Hello,
I've had problems trying to install LILO as the boot loader for my initial Debian Lenny install.
I booted from the Lenny CD and installed the system without a network mirror. When I got to the Software Selection screen, I selected Standard System for a minimum install.
When I get to the Install GRUB boot loader screen, I select Go Back, and am returned to the main menu. I then select Install LILO boot loader and this is where the fun begins.
Installation Target as /dev/hda.
Large-Memory option run /sbin/lilo now For some unknown reason, lilo would fail and I would get an error code of 01. Checking the error terminal didn't tell me anything useful. The result was that I was left with an unstable system that I couldn't boot to.
I rebooted from the install CD, and went into rescue mode from the menu. I could shell using my root partion.
I eventually figured out that lilo itself was in /sbin and I could run it...but ONLY as "lilo.real" !!! When I tried to run lilo.real it failed because the support files weren't installed, there was no initrd, and no vmlinuz.
It appears that when the installer attempts to run lilo, it may fail but leaves the vmlinuz and initrd files on /boot. It also leaves the bootsect.b file in /target/usr/lib/lilo. However, us newbies don't always know this and figure we'll just reboot the system and see what happens.
Well...guess what happens...First the machine doesn't boot (obviously), but worse yet, the installer deletes all the files in boot before it reboots!!!! This leaves the newbie in an endless loop of trying to install, lilo failing, having to reinstall, lilo failing...etc.
This is a REALLY BAD THING because it left me with no method to install lilo (as far as I knew), or correct the problems that were preventing lilo from installing.
I eventually figured this out and copied the needed files to a temporary directory using a shell while still in the installer. When I was able to reboot into rescue mode and shell to my root partition, I could copy the files into /boot, get the /usr/lib/lilo/bootsect.b, and run lilo successfully.
I also eventually figured out that the reason lilo failed had something to do with inconsistent partitions. It also appeared the lilo was changing the partition table, which was causing additional problems. I finally found out that I needed to specify the "change" option in each image entry in lilo.conf. However, this still didn't resolve the initial problem of the installer removing the support files for running lilo manually.
I would ask you to take a look at the installation programs and figure out why the installer would delete all the files on boot instead of leaving them for rescue mode fixing. If it is able to get so far as to successfully install the files, why should there be any reason to remove them????
Much thanks
Christopher |