[GLLUG] Booting Problem

[pdwald]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:28 PM, Chick Tower <c.e.tower at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have Slackware 14.0 installed on a hard disk.  I plan to install another
> distro, AntiX, on the same hard disk.  I made a change to lilo.conf and ran
> LILO, and now it won't boot.

The question that you post elicits then is: "what changes did you make
to lilo.conf"?

>

> I tried booting with System Rescue CD, which does have LILO installed on it,
> but when I try to reinstall LILO to the hard disk's MBR using a known
> working lilo.conf it fails, saying something like perhaps NFS/RAID isn't
> working.  I don't have either set up on this PC.  I tried booting with
> another live CD, connecting to the internet and installing LILO, and
> reinstalling the known good lilo.conf, but it again fails for the same
> reason.  I do not have the install disks used to install Slackware on the
> hard disk.  I know the lilo.conf is good because I used it before,
> successfully.

I use slackware but having been using grub for a long time (grub is
not standard in slackware); grub is almost a small operating system on
its own right, one can tweak initial bios settings change and hide
partitions,etc.
Legacy grub should be able to read ext4 with the proper patch, but
some distros come with it patched already. Grub2 is big departure from
legacy grub, even the commands set is different; they
could have changed  the inwards of the grub legacy preserving the
command and instructions set or at least keeping limited retroactive
compatibility with the commands/instructions set of grub legacy.

You could try reinstalling LILO from the install DVD/CD (last phase of
the installation process bypassing the initial phases) or looking
inside trying to see what is wrong with it.

>
> Slackware is installed on an ext4-formatted partition.  Legacy GRUB can't
> read that.  I had hoped to use the legacy GRUB that AntiX installs to
> chain-load Slackware's LILO installed to it's root partition rather than the
> MBR.  GRUB2 can read ext4 partitions, so I could install AntiX, install
> GRUB2, and go with that, but I don't care for GRUB2.  I would rather stick
> with legacy GRUB and LILO, but, failing a solution to my problem, I could
> live with GRUB2.  I think I could also install AntiX, install LILO, and use
> that to get the Slackware partition booting again, but then, I had thought
> doing so from a live CD would work, too.
>
> With live CDs, I can mount the Slackware partition, so I can make changes to
> it directly.  I don't want to delete the MBR and start over, unless you know
> of a way that requires that to work.
>
> Does anyone have any other suggestions for how I could get LILO working
> again?
> --
>
>                                Chick
> _______________________________________________
> linux-user mailing list
> linux-user at egr.msu.edu
> http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user