Re: [Sheflug] Boot Problem: LILO or BIOS?

[James Wallbank <xxxxx [at] xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Peter, Alex, Fred, Craig (and anyone else who's given this subject
thought!)

Thanks for all your help. I've now moved the process on a little - but I
still have problems... Here is the short version... (the long version
involves huge quantities of trial and error.)

(1) I messed around with SCSI ID's (fiddly jumpers, confusingly marked)
and set the bootable disk to ID0, and the non-bootable to ID1. No joy -
still "Operating System Not Found".

(2) I went into the Advansys setup (Ctrl-A) and used the (VERY cryptic)
interface to explicitly set the bootable disk as ID0. Aha! Now it boots!

(3) But now I get the error...
LIL- (and it freezes)
But at least I can see the bootable disk now!

I have had a suggestion (thanks Bert) that now the problem is that the
kernel doesn't include SCSI support compiled in. I *CAN* boot the
machine from a boot floppy (which I made during the install process).
Does that fact confirm this suggestion?

I've tried reinstalling and reconfiguring LILO - with several different
kernels (supplied by default) but I suspect that this SCSI support issue
is on the right track.

Do you think my next step is to compile a kernel with SCSI support, or
is there something else (quicker and simpler) that I should check first?

Cheers,

James
=====

On Fri, 2002-05-17 at 10:01, Peter Duffy wrote:
> On Fri, 2002-05-17 at 00:00, James Wallbank wrote:
>  
> > I bought the SCSI hard disks new - so I guess they were totally blank.
> > Hmmm... I didn't low-level format them (well at least not consciously)
> > do you think that might be relevant?
> > 
> > I *think* that the system isn't even attempting to boot off sda5 - so I
> > guess I'll try poking around in the BIOS settings - but it doesn't look
> > hopeful. Even the message "Kernel Panic" or freezing at "LI" would
> > encourage me...
> 
> Hi James,
> 
> A few thoughts:
> 
> 1) Firstly, is the SCSI stuff on the motherboard, or is it a separate
> adapter? (Either way, it will almost certainly be loading some
> extensions to the BIOS, which again almost certainly contain an
> additional setup program, which, if you can get into it, might give you
> some additional clues (with Adaptec and Advansys, it's CTRL-A during
> bootup.) (Of course, Dell may have just munged the SCSI stuff into the
> main BIOS: I've not a lot of experience with their machines.)
> 
> 2) Do you have IDE as well as SCSI disks? If so, this may be confusing
> the issue: try with just the SCSI disks.
> 
> 3) I think there's a rule of thumb by which only a disk with SCSI id 0
> will be checked for a MBR by default (the setup program sometimes allows
> you to change this.) 
> 
> Hope something amongst this lot proves productive, anyway. Best of luck
> ...
> 
> 
> ___________________________________________________________________
> 
> Sheffield Linux User's Group -
> http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
> 
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> 
-- 
James Wallbank
Redundant Technology Initiative
Access Space, 1 Sidney Street,Sheffield S1 4RG UK
T: +44 (0)114 2495522
F: +44 (0)114 2495533
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