Guest bartell Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Newbie here, Mandrake 9.1 is awesome! But I can't figure out a glitch....I've configured the default o/s as windows (for the wife and kids!) but when the machine starts up, lilo loads linux by default. Here is a copy of my lilo.conf boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map vga=normal default="windows" prompt nowarn timeout=100 message=/boot/message menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="quiet devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off" vga=788 read-only image=/boot/vmlinuz label="linux-nonfb" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off" read-only image=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hdb1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="failsafe devfs=nomount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off" read-only other=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hda other=/dev/fd0 label="floppy" unsafe Can anyone see why this is happening? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Try getting rid of the quotes around each of the label entries and the default entry. Then re-run lilo by typing lilo into a console (as root). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 You obviously edited your lilo.conf from the default but did you remember to run: # lilo -v That is necessary for lilo to write the new configuration to the mbr. If you don't do so, lilo will continue to use the old cnfiguration presently in the mbr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 I think the quotes are OK, but the problem is what pmpatrick has said. After editing, you must run lilo as root in order for the changes to take effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bartell Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 hmmmm,,,interesting. The changes were actually made using mandrake interface rather than editing the code. I'll try running the -v command and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted September 27, 2003 Report Share Posted September 27, 2003 There was a bug in mcc and some other mandrake tools. They should be updated for the fix. (All the tools!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bartell Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 OK, I ran lilo -v as root. The resulting message was " Reading boot sector from /dev/hda Fatal: creat /boot/map~: Read-only file system" I'm assuming the Fatal part is not good. Don't know if this helps but my hda contains win o/s (NTFS) and two logical drives (one NTFS, one FAT32). hdb is loaded with md9.1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Did you install lilo to hda? That's where it belongs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Here's a copy of my lilo.conf if it helps.. In my case, I have 2 physical hard drives, each with multiple partitions. boot=/dev/hda map=/boot/map vga=normal default="Mandrake91" keytable=/boot/us.klt prompt nowarn timeout=3000 message=/boot/message menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw image=/boot/vmlinuz label="Mandrake91" root=/dev/hdc7 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="quiet devfs=mount hdd=ide-scsi acpi=off" vga=788 read-only other=/dev/hda1 label="Windows2000" table=/dev/hda Additionally, if you continue to have trouble, make sure your /etc/fstab file has an entry for your NTFS XP partition. Then re-run lilo.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bartell Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 yes, Ixthusdan, lilo should be installed on /dev/hda. I let it default to MBR when installing. If there is a way to verify, please tell me how. I have 2 physically seperate drives as well, with hdb being dedicated to md91. When I look at my mnt points, /boot is located on /dev/hda5 and win_c is located on /dev/hda1. Using mcc, I told lilo to go to hda5, then ran lilo -v, but returned another message indicating that hda5 was not suitable. Same thing with trying hda1. hdb also returned a read only message. cannonfodder, I looked at etc/fstab, and even though I have no idea what I'm looking at, there is an entry behind ntfs. Also, what is the best way to edit lilo.conf? When I open it in K-Write, it tells me I can't save any changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Two things: hda5 is not the same as the mbr on hda. The mbr is at the beginning of the drive, hda. So the problem may be that you are not really editing the file at all!! The other is that any time you edit these types of files, you must be root. So, if you like kwrite, you can su to root in a console and then launch it as root. An easier way to do this is to launch the Superuser file manager, click on the file, and it will open an editor as root. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bartell Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Is this time to panic or is there a cure for this ill? You are right I suspect, by the way these messages are behaving. :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 :lol: Your talking to someone who takes perfecty working computers and plays with them until they break! Just go back into the mcc and work with the correct location. The other "edits" actually did nothing, so no harm done. But, do the updates to the mandrake tools first, if you haven't already done so. If you try to work with a file that you don't have permission, (root) nothing will happen. So, you are a long way from panic!! :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 lx, time for grub yet? :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonfodder Posted September 29, 2003 Report Share Posted September 29, 2003 Not yet! :D The best way to work with lilo (in my opinion) is to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file. Look in the mandrake menu for a terminal (or console) program. Type su <-- will be prompted for root password cd /etc cp lilo.conf lilo.bkup gedit lilo.conf If gedit doesn't work, you can try kedit or some other editor you are accustomed to using. The terminal console is the true power behind linux. From there you can directly access issues that otherwise would require you to go through another piece of software such as mcc. Also, in the console, try typing diskdrake and click ok on the prompt. You should see a visual map of your hard drives. Don't make any changes, just good to help you understand how your hard drives are partitioned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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