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Fatal Error on bootup


Guest Chadd
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Guest Chadd

Got into a bit of a pickle ... again. I just did a reinstall of Mdk 9.0 and I get the following error:

 

Asploader fatal error: Logical disk for boot drive not found

 

It then gives me the option to boot into "other os" via 'enter'. That takes me to XP. To get into Mdk I need to use a boot disk (lucky I made one).

 

The 'asploader' refers to another distro I was trying (Asp linux) 'cause I managed to muck up Mdk...(again..ha) and decided to try some other flavor of linux. I downloaded Asp into XP and made a boot disk and used it to install Asp. On the install of Asp it recomends the option of using the Asploader instead of lilo, and I used it.

 

Anyway my brief fling with Asp was a bust so I reinstalled Mdk over it.

 

So....how do I kill the damn ASP!....I want lilo back. I have 'searched' all the XP files for anything relating to 'asp' and deleted all I could find. Did not find anything via 'google' that seemed to be of any help.

 

Any ideas?

Chad

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OK this is a reinstalling the boot loader again.

1) Boot off disk 1

2) select rescue

2a) Let it mount your partitions under /mnt

3) Go to console

4) chroot /mnt <enter>

5) vi /etc/lilo.conf

6) check the OS is there , if not its best to go back to the rescue and let it try, if it is then you should see the lilo stuff. Does it look rigght and do the files exist???

7) Assuming /boot contains everything type <lilo>

8) if it works it will rewrite the MBR

 

If lilo has a problem with the ASP stuff you can overwrite it with a system formatted windows floppy using fdisk /mbr. This will write the default Windows boot loader .

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Guest Chadd

Hey Gowator!!

I did as you said. Got into vi /etc/lilo.conf....did not see my correct /mnt points for Mdk. But,!, the ones for Alt linux were!

Realized I did not know how the hell to get outta vi (panic)......?

Started hitting keys and the 'help' came up....F1? Dont remem.

Wound up back at console.....did 'lilo'. Tried startx....dont know for sure if that is correct way to get into 'x'? Got a whole mess of 'errors, cant finds' etc....

'halt'...reboot. Got the Alt linux lilo! Which is where I'm at now. I thought I had managed to blow up alt along with mdk a few days ago.....boot disk would not work for it etc.

heh....dont think I mentioned the third os in my post.

 

So, if I go back through your steps and just let it reconfigure in rescue mode (I think that was an option?) it will set up the mdk lilo?

Or, I guess I can try to follow the post by cannonfodder on how to dual boot linux. I think I will try that...I might even do it right!

best,

thanks again

chad

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<Esc>:q! (to quit without writing) or <Esc>:wq! (quit and save)

Its always best to use a pure text editor when playing with lilo or most config files just to make sure you don't stick in any hidden characters.

 

It sounds like you installed Alt Linux either OVER or alongside Mandrake.

You can either reinstall from scratch OR try and fix it.

 

The mount pounts it automagically mounts are I think from the lilo so you might still have them OK.

 

To check out:

Do the rescue disk thing but don't try and let it mount them automagically this time. At the console prompt use lsparts. This will list all the partitions on your disks. Write them down, especially the types!!

 

Now create a temp mount point for each disk on /mnt

Lets Say you have hda1 hda5 hda6 hda7 (you still have windows right)

 

Windows will probably be in hda1 but CHECK.

First we'll create mount points:

cd /mnt

mkdir hda1 hda5 hda6 hda7 .......

then

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1

mount /dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5

mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda7

mount /dev/hda7 /mnt/hda7

 

You can use the up arrow and just change the numbers :-)

 

Don't worry if one partitiion tells you isn't formatted that will be your swap.

 

Now go and cd hda1 and have a look:

If it looks like windows then write down win part or something in your list.

Depending how you installed you will find

/boot

/usr

/usr/local

/var

/

 

You need to identifiy which these are and MAKE SURE they aren't Alt Linux files.

IF you have a /boot it will be small AND will contain vmlinuz pointing to a MANDRAKE kernel.

It might be easier at this point for you to say if you wanna try or reinstall.

You can then post or email the info (If I guess everything its longer)

 

Anyway, you just need to identify them, then you unmount and mount the correct ones under a different mount point then do a chroot it all depends if you wiped Mandrake or just put the Alt Linux boot loader over the MBR.

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Guest Chadd

Gowator,

I jumped into the middle of the install before you wrote your post. Following the guide of cannonfodder.....

Got half of it right. haha...better than usual.

I am using Alt to controll lilo and I have it set to the point where I can see my mdk90 files from Alt. I did the rest of the steps and rebooted. When lilo came up there was no mdk option. Just Alt, rescue, nt , floppy. Booted Alt and saw some error....I think it was in the /etc ?, something about line 13 bad format. Dunno....will reboot and check it now.

chadd

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Guest Chadd

hmmmm....I rebooted and the error was 'bad format on line 13 of /etc/fstab. I checked but only have 12 lines in /etc/fstab...

will check again...any ideas?

chad

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Were you using vi (???)

