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Bootloader probs


Guest n3rve
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Guest n3rve

I got mandrake today, and installed it onto a second hard drive. My other hard had XP on it and i dual booted XP and ME (second HDD). I decided to put a flavour of linux on the second HDD instead of ME. I chose Mandrake.

 

I installed mandrake and everything was working fine until i wanted to boot up windows again. I restarted the computer and selected windows from the bootloader menu. I got a "Invalid System Disk" error put there was no disk in the drive.

 

Can anyone shed some light onto this. :(

 

Mark

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I suppose /dev/hda7 is ur mandrake root device, and /dev/hdb1 is ur windows system device. Ur /etc/lilo.conf is just like the following(pay attention to the red, which is ur lost):

 

vga=785

boot=/dev/hda

map=/boot/map

default="mdk91"

keytable=/boot/us.klt

prompt

nowarn

timeout=100

message=/boot/message

menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw

 

image=/boot/vmlinuz

label="mdk91"

root=/dev/hda7

read-only

 

other=/dev/hdb1

label="win"

table=/dev/hdb

map-drive=0x80

to=0x81

map-drive=0x81

to=0x80[/color]

 

 

After u change ur /etc/lilo.conf, u must run /sbin/lilo as root. And then, ur windows will be bootable. Good luck! :lol:

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Guest n3rve

I checked that file and everything is there including the stuff in red.

 

I'm not sure what you mean about "ur must run /sbin/lilo as root".

 

Thanks

Mark

Linux n00b! :roll:

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It means that if you make changes in lilo. you must type "lilo" after the changes (run lilo) or they will not take.

 

I would restore the mbr with cd1 (rescue, restore mbr), boot into windows (to make sure your problem is not more serious!!) and then with the rescue option again, re-install the boot loader.

 

The middle step is necessary in order to determine that it's just the mbr we are dealing with. :shock:

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lets not assume he's using a terminal editor. They me run as in.... open a terminal such as konsole, rxvt, xterm, Eterm, or aterm then su to root and run lilo....looks like this (I can't acually hit enter and run lilo though because I use grub)

[bvc@localhost bvc]$ su

Password:

[root@localhost bvc]# lilo -v

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Guest n3rve

Sorry, that was a typo! I don't know how "b" is a good bit away from "p" on the keyboard. I must of been sleeping :wink:

 

Trying what the above people said now. I'll get back you.

 

Thanks for all replies

Mark :)

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Guest n3rve
I would restore the mbr with cd1 (rescue, restore mbr), boot into windows (to make sure your problem is not more serious!!) and then with the rescue option again, re-install the boot loader.

 

I guess you mean boot up with the CD1 in the CD Drive. Here's what I did.

 

1. Inserted CD into CDROM drive, rebooted PC.

 

2. The Setup came up, asked me to press F1 for more options or press enter to continue to setup. I pressed F1.

 

3. It gave me a list of options, i typed in "rescue" and pressed enter.

 

4. The Setup proceeded to load, i was given i list of options,

restore bootloader

restore windows booter (along the lines of that can't exactly remember :P)

mount partitions under /mnt

reboot

doc: what does this setup do?

 

restore mbr wasn't there, so its possibly resore windows bootloader?

i chose that . it said it found two linux boot loaders :!: :?:

 

it said 'to choose the number press the number of disk you want or press "n" then enter to exit'

 

i chose number 1. nothing happened. i pressed enter. then it said press enter to return to rescue menu . only getting back to the rescue menu worked.

 

Maybe its something to do with 2 bootloaders :?

 

Mark

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Yes, two boot loaders could be a problem. Restore windows boot is restoring the mbr. Sorry, computer stuff has to be cryptic or it isn't real! :lol:

 

When you restore it, you should return to the rescue menu, and then you should use the menu option to reboot. When you reboot, you should go into windows.

 

I would be tempted to remove all bootloaders before putting ONE back in. Your windows boot should be on the boot record of your main drive, usually your primary master.

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Guest n3rve

I know I know! :lol:

 

It could of told me that it worked, it just seems like nothing happens.

 

How 'ya remove the bootloaders :oops: :) :?:

 

The Help is great :D

 

Mark

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try as Ix suggested and restore the windows booter (using the rescue disk), then reboot and go into windows (to make sure it worked), then use the rescue disk again to attempt another re-install of the bootloader.

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Guest n3rve

The rescue disk isn't restoring the windows bootloader still. :x

 

Its giving no indication at it is. Maybe if i try to remove one of the linux bootloaders then restoring the windows bootloader would work.

 

All it says when i type the number of the disk drive i want to restore, and press enter. immediately after it says "Press enter to return to rescue" i've then went to the reboot option but nothing changes so obviously its not resotoring :cry:

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Ok, lets take a break from using 3rd party tools and work with the bootloader directly..

 

Let's see how your lilo is setup first.. I'm not sure whether you are currently able to boot into Mandrake so here's what you do.. If you can boot into Mandrake, then skip to step 4.

 

1. Boot into CD1, hit F1, type rescue. At the menu, select mount file system (partitions) something like that.

 

2. At the menu select Go to Command Prompt or some option that puts you at the console.

 

3. At this point, you should have a console prompt such as $ or something like that. Basically you are working with the CD's file system where the CD is the root of the file system and your hard drive partitions are mounted under /mnt.

 

If you type

 

cd / <- viewing the cd file system

cd /mnt < - viewing your mounted partitions.

 

What we want to do next is make your hard disk the root of your file system so type

 

chroot /mnt

 

That tells linux to make /mnt the new /. So if you type

 

cd / <- viewing your mounted partitions.

 

4. Now go to your lilo.conf file. This file has 100% of the lilo setup.

 

cd /etc

more lilo.conf

 

This should allow you to view your configuration. You need to post it here somehow (unless you figure it yourself). Remember, any changes you make to lilo or even to re-install lilo, you have to type

 

lilo

 

This command will reinstall lilo to the MBR. There is only one MBR and only one bootloader active on startup. Your bootloader may call another bootloader but only one is in control on startup.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest n3rve

I went on holiday, so a couldn't reply for a while. I formatted the computer and re-installed XP again, good thing i backed up my files!

 

I decided to give mandrake a go again. Oh no not working again!

 

I can (I could last time aswell) boot into mandrake 9.1. Here's my lilo.conf.

 

boot=/dev/hda

map=/boot/map

vga=normal

default="linux"

keytable=/boot/uk.klt

prompt

nowarn

timeout=100

message=/boot/message

menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw

image=/boot/vmlinuz

       label="linux"

       root=/dev/hda1

       initrd=/boot/initrd.img

       append="quiet devfs=mount acpi=off"

       vga=788

       read-only

other=/dev/hdb1

       label="windows"

       table=/dev/hdb

       map-drive=0x80

          to=0x81

       map-drive=0x81

 

Then i went into rescue menu, and restored windows bootloader. Hrm it restored it but it didn't work. This is what i get when i booted up the computer.

 

Bad IPL

Any key to reboot

 

Wheres the any key (JOKE!!!!!!)

 

Any ideas?

 

Mark

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