OK, I had a post in here but I thought I'd start a new one.

My previous problem:

Had RedHat 7.1 working fine but just couldn't leave it alone. Tried to add sound using RPM and then xconfig. All of a sudden was getting LIL- and the machine wouldn't boot. Tried every combo od editing /etc/lilo.conf and runnig /sbiin/lilo I could think of but still I got this error.

Got all kinds of replies as to the problem but no ACTUAL solution. Found out that the results for hdparm were different than those in the BIOS. What do I do now?

My Solution?
I reinstalled Linus but I still get the LIL- hangup. Can boot off the boot floppy with no problems but it takes too long and I want to be able to boot from the HDD.

My Question?
What do I do to get the geometries matched or whatever? Should I try GRUB or something else?

Thanks all.

What happens if you wipe out the MBR with fdisk and then try making changes to the lilo.conf and running it again to reinstall it? Unless you have already tried that.

With fdisk from dos or Linux? I didn't do anything to /boot because, well, I didn't know what to do!

I figured when I reinstalled Linux during the format everything would have been recreated.

You can do it from either. Usually the MBR is the only part when installing Linux or Windows and formatting during the install it won't reformat, well as far as I know. I once had problems and had to do a reinstall and by formatting the MBR cleared those problems up.

Although using the MBR is the most sensible method of controlling which operating system boots from where, there is an inherent problem:

If you enjoy 'trying' different OSs that require their own partitions, make sure you boot from the Windows partition and do a 'fdisk /mbr' BEFORE you decide to completely remove or overwrite your new OS.

I decided to 'try' QNX v4 once. Nice little operating system, well presented, etc. Didn't install properly the first time, so I tried again. Still didn't install, so I 'fdisk /mbr'ed to re-instate Windows as the bootable OS. What a mistake! I hadn't done this before 'installing' QNX for the 2nd time, so when I 'fdisk'ed, all I got was the computer looking for a bootable partition where I had previously had QNX.

I would suggest using the MBR as it does save a lot of hassle, but it can also bring doom to those who are inexperiences in such matters.

If in doubt, install a program like 'Midnight Commander' or whatever it's called. It is probably a safer way for those who are inexperienced to 'play' with new OSs (which is always a good idea - that's how I discovered Lin!).

Have fun.