georgeg4 Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 i installed SuSe 9.1 personal edition on my hdb using the entire disk . it rebooted itself halfway through the installation and came back in with grub . but when i try to boot from grub i get the message that the kernel is not loaded . it also wiped out my lilo bootloader which i promptly reinstalled using the rescue disk . but now i cant boot into drake either i tried using the failsafe as well but it tries to boot up on the secondary hd where i installed suse .my conf is as belowhda 1 = win chda 2 = win dhda 5 = drakehda 6 = drake /homehda 7 was a fat partition but it is now gone .the rest of my hda is emptyhdb1 = suse the boot disk tries to boot drake at hdb1 i have tried a boot floppy and also my bootable cd for drake but they both fail as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 So SuSE is not installed completely. I would reinstall SuSE and direct the installer to put the bootloader on the floppy. (The bootloader will be written to SuSE's / partition as well.) Then at least you can start and run SuSE after the install completed.Later, try to rescue Drake and reinstall its lilo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 13, 2004 Author Share Posted October 13, 2004 ok i will try it again striker but i didnt abort the install it rebooted itself at the point where it should have been installing the bootloader it never went far enough to make the floppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 Direct it to hdb1 again and see what happens. It should offer you the possibility to install the bootloader to either the mbr, the root or the floppy. Take the floppy and let it install the bootloader there. BUT : did you create a swap file on that hdb too ? I'm not sure of this, but it might be the problem here. It needs a swap file and I'm not sure if it sees the one on hda...if you created any on there. (You didn't list it in your above post ?) I'm going to hit the sack now, will have a peek into here tomorrow. Good luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 ok i will try it again striker but i didnt abort the install it rebooted itself at the point where it should have been installing the bootloader it never went far enough to make the floppyHi George,SuSe does that... Reboot. It's part of the process and although it looks like it's finished, leave it until it tells you it has completed the install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 13, 2004 Author Share Posted October 13, 2004 ok ozi thanks i will do that and yes i forgot to mention the swap file on my hda striker but if i can i will make one on hdb as welli am off to try again thanks all for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James M. Fisher Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 Hi George,SuSe does that... Reboot. It's part of the process and although it looks like it's finished, leave it until it tells you it has completed the install. That freaked me too the first time it happened! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 One thing I forgot to mention George was that SuSE ""LOVES"" to install on, and will TAKE the LAST partition of a drive. I don't know if it would want to recognise Hdb in preference to Hda... (Last partition). That may explain why there's nothing left on hda7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 That freaked me too the first time it happened! Yes, one tends to dive for the CD drive eject button because one thinks it's going to Re-Install.... We never learn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 13, 2004 Author Share Posted October 13, 2004 Success I am posting in Suse as we speak . thanks for your help . I do however have one more minor question . how do i make a bootdisk in suse . i tried mkbootdisk but that doesnt work . i did as you said and it booted up from the cd and now i dont know if i have a bootloader installed or not . i havent tried rebooting yet . ( i will do so after i get the boot disk done ) and then i would like to reinstall lilo instead of grub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 Hi George,Congratulations!!!! SuSE gives you options for Safe-Mode and System Rescue on the CD at Boot. Would it be necessary for a boot disk in these circumstances. I mean I'm still learning too.. so what is the benefit.Btw, I don't have SuSE installed at present as I've got Mandrake on both Pc's. And did you know that there are twice as many SuSE users as there are Mandrake. I suppose because it is so simple to install, use and Update.... You may want to have a look at YaST (Boot Options) and see if has a create Boot-Disk option. :huh:I'm pretty sure it gives you the option to use LiLo or Grub........ I THINK it's SuSE, or was it one of the OTHER Distro's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 14, 2004 Author Share Posted October 14, 2004 i am not sure either ozi . i know mandrake does and so does red hat but that is about all i know i use mandrake as my default too so as soon as i logoff i will try to repair my lilo . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 (edited) GOOD WORK GEORGE !Making the boot floppy :Go to YaST > your root password > choose System > choose Create a Boot, Rescue or Module Floppy ... That' s NOT gonna work just to boot your system with a floppy in the usual way .That' s nice to start making a couple of rescue floppies, but not just a simple " start up disk" .For that open up a konsole, log in as ROOT and follow the below : /sbin/lilo -b /dev/fd0 That simple command will write lilo to a boot floppy with which you can start the system. I tested it on 9.1 Pro, also tested the YaST method which didn' t work for the required purpose.Just do the above command line trick : that one did it. Edited October 14, 2004 by striker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 Hi GeorgeI will take the Drake part to answer:If you flip in the 1st Mandrake CD and do an "upgrade" of your present Mandrake install, it will check what is already there and fix what is wrong . . . that way you will be able to boot Mandrake again :DB) Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 14, 2004 Share Posted October 14, 2004 Yep, that' s the