Re: Etch won't load after eight attempts
On Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 07:47:01PM -0400, Ken Heard wrote:
> What happened earlier today is more or less typical of the what I have
> been up against. I was able to complete the eighth installation with
> the xfs file system and KDE. On the recommendation of the installer I
> used the LILO boot loader instead of GRUB.
I don't remember the installer making a recommendation for LILO. I'd go
with GRUB.
>
> One of the first things I did by way of configuration today was to run
> aptitude update and then to run aptitude upgrade. On of the packages to
> be upgraded was the kernel (2.6.18-6-686). As part of the configuration
> of this package by aptitude, I was told that this was the same kernel
> already installed and that consequently I would have to reboot as soon
> as the upgrade was finished.
Well, at least you know the installer will work since you are able to
run aptitude. I do wish that Debian didn't use the same kernel version
number for updates since on very rare occasions one ends up with an
unbootable system.
> I did so, but the reboot ended when the machine hung after returning
> the following the following message:
>
> "LILO 22.6.1 Loading EBDA is big; kernel setup stack overlaps LILO
> second stage"
>
> What does this message mean? What if anything can I do to get the
> machine working again? (Subsquent boots returned the same message after
> booting?)
>
> Or is my only option to attempt a ninth installation and hope for the best?
>
I don't know what the problem is since I haven't used LILO since, I
think, Potato (IOW, I think I was using Grub on Sarge).
You could go ahead and reinstall and use Grub. If you want to try to
fis things, here's what I'd suggest:
1. Boot the installer in rescue mode and get a shell chrooted to
your system. It will then be like the system booted.
2. Use aptitude and install grub while removing LILO.
3. Since the kernel install itself went OK, you may now be fine.
4. If not, Grub may give you a better error message.
Doug.
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