boot problem after Mandrake upgrade and cannot make LILO work

[Giovanni]

Hi,

I've just upgraded my Mandrake system from 8.1 to 9.1. Everything went
fine, apart from the bootloader upgrade which produced some error
messages I cannot remember.

Now, when I dual boot from LILO on the newly upgraded linux, it stops
with this message:
"Warning: unable to open an initial console".

In order to do some mending, I followed the instructions of
lilo-crashes-rescue-HOWTO. I boot as root with Tom's root boot
(tomsrtbt), as recommended in the Howto.

the command 'fdisk -l' produces:

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1757 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 498 4000153+ b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2 499 1757 10112917+ 85 Linux extended
/dev/hda5 499 500 16033+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 1090 1757 5365678+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 501 563 506016 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda8 564 1089 4225063+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

and the fstab file includes the following information:
/dev/hda8 is the root ( / ) partition,
/dev/hda5 is the /boot partition,
/dev/hda6 is the /home partition.

I then mount as follows:
# mkdir /test
# mount /dev/hda8 /test
# mount /dev/hda5 /test/boot
# mount /dev/hda6 /test/home
# mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows
(the directory is already created).

I then modify /etc/fstab (not /test/etc/fstab) with the 4 new lines as
follows:

/dev/ram0 / minix defaults 1 1
none /proc proc defaults 1 1
/dev/hda8 /test ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda6 /test/home ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda5 /test/boot ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows vfat defaults 1 1

after running command `mount -a' (but it's not really necessary, is
it?), I try:

# chroot /test /sbin/lilo

But it fails with this error message:

"Fatal: open /dev/hda: no such file or directory "

Can anybody explain to me why LILO can't "see" /dev/hda ?

Here's my lilo.conf:

------------------/test/etc/lilo.conf--------------------------
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
vga=normal
default="windows"
keytable=/boot/fr_CH-latin1.klt
prompt
nowarn
timeout=150
message=/boot/message
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux"
root=/dev/hda8
append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
label="failsafe.new"
root=/dev/hda8
append="failsafe devfs=mount acpi=off"
read-only
other=/dev/hda1
label="windows"
table=/dev/hda
other=/dev/fd0
label="floppy"
unsafe
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
label="old_linux"
root=/dev/hda8
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-12.3mdk.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
label="247-3"
root=/dev/hda8
append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="failsafe"
root=/dev/hda8
append="devfs=nomount acpi=off failsafe"
read-only
------------------end of/test/etc/lilo.conf--------------------------

I tried to replace /dev/hda with /dev/hda5, /dev/hda8, /dev/hda2, to
no avail. Further, there is no reason, why it should not work. It
always did boot from /dev/hda.
If I remove the line0 "boot=/dev/hda" from lilo.conf,
LILO complains that it cannot install in a logical device (or
something in this vein), which I presume is expected.

Any hint as to how I can tackle the problem is welcome.

In advance, thanks a lot.

Giovanni

[Bill Marcum]

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 15:04:09 GMT, Giovanni
<ferro-luzzi@ecopo.unige.ch> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've just upgraded my Mandrake system from 8.1 to 9.1. Everything went
> fine, apart from the bootloader upgrade which produced some error
> messages I cannot remember.
>
>
> and the fstab file includes the following information:
> /dev/hda8 is the root ( / ) partition,
> /dev/hda5 is the /boot partition,
> /dev/hda6 is the /home partition.
>
> I then mount as follows:
> # mkdir /test
> # mount /dev/hda8 /test
> # mount /dev/hda5 /test/boot
> # mount /dev/hda6 /test/home
> # mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows
> (the directory is already created).
>
> I then modify /etc/fstab (not /test/etc/fstab) with the 4 new lines as
> follows:
>
> /dev/ram0 / minix defaults 1 1
> none /proc proc defaults 1 1
> /dev/hda8 /test ext2 defaults 1 1
> /dev/hda6 /test/home ext2 defaults 1 1
> /dev/hda5 /test/boot ext2 defaults 1 1
> /dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows vfat defaults 1 1
>
> after running command `mount -a' (but it's not really necessary, is
> it?), I try:
>
> # chroot /test /sbin/lilo
>
> But it fails with this error message:
>
> "Fatal: open /dev/hda: no such file or directory "
>
> Can anybody explain to me why LILO can't "see" /dev/hda ?
>

Are you sure that /test/dev/hda exists?



--
Oh my Darl-ing, oh my Darl-ing, oh my Darl-ing SCO,
For a while the joke was funny, but it's really time to go.

