[Lvlug] Can't boot into Linux

[Dann S. Washko]

Are you still using Slackware?  You can boot off the live slack cd and
make the changes by mounting the partitions in the live eval.  Do you
still have the Linuxcare rescue disc from the expo last year?

You can use 

   fdisk -l /dev/hd?

To list the partitions on the drives if you are not sure what may be what.
 

After you make the changes in the fstab, you may want to change your
lilo.conf.  When you run lilo to update, you must supply the -C option and
the path to your new lilo.conf file (/etc/lilo.conf; the default, would be
reading the lilo.conf from the slack live disc).

You know, will this work though?  Your lilo.conf probably points to the
image file in /boot or / and this will be different than the kernel image
current in these locations.  

Come to think of it, once you fix /etc/fstab, you may want to reboot and
pass the 

   root=/dev/hd??

option at the lilo prompt.  This will give you the file system you want
from which you can run lilo to make the necessary changes.  Just make sure
/etc/lilo.conf is correct.



On Wed, 23 Jan 2002 00:09:23 -0500
Faber Fedor <faber@linuxnj.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 22, 2002 at 01:18:02PM -0500, Tom Stoddard wrote:
> > I just put a new motherboard in my computer and am having trouble
booting into Linux. The problem is that the IDE devices are all different
now. My Linux partition used to be hdf5 now it's hdb5. Using the Lilo boot
disk I entered the parameter "mount root=/dev/hdb5" and it stops with an
error on /sbin/e2fsck. It gives me the option of booting into single user
mode to fix the problem but when I do that it won't let me modify any
files. It tells me that the file system is read only.> > 
> > I'm guessing that the problem is due to the incorrect parameters in
the fstab file but I can't change it. Can anyone give me some clues?> 
> Yes.  You need to boot into "rescue mode".  How you do that is specific
> to your distro.  I can tell you how to do it under Red Hat or solaris,
> but I don't think you're running either of those. :-)
> 
> Basically, you want to boot off of the CD-ROM and load a "mini-root"
> filesystem.  This means that you will load a mini linux OS (usually into
> memory) which will give you just enough functionality to change what you
> need to fix things.
> 
> For Red Hat 7.x (email me for details for RH < 7.0) you would do the
> following:
> 
> - set your BIOS to boot off the CDROM
> - put the first Red Hat CD in the drive and reboot
> - type "linux rescue" at the prompt
> - select the default answers for language, keyboard, etc.
> - then you will be told that the system has mounted some partition
>   (which may or may not be your original root) under /mnt/a IIRC.
> - mount the partition that holds the file you want to edit and have at
>   it
> 
> For Solaris 8.x, you would do the following:
> 
> - Put the first CD (known officially as "Software 1 of 2") into the
drive> - get to the "ok" prompt and type "boot cdrom -s" (or is it "boot
-s>   cdrom"?)
> - when the system boots up, mount the partition in question to /a (IIRC,
>   no other mount point will work)
> - make your changes, save your changes and follow the SysAdmin
>   Superstition by typing "sync" three times at the command prompt.
> - reboot
> 
> HTH
> 
> -- 
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Faber                     
> 
> Linux New Jersey: Open Source Solutions for New Jersey
> http://www.linuxnj.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Daniel S. Washko
Lehigh Valley Linux Users Group
www.thelinuxlink.net/lvlinux
get slack (www.slackware.com ) and get happy