Re: Debian 6.0.5 and loadlin
On Sat, 16 Jun 2012 14:15:10 -0400 (EDT), Mike McClain wrote:
>
> I'm accustomed to running loadlin to launch different versions
> of Linux from dos and it's worked dependably for me for many years.
> I installed a copy of squeeze yesterday on a partition, copied the
> kernel and initrd to C: and tried to boot into squeeze but it just
> resets the computer. It's a P3 system w/ Intel mobo and 512MB ram.
> I've used both these commands with the same result:
>
> loadlin vmlinuz.d60 root=/dev/sdb5 rw
> loadlin vmlinuz.d60 root=/dev/sdb5 rw init=initrd.d60
>
> Is there some reason the squeeze kernel won't run from loadlin
> or is it the more likely scenario that I've goofed up somewhere?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
Mike, this is just a guess, but it wouldn't surprise me if LOADLIN
attempts to load both the kernel and the initial RAM file system
below the 15M line, like LILO used to do. And with modern Linux
kernels and their huge initial RAM file systems, there may not
be enough room below the 15M line anymore. You might try
using MODULES=dep in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/driver-policy
to reduce the size of the initial RAM file system. Of course,
this is a catch 22: you have to be able to boot that kernel first,
somehow, then edit the above file, then run
update-initramfs -uk $(uname -r)
to rebuild the initial RAM file system while you are running the
kernel in question. Then re-copy the initial RAM file system to
DOS and try LOADLIN again. Don't try running update-initramfs
while running some other kernel. Cross-building an initial RAM
file system is a bad idea when using MODULES=dep.
Have you considered switching to LILO?
http://users.wowway.com/~zlinuxman/lilo.htm
--
.''`. Stephen Powell
: :' :
`. `'`
`-
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