On Saturday 11 May 2002 12:22 am, you wrote: > O > > > > Well, there has to be an initrd.image file somewhere ,it has to > > > be found and put into the active /boot directory, because it you > > > don't have one then it's a reinstall job . > > > Grub is only another form of Lilo , it's where the boot script > > > goes if you are using grub. I'm a bit rust with grub , haven't > > > used it for a while, I stick to lilo these days, though there is > > > nothing wrong with using grub as such , it hasn't been around so > > > long as lilo and therefore has a reputation with some that it > > > isn't as good as lilo. but I don't really know that . Each Linux > > > OS has to have it's own kernel version and initrd.image file and > > > they all go in the active /boot directory. > > > You have LM 7.1 and LM8.2 , now I know that 7.1 does not have a > > > very sofisticated lilo install programme and that is why it has > > > to be installed first, on the otherhand LM8.2 can do it all where > > > getting the lilo stanzas right is concerned. Can you get to > > > desktop anywhere at the moment. Can you read all the the > > > directories of both OS's from any Desktop . Surely if you > > > installed 8.2 last you are on desktop in 8.2 at least. It's just > > > a matter of getting into 7.1 and copying the intird.image file > > > and kernel across to 8.2's /boot directory, and then writing your > > > lilo/grub stanza to boot 7.1, and judging from your example ,this > > > ought to do it. I guess your not getting into 7.1's OS at this > > > time, and this is why your not finding the 7.1's initrd.image > > > file , and kernel yes ? > > > > That's a good explanation. > > > > I am in 8.2 no problem. I have hdb5 (7.1) mountimg as /home/old, > > again no problem. No initrd to be found in /home/old/boot/, there > > is the problem that i started this thread with. Bascule seemed to > > be implying that it was unnesecary. > > > > <snip lilo.conf> > > OK, So you are on Desktop in 8.2 , and you say you have a > /home/old/boot, This is not clear to me.
Yes i had Mandrake 8.2 booting okay under LILO. I had Mandrake 7.1 mounting automatically on boot as /home/old. I had edited fstab to include it. No initrd file to be found in amongst my 7.1 files anywhere. I had done file searches from within konq on "initrd*" searching through the /home/old directory structure (recursive searching and case insensitive searching were both selected). In 8.2, they are both (vmlinuz and initrd) in /boot, thus i would have expected to find it in /home/old/boot but initrd was not there. > > If you have the 7.1 OS mounted there has to be an entry in the > /etc/fstab file of LM8.2 to get it mounted. This file is read at > boot time and provided the stanza to mount it is correct you will > have a mounted 7.1 OS to go rummage around. I suspect that you don't > have a mounted 7.1 OS in LM8.2. though I may be wrong. <snip> I had created other issues while doing package updates. So i decided to reload 8.2. As i had tarballs of both /home and /root of 7.1, i also decided to repartition and reload it back on to the old 4Gig drive. Loaded it with all docs this time and LILO instead of grub. I had a working stanza for lilo.conf then to import into 8.2. The "vga=788" line was causing more greif, it turned out to be unsupported under 7.1. Reinstalled 8.2 (treating package updates gingerly this time, one at a time and not trying to update ghostscript as it locked up X). With all the docs loaded on 7.1 i got konq to do another search for "initrd*". Found a kernal doc that was very informative. As Bascule said in the first place initrd is/was entirely optional and it seems under 7.1 it was left to the user to implement if they chose. It is a ram disk image that has various commands preloaded into it that are used during the boot cycle, then dumped - that is if i read it correctly. Anyway copied my vmlinuz-blah-blah across. Installed 7.1' lilo stanza in 8.2 lilo.conf. Typed "lilo" as su and it is away. Still could not completely recover netscape mail even after installing the /home tarball, but that is another issue... i know what to do next with that. I am a happy chappy and i can go back to my security updates et al now knowing that i have learned something. Thanks Bascule, and thanks for trying John. Michael
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