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Hello all,

I have a Compaq Armada 7710MT laptop
with 98 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard-drive.
The only other storage is a floppy drive.

Windows 95 was installed, and Explorer showed
the hard-drive as already partitioned thus:
C: 1.99 GB FAT
D: 1.80 GB FAT32

Going into Linux fdisk revealed that there is
also a smaller partition (11.8 MB) at the beginning
of the drive which apparently hold Compaq diagnostic
programs.


I used Partition Magic to resize D: to ~800 MB
and to create a ~985 MB Linux partition and a
~96 MB Linux-swap.

Then i booted BasicLinux from floppies DISK1
and DISK2, then installed BasicLinux onto /dev/hda6.
Then i ran 
/<#>mke2fs /dev/hda6.

I made some edits to /etc/lilo.conf numerous times
according to what i was learning online,
and ran lilo -v each time afterward
but still cannot get LILO to boot from the hard-drive.

I have to use the BL floppy DISK1 to boot, then
at the LILO prompt press CTRL to get the boot prompt,
then enter
LILO boot: hd root=/dev/hda6

I'm pretty sure that on the Compaq i always had
/etc/lilo.conf set to boot=/dev/hda6. I didn't want
to install LILO into the MBR unless i was sure that
i had to. But i experimented with so many Virtual
Machines of BasicLinux (in VirtualBox) before
doing the real install on the Compaq, and in some
of those i *did* write LILO to the MBR -- so now
i'm not sure whether i did or didn't on the Compaq.
I read somewhere that i could use the DOS FDISK /MBR
command to uninstall LILO if it is there, but i don't
want to do that if it's going to destroy my existing
Windows 95 boot.

In any case, none of the installations (Compaq or
VirtualBox) are booting from the hard-drive, and
that's what i want to fix.

Here's a session log showing what i think is the
most important info, from the fdisk -l and lilo -v
commands, and the /etc/lilo.conf and /etc/fstab files:

------------------------
/<#>fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 4099 MB, 4099866624 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 993 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

   Device Boot  Start   End    Blocks   Id System
/dev/hda1   *       4   523   2096640    6 FAT16
/dev/hda2           1     3     12064+  12 Compaq diag
/dev/hda3         524   993   1895040    f Win95Ext
LBA
/dev/hda5         524   725    814432+   b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda6         726   969    983776+  83 Linux
/dev/hda7         970   993     96736+  82 Linux swap

Partition table entries are not in disk order
/<#>
-------------------------
/etc<#>cat /etc/lilo.conf
prompt
timeout=100
# boot=/dev/hda   ###  puts lilo in MBR
boot=/dev/hda6    ###  otherwise lilo goes in root
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b

image=/boot/zimage
  label=bl3
  root=/dev/hda6
  read-write

other=/dev/hda1
  label=Win95
  table=/dev/hda
/<#>
---------------------------
/<#>lilo -v
LILO version 20, Copyright 1992-1997 Werner
Almesberger

Reading boot sector from /dev/hda6
Merging with /boot/boot.b
Secondary loader: 8 sectors.
Boot image: /boot/zimage
Setup length is 4 sectors.
Mapped 898 sectors.
Added bl3 *
Boot other: /dev/hda1, on /dev/hda, loader
/boot/chain.b
Removed temporary file /boot/map~

open /boot/chain.b: No such file or directory
/<#>
-------------------------
/<#>cat /etc/fstab
/<#>fdisk -l
/dev/hda6   /       ext2   defaults  1  1
/dev/fd0    /fd     msdos  noauto    0  0
none        /proc   proc   defaults  0  0
/<#>
------------------------

Because there is no /boot/chain.b file
i cannot get LILO to see Windows. I thought
this file is supposed to be created automatically
when i run lilo -v, but it never appeared.

To change boot from Windows to Linux, i have to
change the status "active" or "inactive" for the
two partitions. I run fdisk to do this, but get an
error when i write fdisk:

---------------------
/<#>fdisk/dev/hda
command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-7): 1
command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-7): 6
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with
 error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.
/<#>
----------------

Then when i reboot, i get this error message:

----------------
Non-system disk or disk error
Replace disk and press ENTER
----------------

I can only boot BasicLinux from the floppy,
and have to keep changing the active status of
/dev/hda1 and /dev/hda6
to boot Windows 95 or BasicLinux.


-monz