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Re: Help: New kernel image, boot trashed



On Mon, 19 Jan 2004 13:18:21 +0200, David Baron wrote:

> In the continuing attempt to get my ext3 active, following instructions in
> the Debian Reference, I apt-got a new kernel image (so I took the 2.24-1
> version, i686-smp. This installs demanding and initrd.
> 
> I edited lilo config with an /image option to use this new image and the
> initrd.img-... created by the install (the journal and ext2 and ext3) in the
> mkinitrd modules file.
> 
> I never got to try it out! Instead of the menu presenting my old and new
> images, I get L 99 99 99 99.... and after a bunch of 99's, nothing.
> 
> What did I do wrong. I can get into the system with the Knoppix CD--how do I
> fix it?

man lilo

...will tell you that 99 is "invalid second stage index sector (LILO)"...
I suspect that you didn't run lilo after making your changes to
/etc/lilo.conf.

The simplified rule is:  whenever you make changes to your /etc/lilo.conf,
or to your /boot directory, or wherever you keep the kernel images, you
need to rerun lilo.  This is because lilo builds a map of where everything
it needs resides on the physical disk:  that way, it doesn't have to grok
filesystems at boot time, because it reads physical disk sectors.

I think that there is more than one recent thread in here on how to fix it
using knoppix, or, for immediate help, ask in the debian IRC channel.

It's actually a bit easier to fix with a debian rescue floppy;  if you
have one, you enter "rescue root=/dev/..." (substituting your root device,
of course) at the boot prompt, and then you can run lilo. (This is IIRC,
it's been weeks since I last forgot to run lilo, ha ha.)

-- 
....................paul

It is important to realize that any lock can be picked with a big
enough hammer.
               -- Sun System & Network Admin manual




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