hi i have two fedora core 3 installed in a single IDE disk, after the 2nd install of fcore 3 grub didnt boot my 1st fcore partition which i labeled 'pkg', thats why i download the rpm of lilo, then installed it, after adding some entries i run 'lilo' as root then i get this error message below. i hope anyone can help me fixing this problem, thanks.
Added linux * Fatal: First sector of /dev/hda2 doesnt have a valid boot signature
from fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 10.0 GB, 10005037056 bytes 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19386 cylinders Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 163 82120+ 83 Linux /dev/hda2 164 6258 3071880 83 Linux /dev/hda3 6259 7298 524160 82 Linux swap /dev/hda4 7299 19386 6092352 5 Extended /dev/hda5 * 7299 7461 82120+ 83 Linux /dev/hda6 7462 19386 6010168+ 83 Linux
my lilo.conf
prompt timeout=20 default=linux boot=/dev/hda6 map=/boot/map install=/boot/boot.b lba32
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 label=linux initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img read-only append="root=LABEL=/1"
other = /dev/hda2 label = PKG
You should definetely read lilo.conf man page.
For your second Fedora install, you don't need to use "other". Other is ment for things LILO don't know how to boot (basically, it would attempt to load another boot loader from partition referenced).
Now, there are two ways to get things rolling. One by having single lilo.conf that controlls both Fedora installations. Another where each Fedora installation has its own separate lilo.conf.
First version (single lilo.conf).
Change boot line to "boot=/dev/hda". This will install LILO into MBR.
Mount your second fedora installation somewhere. Let say you mounted it on /mnt, and I'll assume kernel version in both of your fedora installations. Than, remote the "other" section, and use something like this in place of it:
image=/mnt/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 label=fc3 initrd=/mnt/boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img read-only append="root=LABEL=/"
LILO will figure out where /mnt is, and write itself into MBR with correct partition references.
Make sure to remove grub/lilo packages from one of your installations. When you update the kernel, you don't want funny things happening if postinstall script changes "wrong" lilo.conf. Edit lilo.conf by hand on "correct" installation.
Now, the other way to do things is to have two LILOs installed. One to handle one Fedora installation, and another to handle your second installation.
For this approach, I'd also recommend having one (main) LILO installed in MBR. Simply change boot option to point to /dev/hda. I will assume your first Fedora installation is /dev/hda6, and your second is /dev/hda2.
The first thing to do would be to boot from rescue, and select *second* Fedora installation (/dev/hda2). When you get shell prompt, chroot /mnt/sysimage. Verify you are in correct Fedora installation.
For this LILO, configure it to install itself into /dev/hda2 (boot=/dev/hda2). Check the image=... section to be correct.
Run "lilo" to write LILO into /dev/hda2.
Than, reboot from CD into rescue mode again, and select your first installation (/dev/hda6). When you get shell prompt "chroot /mnt/sysimage" and verify you are really in your first installation. Configure LILO to go into MBR (boot=/dev/hda). Now you would use other to reference your second installation (as you originally did). This time it will work, because you really do have boot boot loader installed into /dev/hda2 (when you booted into rescue mode for first time).
When you boot, first LILO (from MBR) will load second LILO from /dev/hda2, which will load your second Fedora installation. With this setup, two installations are independent and kernel updates will update and install LILO correctly.
-- Aleksandar Milivojevic <amilivojevic@xxxxxx> Pollard Banknote Limited Systems Administrator 1499 Buffalo Place Tel: (204) 474-2323 ext 276 Winnipeg, MB R3T 1L7
