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I am sure Steven could find the problem but it is the middle of the night 
where he is.

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008, sindi wrote:

> This is what I  read after  lilo -v:
>
> LILO version 20, copyright 1992-1997 Werner Almesberger
> Reading boot sector from currente root
> Merging with /boot/boot.b
> Boot image: /boot/zimage
> added BL3 *
> Backup copy of boot sector in /boot/boot.0301
> Writing boot sector
>
> ( Where is says "backup copy of boot sector..."  is it a system information,
> or an order so that I need to make a backup? )

The boot image is found in /boot/zimage
The program added BL3 
A backup copy of the boot sector is in /boot/boot.0301
The program is writing the boot sector (a copy of it, to /boot).

Someone was trying to save space by leaving out words.  This is considered 
good written style in English but is often not intelligible.

> > Something is amazing me: Everytime it fails to boot form HD it also informs
> there is NO ext2 file system, so I have to start all the process from

I think you did not follow instructions exactly. I have not installed form 
floppy disk but I can read the install-to-hd script from the floppy disk.

To do this:
I mounted disk 1
        mount -o loop /dev/fd0 /mnt
I copied over disk1.gz to a new partition (disk1).
I unumounted /mnt.
I then mounted the disk image file disk1
        mount -o loop /dev/fd0 /mnt
        less /mnt/usr/sbin/install-to-hd

I think what the script does is: Instruct you to make, format and mount 
the hard disk and let you stop if you have not yet done this.  Then check 
if the hard disk was actually formatted (it looks for 'lost and found') 
and if it has files on it already.  If you have a formatted empty 
partition, it then copies over all the directories with files to your hard 
disk ext2 partition and also makes a few directories without files, and 
makes an fstab file that is correct for your partition name.  Where you 
see $1, the script changes it to match your partition name (/dev/hda1).

You then insert floppy 1 and it copies your zimage (kernel) to /hd/boot/.
Then tells you

To boot your new partition:
(1) reboot with floppy 1 in drive,
(2) press CTRL when you see LILO
(3) enter this:  hd root=$1  (which you will see as hd root=/dev/hda1)

Should this part tell lilo to install itself to the boot sector of hda 
(not hda1) and then boot using hda1 as root?

You typed: 
hd root=/dev/hda1 /hd 
I don't think this is right - Steven?
What you typed looks similar to mount /dev/hda1 /hd

Instead maybe you should type:
hd root=/dev/hda1  (without that last /hd)

I think this sets things up to boot from the hard drive, using the 
partition /dev/hda1 (first partition on the first drive) for root.

Then after this you install lilo to hda1.

To install lilo to your harddrive:
(1) Use floppy 1 to boot $1 (to boot /dev/hda1).
(2) execute lilo -v
(3) use fdisk (option a) to make $1 the boot partition.
END

Sindi

> mke2fs
>
> This is what I am doing  (my HD is 1.28GB):
>
> fdisk -l  (it shows me if there's any partition)
> fdisk /dev/hda (then I delete each partition with the "d" option and I
> finish with "w")
> fdisk /dev/hda n (which stands for "new"), "p" (for "primary") and "1" (for
> hda1)
> (I am making one only partition which occupies the whole HD )
> Then I write the table and verify it with fdisk -l again.
>
> mke2fs /dev/hda1      ( to put the ext2 file format on the hd,
> but before I run   e2fsck /dev/hda1  which says it is clean.
>
> mount /dev/hda1 /hd   (to mount it on /hd)
>
> install-to-hd  <enter>
>
> at this pont the system goes normally and insturcts me to reboot from
> floppy1 and to press <ctrl> whwn I see "LILO"
>
> What I am doing:
> reboot <enter> (with floppy1 on the drive)
>
> Boot:
>
> Here I inform     hd root=/dev/hda1 /hd

I think you should just type hd root=/dev/hda1.

> (It still does not work if Iboot from HD at this point)
>
> then I reboot again with floppy1 on drive.
> When I get the prompt again, that's where I can type   lilo -v   and get the
> messages above
>
> Remark: If I try to install-to-hd the sustem tells me there is no ext2 file
> system.
>
> My friend  Maran is having the same problem. We know that we are doing
> something wrong but we don't know what ( and Maran used Slackware for some
> time before choosing Debian ).
>
> Cheers
> Teixeira