I am repeating this since I have not yet seen it appear on the
mailing list.
I just upgraded to redhat 6, and have run into the strangest lilo
behavior I have ever seen.
First, my lilo.conf file:
boot=/dev/sda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux
root=/dev/sda1
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz.old
label=old
root=/dev/sda1
read-only
I have been using that forever, under redhad 5 and before that with
slackware.
note that there is no 'prompt' option. If I try to boot my SC450NX
quad xeon unattended, it gets down to the point where it tries to
mount the root file system and dies with "VFS: unable to mount root
filesystem on device 00:80" (if I remembered that correctly). And it
then panics, naturally, since init can't run and it has no filesystem
to find it in.
If I boot, and hold the shift key down, to get the LILO boot: prompt,
and then simply press <enter> it boots fine. If I do this again and
type "linux" it boots fine. It _only_ fails if I let it boot normally
and don't make it ask for the prompt.
Next, if I add prompt= and timeout=, and let it boot without touching
the keyboard, it prompts, timeouts, and then crashes at the same point.
If I wait for the prompt, then hit <enter>, then it will boot fine.
I know... this seems like something that only an idiot would describe.
But I've been fiddling with Linux forever it seems, and have _never_
had such a strange problem with lilo.
Note that this box has 5 9-gig IBM LVDS scsi drives in the hot-swap
cage using the symbios controller on the MB. So the device=00:80
seems odd to me...
(Alan, please note if you get this but it doesn't show up on the list. I
was down for about 8 hours fiddling with this and while I was tracking it
down I forgot to add myself as a user on my machine. I therefore rejected
several SMP messages, and have been unable to get one posted since.)
Also, to the redhat folks here: How about fixing your brain-dead
lilo.conf where you specifically boot 2.2.5-15 or whatever. It would
be _far_ better to simply specify /boot/vmlinuz, since that is a link
to the most recent kernel and is updated by the Makefile when a new
kernel is built. I'll bet I have answered at least 100 emails with
people asking "I just installed 2.2.9 (or whatever) but when I reboot,
it says 2.2.5 is running. why?"
The answer is to edit lilo.conf and remove the -2.2.5* stuff...
BTW, if I do a dd if=/boot/vmlinuz of=/def/fd0, and leave _that_ diskette
in the drive, the machine will boot unattended just fine. So at least I
can leave the machine and boot from home (just so I don't forget to
rewrite the boot disk when I make a kernel change).
Ideas??? (fixes would be even better. :) )
I had though about trying lilo 20 (I think that was the redhat 5 version
that was working ok).
Bob
Robert Hyatt Computer and Information Sciences
[EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Alabama at Birmingham
(205) 934-2213 115A Campbell Hall, UAB Station
(205) 934-5473 FAX Birmingham, AL 35294-1170
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