Lilo won't start, /boot empty, no operating system

selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

Oops. I didn't RUN /sbin/lilo the first time through, so I'm now trying to recover from my omission. I'm booting to the install CD #1, mounting stuff, and CHROOTing to /bin/bash.

To check the kernel version, for lilo.conf, I try to mount /boot, and always get an almost empty listing - there is a lost+found with some bytes in it, but I can't seem to navigate to see what is IN lost+found. There is also a symbolic link that only says boot -> . When I try to mount /boot, I get /dev/hda1 already mounted or /boot busy.

Because I cannot see what is in the /boot, I'm *guessing* that, because I installed over the last week or so (since 01 October 2003), my kernel version might be

-2.4.20-gentoo-r6

at least, that's what I put in lilo.conf <frown>

I will appreciate any advice or assistance. <smile>
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2003 9:41 pm Post subject:

selfless,

If /boot is empty you didn't copy your kernel there after you built it.
The symlink of /boot/boot to . is to keep backwards compatibility with old versions of grub. Delete it if you want.

Copy you kernel, rerun lilo, then try to boot again.

Regards,

NeddySeagoon
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selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

Thanks for the tips, NeddySeagoon!

>Copy you kernel, rerun lilo, then try to boot again.

I'm game - but from where do I copy it, please?
I guess I'll grep for it?

And, I assume I'll copy it to /boot right?
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ectospasm · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2003 10:41 pm Post subject:

copy /usr/src/linux/arch/<arch, e.g. i386>/boot/bzImage to /boot...
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selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

ectospasm · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:20 pm Post subject:

meowsqueak · Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:22 pm Post subject:

'cp' is correct.

selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

I copied bzImage to rename it kernel-2.4.20-gentoo-r6, and now lilo is failing with complaints about not having initrd-2.4.20-gentoo-r6 in the /boot

I'm running a find for initrd*, but haven't got results yet.

How was I supposed to have created all the necessary files in /boot? Which step does that? Maybe that step failed and I didn't recognize the failure?
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selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

Thanks for all the help!

Still looking for a file to put in /boot for initrd-2.4.20-gentoo-r6.

Lilo also seems to be complaining about the old master boot record (MBR) on the drive (it had NT4). Lilo is saying the drive doesn't match the setup in the partitions file - and it doesn't, of course, because I didn't wipe the MBR before the install (I only reformated). The 2Gig drive was all one partition when I started this install.

Anyway, is there a way to get lilo to just write-over or delete the old MBR? I looked at the lilo --help, and tried some things, but they give me permission denied errors (as root).
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selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

How is the file

initrd-2.4.20-gentoo-r6

initally created?
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ectospasm · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 4:35 am Post subject:

Did you use genkernel? If you didn't, and compiled your kernel yourself, you shouldn't need an initrd line in lilo.conf. It should look something like this:

selfless · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

Idid use genkernel, and it looks like that step failed. I re-ran genkernel, and it's failed with DMA errors.

I'm using genkernel --config to get rid of lots of stuff and I don't need, and I booted the install CD #1 with NODMA, hoping that the DMA problem will go away.

Again, thanks for all the help.
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