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I just installed Linux 7.1, kernel 2.4.2 with LILO in the MBR. After I boot, I get the "L" on the screen and nothing else. When I installed Linux (Red Hat), before rebooting I received a warning about hdb not being the first disk.
The result is that I can boot off of the floppy, but not off of the hard drive. I have an 8 gig drive partitioned as follows:
/dev/hdb1 1 1014 8144923 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 1015 1027 104422 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 1015 1027 104394 82 Linux Swap
I can't figure out why the drive is not hda other than the fact that it's a compaq using cable select instead of normal master slave.
I checked lilo.conf and it seems to be referencing hdb properly but I don't know for sure.
Any ideas? I'd be happy to supply more details but this is an entirely new operating and file system and I don't know even where to begin to look I can't wait to start exploring linux but booting off of the hard drive seems to be an important first task
the first thing i would check( and you may have already) is the boot order in the bios. make sure it is c only, or c,a,cdrom. if the hard drive and cdrom share a cable, it's probably looking for lilo on the cdrom drive.
I just installed Linux 7.1, kernel 2.4.2 with LILO in the MBR. After I boot, I get the "L" on the screen and nothing else. When I installed Linux (Red Hat), before rebooting I received a warning about hdb not being the first disk.
The result is that I can boot off of the floppy, but not off of the hard drive. I have an 8 gig drive partitioned as follows:
/dev/hdb1 1 1014 8144923 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 1015 1027 104422 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 1015 1027 104394 82 Linux Swap
I can't figure out why the drive is not hda other than the fact that it's a compaq using cable select instead of normal master slave.
I checked lilo.conf and it seems to be referencing hdb properly but I don't know for sure.
Any ideas? I'd be happy to supply more details but this is an entirely new operating and file system and I don't know even where to begin to look I can't wait to start exploring linux but booting off of the hard drive seems to be an important first task
Thanks in advance!
Valerie
Here's a snip you have have a look at. Your 'boot' should be /dev/hda - this is where we'll write the MBR. Your 'image' should point to /boot/your_linux_kernel. Your 'root' should point to /dev/hdb1
Code:
append="vga=0x0301"
boot=/dev/hda
vga = normal # force sane state
menu-scheme=Wg:kw:Wg:Wg
read-only
prompt
timeout=100
# End LILO global Section
#
image = /boot/vmlinuz
root = /dev/hdb1
label = linux
I'm learning that the problem is with compaq's unique way of handling hard drives. They use cable select so I can't set the hard drive as the 'master'. The jumper has a special setting.
Secondly, Compaq writes something to the diagnostic cyllinder on their drives which helps their bios recognize the hard drive, so I can't play with bios settings - at least not where the drive is concerned (Very long story short).
So I guess I have a new question...
Has anyone ever gotten Red Hat Linux to run successfully on the presario 5441? Anyone have any suggestions on how I can maybe force Lilo into seeing the drive as hda?
Thank you, everybody, for your responses. I'm new to Linux and once I finally get a system running, I'm sure I'll be posting more questions. Thanks, all, for you help!
Originally posted by Valerie I'm learning that the problem is with compaq's unique way of handling hard drives. They use cable select so I can't set the hard drive as the 'master'. The jumper has a special setting.
Secondly, Compaq writes something to the diagnostic cyllinder on their drives which helps their bios recognize the hard drive, so I can't play with bios settings - at least not where the drive is concerned (Very long story short).
So I guess I have a new question...
Has anyone ever gotten Red Hat Linux to run successfully on the presario 5441? Anyone have any suggestions on how I can maybe force Lilo into seeing the drive as hda?
Thank you, everybody, for your responses. I'm new to Linux and once I finally get a system running, I'm sure I'll be posting more questions. Thanks, all, for you help!
Valerie
Oh. The Compaq diagnostic partition. The <F10> thingy.
I don't think the diags use the mbr. They live at the end (beginning) of the hdd. all you should have to do is tell lilo to use hda for the MBR (boot = /dev/hda) and tell it that the root filesystem is on /dev/hdb1. Then run lilo (/sbin/lilo) and you should be good to go.
I don't think the diags use the mbr. They live at the end (beginning) of the hdd. all you should have to do is tell lilo to use hda for the MBR (boot = /dev/hda) and tell it that the root filesystem is on /dev/hdb1. Then run lilo (/sbin/lilo) and you should be good to go.
---------------------
mccleodnine,
The problem is that linux seems to be naming my one and only hard drive hdb instead of hda. It's connected to the correct connector on the cable, but Linux still identifies it as hdb. When I run fdisk, it sees hdb1, hdb5, etc... As long as it's seen as the second hard drive, lilo won't load properly. The cdrom is on an entirely separate cable so I don't believe that the system thinks the cdrom is drive a, but who knows.
Bummer indeed. Compaq uses more than just the diagnostic cylinder; they have a special "system partition" which they use to store some of the boot code. This has caused some problems for Linux users, but i don't think it should cause your drive to appear as hdb. For more info on this, go to google and enter "Compaq Linux partition" (no qoutes) as your search criteria.
I would re-check your cabling to make sure that the hard drive is really plugged into the Primary IDE channel, and not the Secondary channel. If for some reason the CD-ROM's cable is plugged into the Primary channel, your hard drive will be identified as hdb. There may be something marked on the motherboard to help you determine which connector is the Primary and which is secondary, but if not just try switching the two cables, it won't hurt anything.
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