FC4t2 no good without LILO

[Guy Fraser]

On Tue, 2005-12-04 at 23:58 -0400, Chuck R. Anderson wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 12, 2005 at 05:06:51PM -0600, Guy Fraser wrote:
> > The biggest problem I have with it, is the error reporting is 
> > awful and you don't get any clue to what caused the problem.
> 
> As opposed to LILO's error reporting consisting of "LI" during bootup?
Check the documentation :

----Start Sample---
Boot loader messages
--------------------

The boot loader generates three types of messages: progress and error 
messages while it is loading, messages indicating disk access errors, and 
error messages in response to invalid command-line input. Since messages of 
the latter type are usually self-explanatory, only the two other categories 
are explained.


LILO start message
- - - - - - - - -

When LILO loads itself, it displays the word "LILO". Each letter is printed 
before or after performing some specific action. If LILO fails at some 
point, the letters printed so far can be used to identify the problem. This 
is described in more detail in the technical overview.

Note that some hex digits may be inserted after the first "L" if a 
transient disk problem occurs. Unless LILO stops at that point, generating 
an endless stream of error codes, such hex digits do not indicate a severe 
problem.

  ()  No part of LILO has been loaded. LILO either isn't installed 
    or the partition on which its boot sector is located isn't active. 
   L  ...   The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started, 
    but it can't load the second stage boot loader. The two-digit error 
    codes indicate the type of problem. (See also section "Disk error 
    codes".) This condition usually indicates a media failure or a geometry 
    mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters, see section "Disk geometry"). 
   LI   The first stage boot loader was able to load the second stage boot 
    loader, but has failed to execute it. This can either be caused by a 
    geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map 
    installer. 
   LIL   The second stage boot loader has been started, but it can't load 
    the descriptor table from the map file. This is typically caused by a 
    media failure or by a geometry mismatch. 
   LIL?   The second stage boot loader has been loaded at an incorrect 
    address. This is typically caused by a subtle geometry mismatch or by 
    moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. 
   LIL-   The descriptor table is corrupt. This can either be caused by a 
    geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/map without running the map 
    installer. 
   LILO   All parts of LILO have been successfully loaded. 


Disk error codes
- - - - - - - -

If the BIOS signals an error when LILO is trying to load a boot image, the 
respective error code is displayed. The following BIOS error codes are 
known:

   0x00   "Internal error". This code is generated by the sector read 
    routine of the LILO boot loader whenever an internal inconsistency is 
    detected. This might be caused by corrupt files. Try re-building the 
    map file. Another possible cause for this error are attempts to access 
    cylinders beyond 1024 while using the LINEAR option. See section "BIOS 
    restrictions" for more details and for how to solve the problem. 
...

If the error occurred during a write operation, the error code (two hex 
digits) is prefixed with a "W". Although write errors don't affect the boot 
process, they might indicate a severe problem, because they usually imply 
that LILO has tried to write to an invalid location. If spurious write 
errors occur on a system, it might be a good idea to configure LILO to run 
read-only (see section "Build-time configuration").

Generally, invalid geometry and attempts to use more than two disks without 
a very modern BIOS may yield misleading error codes. Please check carefully 
if /sbin/lilo doesn't emit any warnings. Then try using the LINEAR option 
(see section "Global options").


Other problems
--------------

This section contains a collection of less common problems that have been 
observed. See also section "Installation of other operating systems" for 
general remarks on using LILO with other operating systems. Some of the 
problems are obscure and so are the work-arounds.

...
----End Sample----

Even a genius like you should be able to figure out what broke.