 

try a wc -l on /etc/fstab as a quick check

 

You etc directroy should have a file called RED-HAT.release or similar.

This should be the version on mandrake your using ... if not you have the /etc from alt.

 

I'm leaving in less than an hour but if you post your lilo.conf and output from lsparts I'll take a look.

 

If not someone else might take over :-)

 

Did you have a boot floppy for Mdk?

If you did it should have everything on for Mdk. If you can boot from this then you can copy the lilo stuff from there and also fix your fstab.

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Guest Chadd

Gowator,

Dont know how to use vi. Used kate for edits (did not see vi).

RED HAT showed Alt 2.2. That is fine. I want to use it to run lilo. This is the post I am trying to follow.

http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php...5082&highlight=

 

/etc/lilo

boot=/dev/hda

map=/boot/map

install=/boot/boot-bmp.b

vga=0x0317

default=linux-up

message=/boot/splash/message

lba32

prompt

timeout=50

image=/boot/vmlinuz-up

label=linux-up

root=/dev/hda5

initrd=/boot/initrd-up.img

read-only

image=/boot/vmlinuz-up

label=failsafe

root=/dev/hda5

initrd=/boot/initrd-up.img

vga=normal

append=" failsafe"

read-only

other=/dev/hda1

label=NT

table=/dev/hda

other=/dev/fd0

label=floppy

unsafe

image=/mnt/mdk90//boot/vmlinuz

label=linux

root=/dev/hda10

initrd=/mnt/mdk90//boot//initrd.img

append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi"

vga=788

read-only

 

this is the /etc/fstab (the error said 13 bad lines(

 

/dev/hda5 / ext3 defaults 1 1

devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=0620 0 0

/dev/hda9 /home ext3 defaults 1 2

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,ro,noauto 0 0

/dev/cdrom2 /mnt/cdrom2 auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,ro,noauto 0 0

/dev/floppy /mnt/floppy auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,sync,quiet,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0

proc /proc proc gid=19 0 0

/dev/hda7 /usr ext3 defaults 1 2

/dev/hda8 /var ext3 defaults 1 2

/dev/hda6 swap swap defaults 0 0

/dev/hda10 /mnt/mdk90 ext3 defaults 1 1

 

[root@localhost root]# wc -l on /etc/fstab

wc: on: No such file or directory

15 /etc/fstab

15 total

 

Thanks for the help.

chadd

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Guest Chadd

Ixthusdan,

Yes, I figured out how to get into vi and noticed several blank lines. Just did a copy paste and then delete to create a new /etc/fstab. Did 'mount -a' and got "new line missing". Put two and two together and added a blank line on the fstab (that seems to have fixed it).

I dont see the other os when I run 'lilo' tho.

 

[root@localhost root]# mount -a

[root@localhost root]# lilo

Added linux-up *

Added failsafe

Added NT

Added floppy

Added linux

 

I dont know if I need to .... hell I dont know what to do. I got linux coming outta my ears! Brain overload. I will sit and ponder this for a bit.....

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this:

/mnt/mdk90//boot/vmlinuz

is incorrect i believe. it should probably be

/mnt/mdk90/boot/vmlinuz

 

i think...

oh yeah and also...

this:

 initrd=/mnt/mdk90//boot//initrd.img

should be this

initrd=/mnt/mdk90/boot/initrd.img

 

for some reason I keep thinking it should just be /boot/vmlinuz and /boot/initrd.img but i believe the lilo.conf file doesn't apply when you boot...it just uses that to pass information to the boot program....i'm confusing myself. just try those changes :wink:

 

oh yeah, and make sure you only have one option with the label linux. i would suggest "altlinux" and "mdklinux", respectively.

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Guest Chadd

damn.....

pondering is good. I just did not see it even though I was looking right at it!!

 

[root@localhost root]# lilo

Added linux-up *

Added failsafe

Added NT

Added floppy

Added linux

 

I expected it to say 'mdk90'!!! not Added linux

 

Thanks for the help Gowator!! and Ixthusdan.....free beers for all!!! I can get into all three from lilo Mdk90, Alt linux and XP . Now if I can just figure out how to get the two linux distros runnin' right.....................I think I need to ponder some more.

chad

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Guest Chadd

tyme

all seems well, I'm not sure of anything at the moment. It just seems to work.

When I boot into lilo it says Alt, linux safe, nt, floppy and linux.

linux=mdk90..........

I see what you are saying ......but am beat.....been at this way to long and need sleep. Its rough being a newbee.

ccd

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