On Tue, 04 Feb 2003 03:20:07 +0100, "Jonathan Brandmeyer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
snip >What if I am going about this the wrong way? Suppose that MBR(s) is/are >damaged? Will fsck(8) detect this type of damage? My reading of the man >page says that it doesn't. > >Thanks, >Jonathan ASFAIK .. that is correct. The first sectors of your boot are proprietry to data for MBR and as such are not a 'filesystem' in itself. as promised my submission follows. you need to consider that because I read parts of this thread @ deb.user ML and (mostly) some in UseNet @ l.d.u its possible to have missed some of the thread. thus, if i repeat- forgive :-) I am new to MaiLists and -so far- not enthused as to their practicality. ALSO it appears you have read much on this so I am going to assume a few basics. begin: HOW you set your system up is determined by intended use. mine boots Win95b(OSR2) by default and a 2.4.18-k6 kernel by choice. my lilo.conf ------------------------------------------------------------------- #H0megrown lilo Jan30-2003 boot=/dev/hda install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal prompt timeout=400 #Boot windows by default other=/dev/hda1 label=windows table=/dev/hda #Boot Linux GNU by choice image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-k6 label = Linux root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.4.18-k6 read-only #end verbose boot script ----------------------------------------------------------- I had shitloads of trouble getting this preference up and running. the tools: windows rules the MBR so it has to be installed first. u have to have a method to rewrite the MBR after finding the latest tweak to LILO is a non-goer. the D0S fdisk /mbr handles this for 95b. [ its a while back but IIRC i used to use Disk 1 off'n the D0S 6.2 set to perform the same function on an NT4 drive. maybe that would remain the same for XP?] as you can get XP to boot by choice you should be able to organise an MBR rewriter from here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q314079 the method: the procedure is to config lilo by HAND, run lilo, reboot and at the LILO prompt type in "linux" for linux to boot or hit return to boot to WinX or just wait for timeout and WinX will boot by default. For ANY other result, reboot using the WInX boot disk and rewrite the MBR, reboot using the linux boot disk and twiddle lilo.conf again. repeat the process till it works. config tips: dont use any part of the script written by lilo - edit your own. dont use sym links - point the boot directly at the file/s dont use "lba32" or "compact" or "delay" (the first two auto-config anyway.) dont use an editor in windows to write this - I use/d vi always run lilo at root before shutdown -r now I am certain your troubles result from MBR and LILO status/config misnomers - hence all of the above. to address the drive partitions/layout you have I can only comment that on my journey it resolved that D0S demanded it be first in line on my single drive for the kernel that I was loading at that time. the 1024 thing is no problem any more so there was no trouble satisfying the whinge. in all cases i used PQM (D0S v 6) to manipulate the partitions. i used PQDI (D0S v4) to move images around (yes, i *did* make bakups b4 i ventured out) but a word of warning here. my troubles began (and what Anita sorted out for me) when I wrote my backup to a different position on the drive. This totally confused the table read in linux and thereby fstab. i couldnt find a way out of this other than to start again - format. I will be setting up a 2xHDD machine shortly so I will watch with interest your result. I am not convinced the location of <windows.exe> or <bootmenu.b> is of any consequence in the mapping of HDD's. 0T0H the equivalent to <msdos.sys> for a winX machine does appear to like sunning itself on the beach in a dual unix/winX system. hTh SiD "unstable yet breathing" $$posted to both l.d.u and [EMAIL PROTECTED] $$ http://movies.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Movies - What's on at your local cinema? -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