way to go : thanks Bruno for jumping in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 15, 2004 Author Share Posted October 15, 2004 thanks striker and brunoi am afraid i bragged just a little too soon . i did as i said get suse to boot up but when i looked in yast to make a floppy it and as you said striker that didnt work . so i tried rebooting and removed grub from my mbr and did as bruno suggested with the first drake disk tried to upgrade it would not install the bootloader .and at the end i tried to make a replay boot disk it wouldnt recognize fd0 for some reason . well to make a long story short i ruined my mbr and had to reinstall windows and drake . now i need to find out how to avoid installing grub in 9.1 there is no option to use lilo as the boot loader nor could i find an option to install the bootloader on a floppy or simply not install it . also when suse installed grub i could not get it to boot into either linux or windows . right now i just have windows ( without any modem drivers ) and drake which i am using now .i do have a partition of 11gb formatted as ext3/usr to convert to suse . p.s. i used reiser fs for suse as that was the default and i assume that was the reason suse didnt recognize drake .and i nother thing is i could not find an option to add any other distros to grub . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxdude32 Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 I have Windows 98SE, SUSE and recently added Mandrake 10.1 (Community Edition).The way I did it was to install Mandrake in the last partition which I created especially for it. I let Mandrake to over-write the MBR.Then I wanted to get back into SUSE (and I prefer GRUB to LILO), so I inserted the first SUSE disc, chose installation when it came up and then picked US language (even though I'm Canadian, darn it! ), and then it noticed I had Linux already installed and asked if I wanted to fix or boot an installed Linux system. I picked the option to boot, and it gave me the choice of SUSE or Mandrake (and it knew it was Mandrake 10.1!). I chose SUSE. I could've also chosen the option to fix the boot loader and it would've done it allowing me to get back into SUSE, but I'd still have to do the next step (adding Mandrake to my boot list), so I didn't bother.Once back in SUSE, I selected YaST --> Boot Loader Configuration. Then I went and added a new entry for Mandrake, using the existing SUSE entry as a template. This tool even has the ability to auto-detect multiple /boot partitions and create menus (though you might have to edit them slightly). Basically, you need an entry that has this info on where and what the kernel name is (usually vmlinuz works) and what partition is the root (unless you have a separate /boot partition this is the same partition as where the kernel is), and where the initrd file is (if you have one that is - it's usually called initrd.img on Mandrakelinux). Then I rebooted to test.Hopefully this info is of some use to you. You can alternatively edit lilo.conf under Mandrake to boot Mandrake or you can use another bootloader altogether. Peachy knows of one that supports many multiple OSes and is easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 (edited) Hi George,I have both Mandrake and SuSE on one HD and I just boot SuSE with a Lilo on floppy. (one day I'll put it in the vmlinuz). All of the options you mention above are actually part of SuSE. When you to get to the Install section of 'Boot-loader options', Just double click (I think it's ""boot-loader type"" where it says GRUB) and it will give you the option of Grub, LILO or NONE...Choose Lilo and tell it to load the MBR to Floppy (Same Section) then when it goes to copy files to the floppy, tell it not to transfer the files, and leave the Disk in the drive until you've finished.You can double-click most of the boot-options and they will give you "alternatives"HAVE FUN.... If no one else can help you, I may do a 'dry-run' for you and record the actions needed. :thumbsup:PS. You may also think it has died while copying and continuing from the floppy option... Just let it run. And doing it this way... it just kisses the floppy on boot and continues to load from HD, so you are not waiting for the 'Boot' from floppy. Edited October 15, 2004 by Ozidave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Forget the Lilo-to-floppy George... (It works fine, BUT!!!) You only have to change one thing in YaST and you can't get the Bit*h to boot up either way after that, and 'repair' doesn't see the partions either. Will re-install and stick to the 'Boot-from-Floppy' option for now I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 I think it's ""boot-loader type"" where it says GRUB) and it will give you the option of Grub, LILO or NONE...This is 100% correct Dave . . . exactly there you can choose the bootloader and change it to lilo if wanted ! Bruno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 This is 100% correct Dave . . . exactly there you can choose the bootloader and change it to lilo if wanted ! BrunoHi Bruno,And I'm beginning to think that SuSE needs to be installed first so that it can write the MBR which can then be emended / overwitten with another Distro install. (Remembering of course that SuSE's Drive No's will change). Then edit the 'other' Lilo.SuSE to my knowledge (at the moment) is the only Distro that boots halfway through the install and you cannot get it to continue the install if there is another Linux boot-loader in the way. Windows it recognises, anything else............... :thumbsdown:So the floppy seems to be the best alternative... (for Me, anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 I don't understand all the problems. When I did my Suse install I simply skipped the step to install a boot loader. After I finished installing it I then went in to Drake and mounted my Suse partition and copied the files over to Drake and added them to my lilo. Is there a particiular reason why this will not work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Julia,How did you get SuSE to complete the installation when it re-boots half-way through and will not continue without a boot-loader installed, and instead wants to re-boot