satelliteuser083 Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Am having a strange problem with lilo. I've just installed mva2006 onto another machine, which also has windoze 2k-pro on it. I put grub in the MBR and lilo in hda8. Grub looks like this: timeout 10 color black/cyan yellow/cyan shade 1 viewport 3 2 77 22 splashimage (hd0,7)/boot/grub/mdv-grub_splash.xpm.gz default 0 title Mva2006 root (hd0,7) chainloader +1 title windows root (hd0,0) chainloader +1 and lilo like this. default="linux" boot=/dev/hda8 map=/boot/map keytable=/boot/uk.klt menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw prompt nowarn timeout=100 message=/boot/message image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6" image=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6" other=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hda When I boot Mva2006 the machine chains correctly to hda8, but, on selection of 'linux', goes straight into verbose-mode, i.e. no splash-screen. It's no problem for ME, but my wife (her machine) gets a bit upset at not having the splash (she thinks that there's something wrong with linux :P ). Can anyone give me a clue about what's going on? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 (edited) Your grub menu is highly unlikely to boot (no kernel image and initrd defined). The LILO one will boot, but I see no splash or framebuffer resolution defined- so it will likely boot in pure console mode (which isn't that pretty, but practically not harmful at all). Edited January 16, 2007 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Well, AFAIK, grub only needs the root partition's name in order to chainload to it, expecting some other loader to do the actual booting. In any case, the grub bit most certainly works, because windoze boots, as does Mva2006 without splash. I've just checked the lilo.conf on my laptop, which contains two extra parameters: append=" acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent" vga=788 I added these to lilo.conf, ran lilo, rebooted and.....no difference I then went into MCC->Boot->Set up...boots, selected '/dev/hda8' and 'LILO with graphical menu', added a new entry 'linux2006' and the approp image-info -> Finish. The result is below default="linux" boot=/dev/hda8 map=/boot/map keytable=/boot/uk.klt menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw prompt nowarn timeout=100 message=/boot/message image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent" vga=788 image=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6" other=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hda image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-12mdk label="linux2006" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd.img Rebooted, selected 'linux2006' and.....no difference. Don't understand it :unsure: . Could this be a monitor-driver problem? Perhaps there's another approach. Is it possible to use grub in the MBR to chainload into a partition (that DOES work, I'm sure) and then use grub again in that partition to boot linux? I ask because I'm not aware of multiple versions of menu.lst on a partition (the one currently in hda8/boot/grub is the one used to boot from the MBR), which would tend to preclude this possibility, and I don't want to just try it and risk not being able to reboot the machine. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Sometimes the splash doesn't show if it's an unofficial kernel (ie not a Mandriva one), then you don't have the bootsplash patch applied to the kernel, or framebuffer splash enabled, and so it won't appear. This is normal, so no matter what you do with lilo, it won't fix it. I don't know what kernel you're using though. Or it could be the chainloading that's causing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Sorry, should have provided that info. The new installation is 'vmlinuz-2.6.12-12mdk', which came from the same DVD as that used on my laptop (and THAT works, splash and all). I don't think that the problem lies with the chainloader (grub?) :unsure: because the lilo splash-screen appears (where I select linux). It's from this point on that the verbose mode is implemented. And, you mention 'framebuffer splash' enabled; how do I enable this? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Framebuffer splash or bootsplash patch is applied to a kernel. So if you're using an official Mandriva kernel, then it's not necessary to enable. Otherwise you need to patch and rebuild the kernel with these options enabled if it's not an official Mandy kernel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Thanks. Don't know what the problem can be, so will have to just live with it. :huh: I've since found out that it doesn't appear to be possible to use grub in the boot-sector of a partition, if that same partition also steers grub in the MBR. There would be a collision, since there is only a single menu.lst. If anyone out there would like to contradict me on this point, I'll be happy to learn how to do it. B) Many thanks, once again, to you both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camelrider Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Just a thought.. Have you tried pressing <esc> during boot to see if it would toggle to the splash? Mine defaults to splash and I use Escape key to get verbose display. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Just a thought..Have you tried pressing <esc> during boot to see if it would toggle to the splash? Mine defaults to splash and I use Escape key to get verbose display. Well, thanks for the tip, but that didn't work either. In fact, I've never been able to toggle BACK from verbose-mode on any of my mandrake installations (10.1, LE2005 and 2006); perhaps it works on other machines but not on mine. But thanks, once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 The problem with the splash may be associated with the graphics-card. I've installed a oldish PCI-card (V7 Mirage, I think) which has changed the display somewhat; now, after the initial lilo screen (where I select linux) the display goes grey for about 15 seconds, then reverts to the verbose boot-mode. I assume that lilo is trying to display the splash-screen but can't, because the graphics are set up for the old onboard video. The problem is that, on conclusion of boot, the screeen goes blank (graphics problem again?) and I therefore can't alter anything using a GUI :unsure: . I remember using a command-line utility once to do just that, but have forgotten its name. Could someone help me out? Don't particularly want to have to re-install the OS. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 You can login as root or normal user and type "su" to get root privileges, then do: mcc and choose display and reconfigure, or even type: XFdrake to reconfigure the display without having to go into mcc first. Then select vesa, or the correct card that you want to set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 (edited) Sorry, don't understand. I can't get to a konsole because the screen is blank; I'm assuming that I need to use the rescue-mode of the installation-DVD, and call some utility or another from there. Perhaps you could clarify. Thanks. Edit: Ideally, I would like a utility which updates the system automatically, because I'm not absolutely certain which type of graphic-card I've installed. Edited January 19, 2007 by satelliteuser083 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw1974 Posted January 19, 2007 Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 If blank, try CTRL-ALT-F1 to get a console screen and log in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 (edited) Great, it worked AND I've learnt another linux-command in the process :happy: . Somehow the display-resolution had been changed from 16-bit to 24; changed it back and all's honkey-dorey. Well, not all, because the splash still doesn't work, but I'll try another graphics-card and, who knows, that may work. Many thanks. Edited January 19, 2007 by satelliteuser083 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satelliteuser083 Posted January 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2007 Have just been reading some posts about graphic-cards and it occurred to me that I may need a driver for the SPEA video7 card that's now in the machine. How would I go about that, anyone? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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