Re: I screwed up my LILO/HD/partitions - Help!
MallarJ2@aol.com wrote:
> I'm in urgent need of some help in recovering my system. I've made (I think)
> a serious error with LILO and now I can't get my partition mounted.
>
> * I run a dual-boot system with Win2k and Potato
>
> * /dev/hda is my Win2k drive
> * /dev/hdb is my Linux drive
> * /dev/hdb1 is my Linux root partition
> * /dev/hdb2 is my Linux swap partition
>
...
> Now the problem. I wanted to get rid of the Win2k partition altogether and
> use it for another backup/data drive. I thought I could just make /dev/hdb
> bootable via lilo, reformat my /dev/hda drive, and things would be cool. Not
> so.
>
> I updated my lilo.conf to boot from /dev/hdb and mount root as /dev/hdb1 and
> did a lilo -t and lilo to test and install it. No errors.
>
> Now, I can't boot up my Linux partitions at all. I put my CD Rom where
> /dev/hda used to be so my BIOS would keep the same drive locations, and tried
> to boot the system. The PC boots, but it never loads my Linux partition, it
> just displays a blinking cursor at me. No lilo prompt, nothing.
>
> I then put my Win2k drive back into /dev/hda's slot and tried to boot using
> the NT loader, this is a bit better, I can boot up Win2k just fine, but when
> I tried to access the Linux partition, it displays "LIL-" and just locks up.
> I have a feeling I know the problem here, I forgot to copy the boot sector
> from the Linux partition back onto my c:\directory as c:\bootsect.219.
>
Here is what I would do. Go to www.toms.net/rb and download a copy of
tomsrtbt using Windows. Write it to a floppy. Now you have a boot disk.
Change the jumpers on hda and hdb so that the old hdb (with Linux) is the
primary master and the old hda (Windows) is the primary slave. Now Linux
will be on hda1 and Win will be on hdb.
Boot tomsrtbt. At the lilo prompt, hit TAB. Copy the Image name along with
the root partition you want to use. Like this:
bz2bzImage root=/dev/hda1
Ignore the errors. You will now be running Debian with the tomsrtbt kernel.
Using vi, you can edit your /etc/fstab and /etc/lilo.conf files and then run
lilo. Reboot and cross your fingers.
--
David Raeker-Jordan
mailto:rkrjrdn@epix.net
Harrisburg, PA, USA
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