On Thu, 4 Feb 2010 14:19:06 -0500 (EST), Stephen Powell wrote: > I can send you my lilo.conf file for comparison purposes, but > I don't have access to it right now.
OK, I now have access to my lilo.conf file, and I will include it inline in this e-mail for comparison purposes. Be careful not to copy it verbatim, because it doesn't match your configuration. But it should serve as an illustration. I have removed a lot of comments to save space. ---------- # Allows the initial RAM file system to be loaded above the # 16M line. Warning! The BIOS must have support for this # for it to work! Not all BIOSes do! large-memory # Allows 32-bit logical block addressing to be used, which means # that the kernel and the initial RAM file system can be read from # locations beyond cylinder 1023. Warning! The BIOS must # have support for this for it to work! Not all BIOSes do! lba32 # Specifies where the boot-strap code will be written. # /dev/hda means the master boot record of the first IDE disk . boot=/dev/hda # Specifies the device that should be mounted as root. (`/') # /dev/hda2 means the second partition on the first IDE disk. root=/dev/hda2 # Enable map compaction: # Tries to merge read requests for adjacent sectors into a single # read request. This drastically reduces load time and keeps the # map smaller. Using `compact' is especially recommended when # booting from a floppy disk. It is disabled by default # because it doesn't always work. compact # Installs the specified file as the new boot sector # You have the choice between: text, bmp, and menu # Look in lilo.conf(5) manpage for details install=text # Specifies the location of the map file map=/boot/map # Specifies the number of deciseconds (0.1 seconds) LILO should # wait before booting the first image. delay=20 # Specifies the VGA text mode at boot time. (normal, extended, ask, <mode>) vga=779 # Boot up Linux by default. default=Linux # Here's the current Linux image. image=/boot/vmlinuz label=Linux read-only # restricted # alias=1 initrd=/boot/initrd.img # Here's the previous Linux image. image=/boot/vmlinuz.old label=LinuxOLD read-only optional # restricted # alias=2 initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old ---------- Notes: (1) "boot=/dev/hda" specifies to install lilo in the Master Boot Record (MBR) (2) "root=/dev/hda2" specifies that the root partition is the second partition on your system, from what you've told me, it sounds like this should be /dev/hda1. (3) "install=text" requests a pure text-mode interface, which is its original historical behavior (4) "vga=779" specifies the start-up video mode. This is a 132-column by 50-row text video mode that I like to use for virtual consoles 1-6. This mode is not supported by all video BIOS / video chipset / monitor combinations and may not work for you. You may prefer the traditional 80x25 default VGA boot-up mode, in which case specify vga=normal. Lack of support for this option is what originally made me switch from grub-pc back to lilo because I like it so much. If you do use it, you will also have to make changes to /etc/default/console-setup. Set FONTFACE="", FONTSIZE="", and FONT="lat1u-08.psf.gz". And make sure that the console-data package is installed. If you try it and don't like it, make sure you backout the changes to /etc/lilo.conf *and* /etc/default/console-setup *and* re-run lilo. (5) Note that the symbolic links in my configuration have been changed from their default values. I like to see the symbolic links in the /boot directory, not in the / directory. I think that's where they belong. My symbolic links are image=/boot/vmlinuz initrd=/boot/initrd.img for the current (Linux) image and image=/boot/vmlinuz.old initrd=/boot/initrd.img.old for the previous (LinuxOLD) image. If you want to do the same, then here's what you do. (1) Make the four changes indicated above (i.e. add /boot to the front of each of these "assignment statements" in /etc/lilo.conf. (2) From a shell prompt as root, issue commands similar to the following: cd / rm vmlinuz rm initrd.img rm vmlinuz.old rm initrd.img.old cd boot ln -s vmlinuz-2.6.32-trunk-686 vmlinuz ln -s initrd.img-2.6.32-trunc-686 inird.img ln -s vmlinuz-2.6.30-2-686 vmlinuz.old ln -s initrd.img-2.6.30 initrd.img.old Adjust these commands as necessary to match your current and previous kernel and initial RAM filesystem image names. Note also the "optional" flag in the LinuxOLD section, so that if these symbolic links do not exist lilo will issue a warning rather than an error. For successful installation of future kernels, you should also check your /etc/kernel-img.conf file. Here's what mine looks like ---------- do_symlinks = yes relative_links = yes do_bootloader = yes do_bootfloppy = no do_initrd = yes link_in_boot = yes ---------- Note particularly the "link_in_boot" option, which tells the kernel installation script to maintain the symbolic links in /boot instead of in /. After all these changes, re-run lilo. Then shutdown and reboot to test it. Hope this helps. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org