98 per cent. The flying fragments stopped flying and the mouse pointer disappeared. I have a RAM testing program (Windows) which boots off a CD, but that stopped running after just a few seconds. No progress at all, and I had to switch off since CRT-ALT-DEL did not work, as usual.

 

Devries, since I had my first boot device set to CD-ROM, I tried to boot off the Win 98 SE CD (though I cannot recall if it's bootable). Ended up, as before, in LILO. Then I booted off the Win start-up floppy and specified CD-ROM support. Got to the CD, ran SETUP.EXE. It did the initial checks but stopped at the licence screen. Didn't budge. Square One.

 

Before taking in the hard drive for replacement or repair (it's still under warranty), I'd like to see if I can remove LILO and re-install Windows over itself. I can think of no way to remove LILO except though MDK; but I don't know how that might be done.

[scarecrow]

Just out of curiosity, how large is your HD? I wouldn't really ask that, but DOS with a GUI (some call it 98-any edition, some others WinME) does have a problem with large harddisks.

[payasam]

Enormous, Scarecrow, a veritable behemoth: at least 40 GB seems like that to one who spent seven years on a 20 MB MFM. Only a quite small part of it is occupied, I might add.

[durvish]

Almost sounds like a power supply going bad but don't quote me on it.

[Ixthusdan]

For clarity, are you saying that you cannot utilize the cdrom device to install or run anything?

 

Can you run installation programs from within windows successfully?

 

Is Internet Explorer acting starange in any way?

[scarecrow]

40G sounds tiny by today's standards (or just acceptable- for a notebook!), but if you have an old system, your BIOS might have problems utilizing more than 32GB properly.

Are you sure your BIOS is flashed with the last available revision?

[pmpatrick]

If this thing was running OK before but suddenly started acting erratic, I would suspect either the psu of the ram. Of the two, I would also favor the psu as the culprit. A psu can act quirky for some time before it goes. During this period, the psu will not be able to deliver power within spec on a consistent basis and cause all kinds of quirky behaviour. When inexpensive psus finally blow, they can take a lot of components out with them. Unless you have some test equipment, the only way to test the psu is to swap it out.

For the memory, download memtest 86; it goes on a bootable floppy. Boot up with the floppy and run the memtest overnight. Memtest should find any memory errors if you let it run overnight.

I guess you could look at the hard drive too but apparrently you tried to do that and couldn't get through the diagnostic.

[payasam]

OK, Durvish, you won't be quoted: but you're not alone in thinking of this possibility.

 

Ixthusdan, I can use the CD-ROM for everything except installing Win 98 over itself. One of my first actions when this trouble began was to back up all that was likely to cause me trouble if lost. I can run installation programs in Windows. I don't use Internet Explorer, though I suspect you are thinking of adware and other evil stuff.

 

As I said, Scarecrow, I use only a small part of the 40 GB, so to me it seems enormous; and the thing, which is not really so old, has run without trouble long enough to rule out BIOS problems.

 

PMPatrick, I tried to test my RAM with exactly what you advise, but that too hung. The next step will be the power supply. Thanks very much for the information and the warning. I've begun to worry about the gasket of my pressure cooker, so I'll act fast.

[Ixthusdan]

I am not sure if the ps is at fault. I am also not sure that it is specifically hardware. The symptoms do not make sense. ps would not account for install windows only issue. Chipset is possible, but again the fact the ide channel works other than os installation rules this out. The only thing that makes sense to me from your description is an intelligence behind the failure, which is some kind of virus. My guess would be a worm. Is your antivirus disabled on its own?

[payasam]

From the beginning, Ixthusdan, I have been inclined to think that a corrupted Windows installation is the cause of all this. Scandisk does not run fully, Defrag does not run fully. In addition, often the screen goes black and everything freezes when I try to get into DOS, which is where I do nearly all my file handling work: copying, moving, re-naming, zipping and unzipping, etc. This is exactly why I began by asking how to disable LILO so that the Windows installation procedure could run. If this daily irritant lasts much longer, I shall simply format C:, re-install Windows, replace the few data files on C: -- and hope that the Mandrake installation will function again when I have put LILO back where it belongs. As for a worm, that is unlikely. I have a regularly updated AVG installed, in addition to which I use good old F-Prot for DOS.

[bvc]

I can think of no way to remove LILO except though MDK; but I don't know how that might be done.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

boot the 98 rescue floppy and run;

fdisk /mbr

 

That will give you a new win mbr.

 

Could be the psu...symptoms match. Could also be a clogged cpu fan...symptoms match.....I've had it with both. On the same note, with neither of the 2 above wrong, I've had the same happen with win98se....Twice!...Recently!....since le2005, 10.2 ...whatever. For no reason at all, which makes me wonder if mandriva isn't doing something weird that it shouldn't. Linux apps haven't a clue how to handle win, so I wouldn't doubt it.