using Mandrake or any other installed Distro in the MBR, and will not continue to recognise SuSE from the CD?Your Lilo shows SuSE in safe-mode... Is that a full install, or just the shell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 George,Repair or Boot is not availlable from that cd.It's a bug in the installer, please see the document below for a workaround :http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/05/thal...mod_91pers.htmlWhen I read all those problems, it leads me to believe you're simply missing several instal steps.The whole install procedure in SuSE is a bit different then in other distros, in SuSE it's HTML based, that means you can click on the headers of the options you get displayed to change them. In other words, it's not just point and install but it's "looking at-clicking the headers to change content if necessary" .At first it's a bit confusing but once you get the hang of it it's really easy.If you like I can send you the unpacked user guide and admin guide in ready to use html format, including all necessary screenshots, regarding install procedure.Send me a PM for details.Another document you may like to have a peek in is this one :http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2004/02/bugs91.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 15, 2004 Author Share Posted October 15, 2004 ok all thanks for all the input . now lets see if i can get my "personal i/o " to work . i will post back later and let you know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 That means you can click on the headers of the options you get displayed to change them. In other words, it's not just point and install but it's "looking at-clicking the headers to change content if necessary" .Hi Striker and George,I thought I'd just add this bit if it will assist.It's Not only the headers George. If you double-click what appears to be 'normal' text lines in the 'Installer' they too will change to 'Options'.And of course, this doesn't work if you have selected to actually edit the Lilo 'manually' in the TEXT mode. I re-installed it myself and decided to stay with just the Boot-Loader on Floppy. But I will be looking at the advice Striker has given (Thank the Lord for a SuSE user) and see what else, if anything I can do to make it easier to Install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 I will replace my copy of Pro to Personal tomorrow morning. That way I might be able to track some things down and perhaps offer some help directly. There are some fundamental differences between the Pro and the Personal version. I decided to go with the Personal Edition for a couple of weeks, because in a few weeks the 9.2 Pro Edition will hit the shelves and I do want to buy a copy of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 15, 2004 Author Share Posted October 15, 2004 Partial SuccessOk i got both distros loaded . here is the breakdown of what i did after several tries .first i loaded the suse diskwhen it came to partitions i chose expertformatted hda8 as ext 3 <============/ suseformatted hda 5 as linux native <=======My original drake partition ( uninstalled mandrake )formatted hda 6 as swapleft hda 7 alone <========== this is drake /home saving my settingsafter an unevenfull install <==== since you told me about the reboot during the install i changed the bootloader to liloi also configured suse as default and drake 10 on hda 5 <====== remember it is now emptynow i reinstalled drake in hda5 <====== here i skipped the bootloadernow i have to configure lilo to accept suse see /etc/lilo.conf below this time when i rebooted suse wouldnt boot completely it stopped with a kernel panic ( couldnt find the init image .)but it did boot up into drake just fine below is my /lilo.conf menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bwimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="Mandrake" root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img append="devfs=mount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent" vga=788 read-onlyimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="Suse" root=/dev/hda8 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.4-52.img <==========i just changed this entry from initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.4-52 - default ( this is how suse showed it in its lilo but it wint boot with the - in it ) append="devfs=mount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6" read-onlyimage=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk label="263-7" root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img append="devfs=mount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent" read-onlyimage=/boot/vmlinuz label="failsafe" root=/dev/hda5 initrd=/boot/initrd.img append="failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6 devfs=nomount" read-onlyother=/dev/hda1 label="windows" table=/dev/hdaother=/dev/hdb1 label="windows2" table=/dev/hdb map-drive=0x80 to=0x81 map-drive=0x81 to=0x80other=/dev/fd0 label="floppy" unsafe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozidave Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Hi George,At least you are getting there... I had a look at what Striker was proposing and its a very useful extra.There is also something in SuSE Lilo config that says something like WYSI Not WYG, meaning it's actually written to disk differently. You may notice all of the spaces in the lines in SuSE edit Lilo... but they don't appear in the actual Lilo config.That's why I'm beginning to think that SuSE is best installed to Floppy-Boot during install and then configured with any other Lilo that one is using to include it.Will play some more later... Unless Striker comes up with the 'easiest' way.It's also 'wedding day' for the eldest today, and if I don't get off this computer, my missus is gonna KILL me.Will pick this up tommorrow.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeg4 Posted October 16, 2004 Author Share Posted October 16, 2004 ok ozi same thing here i am going to continue tommorrow . good luck with the wedding . wish the happy couple the best of luck from me . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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