[97487] in RedHat Linux List
RE: LIL- problems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richardson,Anthony)
Tue Nov 3 11:47:59 1998
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 23:25:00 -0500
From: "Richardson,Anthony" <ARichard@stark.cc.oh.us>
To: redhat-list <redhat-list@redhat.com>
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
You get a geometry mismatch when the BIOS cylinder/head/sector
geometry doesn't match that used by lilo when the map table is
constructed. I believe lilo gets its geometry from the kernel
which in turn tries to get the geometry from the BIOS or directly
from the drive or by "guessing" it from the partition table. (I'm
not sure which - I believe that any one of these may be the
source of the geometry info for the kernel under certain conditions.)
At boot time, lilo has to use the BIOS to load linux from the drive
and you get a geometry mismatch if the BIOS geometry doesn't agree
with the geometry lilo assumed when the map file was created. (The
lilo map file contains CHS address info for OS files.)
The program dparam that comes with lilo can be used under DOS to
determine what geometry the BIOS is using. Look at kernel messages
or run lilo in verbose mode to determine what geometry lilo
is using.
Anyway, instead of trying to get the geometries to match
(changing the geometry the kernel uses can confuse fdisk and
you'd need to tell fdisk to use the old geometry) it is usually
much easier just to use the "linear" option in lilo.conf and
then rerun lilo. The "linear" option causes lilo to store
absolute sector numbers instead of CHS numbers in the map file.
These are translated by the lilo boot loader into CHS numbers
at boot time using the BIOS geometry. It works because the
absolute sector numbers usually refer to the same sector
on the disk regardless of which geometry is used.
Hope this helps,
Tony
On Tuesday, November 03, 1998 10:29 AM, redhat-list
[SMTP:redhat-list@redhat.com] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been bedeviled by LILO ever since I've started using Linux.
> Sometimes, it works fine when I do a fresh install, other times I'm
> forced
> to boot from a floppy. And most of the time, I haven't been able to
> figure out how to fix it.
>
> On my current machine, I get:
>
> LIL-
>
> Digging around in some FAQ, I find the following:
>
> LIL- The descriptor table is corrupt. This can either be caused by a
> geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/map without running the map
> installer.
>
> However, I don't know how to remedy the situation. How do I go about
> checking for a geometry mismatch? And suppose I did /boot/map - how
> do I
> go about running the map installer (is that LILO?)
>
> Currently, kernels and junk like that does reside in /boot which is
> part
> of the root directory and mounted off of /sda1.
>
> Here's relevant information:
>
> I have a 4.3Gb Quantum SCSI drive and I'm using an Adaptect 2940UW
> SCSI
> card. The drive was partitioned with Disk Druid since at the time I
> didn't know how to use fdisk.
>
> My /etc/lilo.conf is:
>
> boot = /dev/sda1
> delay = 5 # optional, for systems that boot very quickly
> vga = ASK # force sane state
> append="mem=128M"
> root = current # use "current" root
> map = /boot/System.map
> image = /boot/vmlinuz
> label = linux
>
> The partition table from fdisk is:
>
> Disk /dev/sda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 553 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
>
> Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
> /dev/sda1 * 1 1 42 337333+ 83 Linux native
> /dev/sda2 43 43 553 4104607+ 5 Extended
> /dev/sda5 43 43 166 995998+ 83 Linux native
> /dev/sda6 167 167 290 995998+ 83 Linux native
> /dev/sda7 291 291 414 995998+ 83 Linux native
> /dev/sda8 415 415 497 666666 83 Linux native
> /dev/sda9 498 498 513 128488+ 82 Linux swap
> /dev/sda10 514 514 553 321268+ 83 Linux native
>
> I'm at my wits end how to remedy this - the first partition is toggled
> as
> bootable, the kernel and other info reside there, yes I have indeed
> run
> lilo after installing the kernel and everything seems like it should
> be.
> Is this only solveable by a fresh reinstall with a brand new
> partition
> table? I don't mind booting from a floppy but sometimes I take it
> out
> while duplicating disks and forget to replace it and find my machine
> hung
> at LIL- when rebooting.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> I apologize if this is covered somewhere - I've dug and dug and what
> documentation is out there is good if its very specific to what
> problem
> you're having but I can't seem to find anything specific to my
> problem.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kevin
>
> --
> Kevin M. Myer
> Technical Services Specialist
> ELANCO School District
>
>
>
> --
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