lilo error

[Aleksandar Milivojevic]

kisha at lissaganda.com wrote:
> hi i have two fedora core 3 installed in a single IDE disk, after the 2nd install of fcore 3
> grub didnt boot my 1st fcore partition which i labeled 'pkg', thats why i download the rpm of lilo,
> then installed it, after adding some entries i run 'lilo' as root then i get this error message below.
> i hope anyone can help me fixing this problem, thanks.
> 
> Added linux *
> Fatal: First sector of /dev/hda2 doesnt have a valid boot signature
> 
>  from  fdisk -l 
> 
> Disk /dev/hda: 10.0 GB, 10005037056 bytes
> 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19386 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
> 
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/hda1 1 163 82120+ 83 Linux
> /dev/hda2 164 6258 3071880 83 Linux
> /dev/hda3 6259 7298 524160 82 Linux swap
> /dev/hda4 7299 19386 6092352 5 Extended
> /dev/hda5 * 7299 7461 82120+ 83 Linux
> /dev/hda6 7462 19386 6010168+ 83 Linux
> 
> my lilo.conf
> 
> prompt
> timeout=20
> default=linux
> boot=/dev/hda6
> map=/boot/map
> install=/boot/boot.b
> lba32
> 
> image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667
> label=linux
> initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
> read-only
> append="root=LABEL=/1"
> 
> 
> other = /dev/hda2
> label = PKG
> 

You should definetely read lilo.conf man page.

For your second Fedora install, you don't need to use "other".  Other is 
ment for things LILO don't know how to boot (basically, it would attempt 
to load another boot loader from partition referenced).

Now, there are two ways to get things rolling.  One by having single 
lilo.conf that controlls both Fedora installations.  Another where each 
Fedora installation has its own separate lilo.conf.

First version (single lilo.conf).

Change boot line to "boot=/dev/hda".  This will install LILO into MBR.

Mount your second fedora installation somewhere.  Let say you mounted it 
on /mnt, and I'll assume kernel version in both of your fedora 
installations.  Than, remote the "other" section, and use something like 
this in place of it:

image=/mnt/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667
    label=fc3
    initrd=/mnt/boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
    read-only
    append="root=LABEL=/"

LILO will figure out where /mnt is, and write itself into MBR with 
correct partition references.

Make sure to remove grub/lilo packages from one of your installations. 
When you update the kernel, you don't want funny things happening if 
postinstall script changes "wrong" lilo.conf.  Edit lilo.conf by hand on 
"correct" installation.

Now, the other way to do things is to have two LILOs installed.  One to 
handle one Fedora installation, and another to handle your second 
installation.

For this approach, I'd also recommend having one (main) LILO installed 
in MBR.  Simply change boot option to point to /dev/hda.  I will assume 
your first Fedora installation is /dev/hda6, and your second is /dev/hda2.

The first thing to do would be to boot from rescue, and select *second* 
Fedora installation (/dev/hda2).  When you get shell prompt, chroot 
/mnt/sysimage.  Verify you are in correct Fedora installation.

For this LILO, configure it to install itself into /dev/hda2 
(boot=/dev/hda2).  Check the image=... section to be correct.

Run "lilo" to write LILO into /dev/hda2.

Than, reboot from CD into rescue mode again, and select your first 
installation (/dev/hda6).  When you get shell prompt "chroot 
/mnt/sysimage" and verify you are really in your first installation. 
Configure LILO to go into MBR (boot=/dev/hda).  Now you would use other 
to reference your second installation (as you originally did).  This 
time it will work, because you really do have boot boot loader installed 
into /dev/hda2 (when you booted into rescue mode for first time).

When you boot, first LILO (from MBR) will load second LILO from 
/dev/hda2, which will load your second Fedora installation.  With this 
setup, two installations are independent and kernel updates will update 
and install LILO correctly.

-- 
Aleksandar Milivojevic <amilivojevic at pbl.ca>    Pollard Banknote Limited
Systems Administrator                           1499 Buffalo Place
Tel: (204) 474-2323 ext 276                     Winnipeg, MB  R3T 1L7