Dual boot & Red Hat configuration problem

[indyszeto]

I got new problem, my PC couldn't perform from multi boot from linux
(no matter I choosed LILO or GRUB during installation setup).

My configuration is :

master HD : XP professional installed on NTFS partition (/dev/hda from
linux prespective)
slave HD : RH9 installed with default partition options i.e. ext3
(/dev/hdb from linux prespective)

multi boot from GRUB or LILO (not both installed same time) failed no
matter whether they were installed at /dev/hda or /dev/hdb and no
matter I told RH9 that boot windows or linux by default.

GRUB boot error message was GRUB disk error
LILO boot message was just one capital L shown on screen

I would like to ask what's wrong with my installation process ?

Anyway, after I abort install any Linux based boot loader and choose
option to boot Linux from floppy, I can boot both OS now i.e. If I put
RH boot floppy in floppy drive, I can boot into Linux, otherwise, XP
will boot up my PC instead.

But now I meet a new problem, after I see welcome screen of RH9, it
tells me that there are a few steps to take before I can use linux,
that is some configuration to set. However, after I click the forward
button, linux stays there --- screen black out with only one white
mouse cursor. The expected configuration process doesn't continue. As
I click the mouse buttons several times, a blue screen appears with a
rotating funnel, then the screen black out again and the cycle repeats
again & again. I don't know RH9 doesn't continue the configuration
process. It's very strange.

 

[Bill Unruh]

I got new problem, my PC couldn't perform from multi boot from linux
(no matter I choosed LILO or GRUB during installation setup).

My configuration is :

master HD : XP professional installed on NTFS partition (/dev/hda from
linux prespective)
slave HD : RH9 installed with default partition options i.e. ext3
(/dev/hdb from linux prespective)

multi boot from GRUB or LILO (not both installed same time) failed no
matter whether they were installed at /dev/hda or /dev/hdb and no
matter I told RH9 that boot windows or linux by default.

GRUB boot error message was GRUB disk error
LILO boot message was just one capital L shown on screen

This happens if lilo cannot read the disk where the kernel is.
Are you sure you ran lilo without error after you had made all changes?

Maybe your bios does not allow booting from hdb?

I would like to ask what's wrong with my installation process ?

Anyway, after I abort install any Linux based boot loader and choose
option to boot Linux from floppy, I can boot both OS now i.e. If I put
RH boot floppy in floppy drive, I can boot into Linux, otherwise, XP
will boot up my PC instead.

But now I meet a new problem, after I see welcome screen of RH9, it
tells me that there are a few steps to take before I can use linux,
that is some configuration to set. However, after I click the forward
button, linux stays there --- screen black out with only one white
mouse cursor. The expected configuration process doesn't continue. As
I click the mouse buttons several times, a blue screen appears with a
rotating funnel, then the screen black out again and the cycle repeats
again & again. I don't know RH9 doesn't continue the configuration
process. It's very strange.

Sounds like an X problem-- ie you are coming up in runlevel 5. Instead do
linux 3
at the lilo prompt. Now log in and try to run startx. Look at the error
messages you get. Try to fix them.

 

[BearItAll]

I got new problem, my PC couldn't perform from multi boot from linux
(no matter I choosed LILO or GRUB during installation setup).

My configuration is :

master HD : XP professional installed on NTFS partition (/dev/hda from
linux prespective)
slave HD : RH9 installed with default partition options i.e. ext3
(/dev/hdb from linux prespective)

multi boot from GRUB or LILO (not both installed same time) failed no
matter whether they were installed at /dev/hda or /dev/hdb and no
matter I told RH9 that boot windows or linux by default.

GRUB boot error message was GRUB disk error
LILO boot message was just one capital L shown on screen

I would like to ask what's wrong with my installation process ?

Anyway, after I abort install any Linux based boot loader and choose
option to boot Linux from floppy, I can boot both OS now i.e. If I put
RH boot floppy in floppy drive, I can boot into Linux, otherwise, XP
will boot up my PC instead.

But now I meet a new problem, after I see welcome screen of RH9, it
tells me that there are a few steps to take before I can use linux,
that is some configuration to set. However, after I click the forward
button, linux stays there --- screen black out with only one white
mouse cursor. The expected configuration process doesn't continue. As
I click the mouse buttons several times, a blue screen appears with a
rotating funnel, then the screen black out again and the cycle repeats
again & again. I don't know RH9 doesn't continue the configuration
process. It's very strange.

Bill's suggestion first, to check bios, the devices selected as boot
devices.

Your boot from floppy isn't a bad thing though, I haven't had a dual
boot PC for many years, but when I did I used a CDROM, put it in for
linux leave it out for MS Win. But that was in the days when you learned
to be nervous of letting a boot loader get at your mbr.

Although it sounds like you haven't set chain booting on it, only a
rescue system. All you would really need to do is tell lilo (or grub)
on your floppy where to find the image you want to boot in place of the
floppy itself.

Something in the lines of,

#example extract of lilo.conf.anaconda
boot=/dev/hdb
map=/boot/map
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667
label=linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
read-only
append="rhgb quiet root=LABEL=/"

If you go that way bare in mind that floppies are not really a reliable
medium. Make at least one copy, or better still chain boot from a usb
key fob or cdrom.

But the actual answer to your problem, I bet your socks, is that lilo is
looking for your system on hda, ie the first boot drive reported by bios
at the time of install, but since it's not there it has a little fit. So
Bill's answer is right and mine is just waffle.