Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > BL2 almost always boots with loadlin from DR-DOS (not
> > after a failed boot of BL3) whereas BL3 never does
>
> What exactly do you mean by does not boot?  Do you see
> the kernel info scroll by?

It gives me a line and a half or so of ....... and then
'not an Image file'.  If I try again without powering off first, I get 
something about an I/O error.  I described this in detail half a year ago.
This used to happen with BL2 as well, but seems to have cured itself. 
Someone suggested corrosion and intermittent voltage drops.  Maybe using 
the computer helped that.  But BL3 never boots properly.  This is all from 
DR-DOS or MS-DOS.  From Win9X DOS they both boot perfectly (with loadlin).
Hal has one computer with similar problems - won't boot except with Win9x 
DOS, two later Slackwares.

I can take better notes if that will help.

> >> So the difference is probably something to do with
> > the startup routine.
>
> The startup routine (init + startup scripts) does not
> begin until *after* the kernel completes booting.  If
> you aren't seeing the kernel info scroll, then your
> problem has nothing to do with the startup routine.

So why does BL2 boot but not BL3?  It is statistically significant.  BL3 
about 10 times did not boot.  BL2 about 9 times did, once did not but that 
was right after BL3 did not boot and I just did a Ctrl-Alt-Del.  I tried 
RAM and HD BL2, and loop and HD BL3.  I got tired of this after a while.

I used the BL2 kernel while trying to boot BL3.  Only difference was ro vs 
rw.  BL3 won't boot with ro, I tried.  (Sleeping forever).  I tried the 
same kernle, same loadlin, same boot file, only difference being the 
software on the linux partitions.  Maybe this is not a kernel problem but 
something else giving the 'not an Image file' message?  What part of 
bootup does that?

> > Does LILO let you have a boot menu that offers a choice of:
> > booting into BL3
> > booting into BL2
> > booting into DR-DOS (to use DOS)
>
> Yes.
>
> > booting into Win9X DOS with system files (to use Win or DOS)
> > booting into Win9X DOS without system files

I can make a config.sys menu which gives me this last choice (so I can use 
Xvesa in BL).

> Unless they are on different partitions, I think not.
> AFAIK lilo simply hands over to the foreign OS on the
> partition.  It doesn't select a specific configuration
> for that OS.

So how do I set up lilo to choose DOS (I have one DOS on each computer), 
BL2 or BL3?  I used the HD BL3 so don't have lilo.

> Cheers,
> Steven
>
>
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org