[johninsd at san dot rr dot com]

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 15:04:09 GMT, [email]ferro-luzzi@ecopo.unige.ch[/email] (Giovanni) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I've just upgraded my Mandrake system from 8.1 to 9.1. Everything went
>fine, apart from the bootloader upgrade which produced some error
>messages I cannot remember.
>
>Now, when I dual boot from LILO on the newly upgraded linux, it stops
>with this message:
>"Warning: unable to open an initial console".

This is a kernel message, not a boot-loader message. The last line put out by
LILO before transferring to the kernel is:
"BIOS data check successful".

I am guessing you are past the "Uncompressing .." message, which is the first
line put out by the loaded kernel.

>
>In order to do some mending, I followed the instructions of
>lilo-crashes-rescue-HOWTO. I boot as root with Tom's root boot
>(tomsrtbt), as recommended in the Howto.
>
>the command 'fdisk -l' produces:
>
>Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1757 cylinders
>Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
>/dev/hda1 * 1 498 4000153+ b Win95 FAT32
>/dev/hda2 499 1757 10112917+ 85 Linux extended
>/dev/hda5 499 500 16033+ 83 Linux
>/dev/hda6 1090 1757 5365678+ 83 Linux
>/dev/hda7 501 563 506016 82 Linux swap
>/dev/hda8 564 1089 4225063+ 83 Linux
>
>Partition table entries are not in disk order
>
>and the fstab file includes the following information:
>/dev/hda8 is the root ( / ) partition,
>/dev/hda5 is the /boot partition,
>/dev/hda6 is the /home partition.
>
>I then mount as follows:
># mkdir /test
># mount /dev/hda8 /test
># mount /dev/hda5 /test/boot
># mount /dev/hda6 /test/home
># mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows
>(the directory is already created).
>
>I then modify /etc/fstab (not /test/etc/fstab) with the 4 new lines as
>follows:
>
>/dev/ram0 / minix defaults 1 1
>none /proc proc defaults 1 1
>/dev/hda8 /test ext2 defaults 1 1
>/dev/hda6 /test/home ext2 defaults 1 1
>/dev/hda5 /test/boot ext2 defaults 1 1
>/dev/hda1 /test/mnt/windows vfat defaults 1 1
>
>after running command `mount -a' (but it's not really necessary, is
>it?), I try:
>
># chroot /test /sbin/lilo
>
>But it fails with this error message:
>
>"Fatal: open /dev/hda: no such file or directory "
>
>Can anybody explain to me why LILO can't "see" /dev/hda ?

After a chroot, there is no "/dev" directory in your new file hierarchy.

>
>Here's my lilo.conf:
>
>------------------/test/etc/lilo.conf--------------------------
>boot=/dev/hda
>map=/boot/map
>vga=normal
>default="windows"
>keytable=/boot/fr_CH-latin1.klt
>prompt
>nowarn
>timeout=150
>message=/boot/message
>menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
>image=/boot/vmlinuz
> label="linux"
> root=/dev/hda8
> append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
> read-only
>image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
> label="failsafe.new"
> root=/dev/hda8
> append="failsafe devfs=mount acpi=off"
> read-only
>other=/dev/hda1
> label="windows"
> table=/dev/hda
>other=/dev/fd0
> label="floppy"
> unsafe
>image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
> label="old_linux"
> root=/dev/hda8
> initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.7-12.3mdk.img
> append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
> read-only
>image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-12.3mdk
> label="247-3"
> root=/dev/hda8
> append="devfs=mount acpi=off"
> read-only
>image=/boot/vmlinuz
> label="failsafe"
> root=/dev/hda8
> append="devfs=nomount acpi=off failsafe"
> read-only
>------------------end of/test/etc/lilo.conf--------------------------
>
>I tried to replace /dev/hda with /dev/hda5, /dev/hda8, /dev/hda2, to
>no avail. Further, there is no reason, why it should not work. It
>always did boot from /dev/hda.
>If I remove the line0 "boot=/dev/hda" from lilo.conf,
>LILO complains that it cannot install in a logical device (or
>something in this vein), which I presume is expected.
>
>Any hint as to how I can tackle the problem is welcome.

Don't chroot. Prefix all of the above file paths in "lilo.conf" with
/test/...

Rather than destroy "lilo.conf", create another file: lilo-test.conf with the
changes, and install with:

lilo -C /test/etc/lilo-test.conf




HOWEVER,

the "initial console" problem is not a LILO problem. It is a kernel startup
issue.

--John



LILO version 22++ links at:
[url]http://freshmeat.net/projects/lilo[/url]