Making a boot disk for 9.1

[pmpatrick]

I have noticed, and apparently so have others, that it is impossible to make a boot floppy using Md 9.1 standard utilities. If you try to do so durning the install, the install hangs. If you try to do so after the install in mcc>Boot>DrakFloppy, the process hangs up and never completes. If you are having this problem and need or want to make a boot floppy for 9.1, here's how I did it by hand.

 

You need to create five files on your floppy: vmlinuz, initrd.img, ldlinux.sys, syslinux.cfg and boot.msg. Let's take them one at a time.

 

The first one to make is ldlinux.sys which is a bootloader that allows you to boot linux from DOS. Place a FAT fromated floppy in your drive. Do not mount the floppy yet. Run the following command:

 

$ syslinux -s /dev/fd0

 

This will create ldlinux.sys on the floppy which you can confirm by mounting the floppy and running

 

$ ls /mnt/floppy

 

Now that you have something potentially bootable, we'll give it a kernel and initrd. Open konqueror and navigate to /boot. Copy vmlinuz-2.4.21-0.13mdk and initrd-2.4.21-0.13mdk.img to the floppy. After doing so you must rename both files to vmlinuz and initrd.img. Basically, you just drop off all the numbers and mdk.

 

Next, we make our boot configuration files, boot.msg and syslinux.cfg. These are both merely text files that the boot loader looks to to know what to do.Create two text files on your floppy, and name one boot.msg and the other syslinux.cfg. What to put in the files you ask? For boot.msg, insert this text and save:

 

Press <return> (or wait 10 seconds) to boot your Mandrake Linux system from

/dev/hdxx. You may override the default linux kernel parameters by typing

"linux <params>", followed by <return> if you like.

 

Where the 'xx' corresponds to the partition where root is for md 9.1.

 

For syslinux.cnf, inser this text and save:

 

default linux

prompt 1

display boot.msg

timeout 100

label linux

kernel vmlinuz

append initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/hdxx hdx=ide-scsi

 

Note the append line. Do not put it in quotes like you do for lilo.conf. For hdxx, sustitute the location of your root directory. If you have a drive running under scsi emulation(i.e. a cd burner), include the hdx=ide-scsi for your drive, substituting the appropriate letter for 'x'. If you have a scsi emulated drive and forget to add this line, when you boot off the floppy, kudzu will launch during the boot, inform you it's detected a configuration change and reconfigure the drive to run without scsi emulation. When you boot without the floppy, the same thing will happen again except that this time it will configure to run with scsi emulation. It appears harmless but it gets to be a pain. If you don't have a scsi emulated drive, just delete hdx=ide-scsi part. Depending on your configuration, you may have to pass additional parameters on the append line. Check you lilo.conf file append line if your not sure.

 

That's it. If everything was done right it should boot off the floppy you just made.

[Guest ndeb]

Another problem with making boot disk in LM9.1 reported in http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...t=3863&start=31 .

[DragonMage]

Hmm.. I think the newest mandrake utilities (from the updates) fix the problems with making mandrake bootdisks from mandrake control center. I just tried making one and it completes the process. I checked the boot disk created and it works (although it screws up my configuration a bit since the boot disk doesn't put lilo parameters I put in my hd.. but that's my own fault I guess).

[Guest ndeb]

Try ur luck with the updates from http://www.mandrakesecure.net/en/advisorie...e=MDKA-2003:004

[pmpatrick]

Oh. Never mind. :lol:

 

You know I checked for updates before I started writing this tome and there was nothing!!!! Now there are over 100MB of updates and the drakconf ones do fix the boot floppy problem. No good deed goes unpunished. Next time I'll follow my natural inclination to procastinate. Well unless you want to delve into the black art of boot floppy making by hand ignore the above, download the updates and make a boot floppy in mcc>Boot>DrakFloppy.

[DragonMage]

Hehehe.. no worries.. I'm surprised I am the first one to notice the updates. I guess that's because the update mirror I use is one of the fastest to get up-to-date.

 

Good job anyway in posting a workaround. This way, maybe non-mandrake users can find out how to make a bootdisk. I guess mandrake really spoils some people's command line skillz :)

[larryt]

Man am I slow! :)

 

I finally got my kernel down to 1 meg so could make my boot disk with mcc so the stock kernel and custom kernel both boot from lilo and the boot floppy will boot to the custom kernel so

that will get me there in case of hard drive corruption in the boot sector . So i'm happy in that sense.

 

I noticed , however, when booting the customized kernel, during the boot process it changes my burner to a hdd and has a nice interactive gui so I can have input. But wonder why it does it? My lilo is the same in the append area.

Also, If i boot a different kernel from the previous boot, I have to reinstall the NV 4349*run file each time. Painless but not too great. This is with the floppy or lilo.

If I boot to the stock kernel , it changes it back to a burner.

Gets me to login console but need to reinstall "4349". :( Nvidia problem, I think. I used to be able to run numerous kernels with one NV driver install. But i'm deviating from the main subject.

I assume the cdrom/hdd thing comes from the way I configured the kernel but it hasn't sunk in yet as to just what.

[Guest KShots]

So how do you do it with a RAID system and no X windows system (ie no mcc)?

[MottS]

If you want to make a bootdisk from the console, use mkboot. Here is what I did:

 

root@localhost gd # mkboot /boot/bzImage



Insert a floppy diskette into your boot drive, and press <Return>.



Creating a lilo bootdisk...

+ mkdir /tmp/boot19484

+ mke2fs -q /dev/fd0

mke2fs 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)

+ mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /tmp/boot19484

+ '[' -e /boot/boot.b ']'

+ cp /boot/boot.b /tmp/boot19484/boot.b

+ cp /boot/bzImage /tmp/boot19484/vmlinuz

+ cd /tmp/boot19484

+ cat

+ lilo -C lilo.conf

Warning: COMPACT may conflict with LBA32 on some systems

Added linux *

++ set +e

++ cd /

++ umount /dev/fd0

++ rmdir /tmp/boot19484

...Success.

root@localhost gd # mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt/Floppy/

root@localhost gd # ls -l /mnt/Floppy/

total 796

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        10240 Apr 19 13:39 boot.b

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          163 Apr 19 13:39 lilo.conf

drwx------    2 root     root        12288 Apr 19 13:39 lost+found

-rw-------    1 root     root        15360 Apr 19 13:39 map

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       770300 Apr 19 13:39 vmlinuz

 

Notice that if your kernel is /boot/vmlinuz, you don't need to specify the kernel as I did (mkboot /boot/bzImage) since the default entry IS /boot/vmlinuz.

 

man mkboot for more details.

 

MOttS

[bvc]

for mandrake that's mkbootdisk

 

man mkbootdisk :wink: