Re: Linux, FAT32 and a mighty odd MBR.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dale Harrison <dth@cns.aust.com>
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 1997 9:26 PM
Subject: Linux, FAT32 and a mighty odd MBR.
>Hello.
>
>I had a weird problem last night, installing Debian 1.3* on a friends PC.
>For what it's worth, it's a PentiumII/266, some hideous amount of memory,
>some hideous amount of HD space.
>
>Aside from the SuperMicro motherboard bug [Which has been reported, I'm
>fairly sure..], you know, the one where the bootable cd sits there at the
>LDLINUX.SYS line.., everything went fairly smoothly.
>
>Until it came to LILO. Installed LILO, booted Linux fine. Added the lines
>to boot Win95, it took 2 goes for it to install the new record [it never
>complained the first time about failing]. Problem is, it simply doesn't
>boot Win95. It says "booting Win95", then returns to the LILO prompt.
>
>Ok, a bit of a hassle. He needs his Win95 stuff more than Linux, so I'll
>just remove LILO and figure out something else later. lilo -u, lilo -U
>both complain that theres no LILO boot signature on /dev/hda. Hence
>nothing is removed.
>
>Hmmm. Boot via Win95 rescue disk and fdisk /mbr. Reboot and LILO's STILL
>there. Tried this more times than I can recall.. LILO won't die. System
>Commander reported some wacky things about the MBR, saying things were
>pretty well screwed with it.
>
>The problem remains, I can't seem to overwrite the MBR, not with LILO, not
>with fdisk. I found out that the Windows partition was FAT32, but surely
>LILO can handle this? [does it make much of a difference with the MBR?]
>
>So, I guess I'm throwing this out to you guys, is this a Windows problem?
>A Debian problem? A LILO problem? A FAT32 problem?
>
>Any suggestions for fixing?
>
>Thanks,
>D.
Using this setup
/dev/hda1 Win95
/dev/hda2 Linux
/dev/hda3 Linux Swap
/dev/hda Generic MBR, not Lilo
/dev/hda1 Win95 Boot sector
/dev/hda2 LILO
/dev/hda2 is set as active with FDISK.
Bios reads generic MBR off of /dev/hda. MBR reads the first sector off the
active partition, ie /dev/hda2. LILO is now active. From here, it either
reads the linux kernel, or some other, ie chained, partition. Solution:
Use FDISK to change active flag.
I don't know why you can't boot win95 from lilo's prompt. Could we see your
/etc/lilo.conf file? And a copy of fdisk's output?
(echo /etc/lilo.conf;cat /etc/lilo.conf;echo -n;echo -e
"p\nq\n"|fdisk)|email.txt
Adam Heath
adam.heath@usa.net
http://wwp.mirabilis.com/3375265 -- Page me
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