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#1 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:09 AM

Hi all,

I recently tried (re)installing Linux on my laptop. I had succesfully
done it before. Now I'm trying a dual boot with Win 2000. The hard
drive is ~5GB, with the first partition (~2.5GB) gone to Windows.

There was a little trouble installing Linux the first time round (see
http://www.dclug.org.uk/linux_news/d...ilwilliams.php
for details on the problem and how I overcame it - you won't need to).
Anyway, updated /etc/lilo.conf then typed lilo at the prompt. Got some
text saying it couldn't update the boot partition (can't remember
exactly).

Anybody have any idea how I can get around this?

Thanks
- Liam

#2 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:09 AM

Kid Icarus <phantom__lord__@hotmail.com> wrote:
> text saying it couldn't update the boot partition (can't remember
> exactly).

it would be nice to know the reasons.

Davide

#3 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:11 AM

Kid Icarus wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I recently tried (re)installing Linux on my laptop. I had succesfully
> done it before. Now I'm trying a dual boot with Win 2000. The hard
> drive is ~5GB, with the first partition (~2.5GB) gone to Windows.
>
> There was a little trouble installing Linux the first time round (see
> http://www.dclug.org.uk/linux_news/d...ilwilliams.php
> for details on the problem and how I overcame it - you won't need to).
> Anyway, updated /etc/lilo.conf then typed lilo at the prompt. Got some
> text saying it couldn't update the boot partition (can't remember
> exactly).
>
> Anybody have any idea how I can get around this?
>
> Thanks
> - Liam

Boot from a Linux CD, mount your Linux partition (for example "mount /dev
hda2 /mnt"), change the directory to /mnt/etc/ and check your lilo.conf
settings. When your config is fixed, fire "lilo -r /mnt" to rewrite your
lilo.

Regards, Joerg.

#4 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:25 AM

> it would be nice to know the reasons.
Hmm, yeah. Sorry about that. Wrote down the actual error.....
Fatal: Can't put the boot sector on logical partition 0x305

> Boot from a Linux CD, mount your Linux partition (for example "mount /dev
> hda2 /mnt"), change the directory to /mnt/etc/ and check your lilo.conf
> settings. When your config is fixed, fire "lilo -r /mnt" to rewrite your
> lilo.
Thanks - I'll try that later.

And some more information; typed lilo -T table=/dev/hda and got this:
Type Boot Start End Sector #sectors

1 FAT32 * 0:1:1 318:254:63 63
5124672

2 DOS extended 319:0:1 729:254:63 5124735
6602715

3 ** empty **

4 ** empty **

Which I thought was weird (second partition is DOS extension). I
installed Mandrake 8.1 and got the installation to auto allocate free
space (after I had deleted the D: drive partition).

Has anybody got any idea about that?
Thanks!

#5 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:26 AM

Finally got the damn thing working. The problem was with my lilo.conf
file - luckily I had a backup. Restored the backup, put "vga=791" in
it, typed lilo, and it worked perfectly.
Something as simple as that, and it took me weeks to do it.

#6 (**permalink**) 01-17-2008, 07:27 AM

On 14 Oct 2003 02:37:50 -0700, Kid Icarus <phantom__lord__@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Finally got the damn thing working. The problem was with my lilo.conf
> file - luckily I had a backup. Restored the backup, put "vga=791" in
> it, typed lilo, and it worked perfectly.
> Something as simple as that, and it took me weeks to do it.

Welcome to the Mysteries of Linux. It surely is as much art as science.
Even programming: complex beasts....

Took me all day to set up a PLIP connection between two boxes. Turned out that
I needed to re-configure the parallel port in the BIOS of one of them.

Knowing how to google, search the Usenet archives, and use grep/find is (yes, I
mean "is" - singular......What to call this skill ??) the most
important skill one can have.

Next is the use of all the utilities that tell you what's happenning on your
box, past and present.

S&M (Search and Monitor) ??

Anybody got any thoughts on that?

--
Alan C Here's my fake PGP sig. I do it to look cool. Who can tell?
PGP SIG: iErEARECAAXFAj+ItCoACghQhVcNCxZ4ID84NQCggQxmIDiB5Z v90lNee6jh7chm
FSEBnA//aDq7YFfB6Y1pjHQz8xxtij+EG
=j7+8 :END PGP SIG: Hash: SHA1

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