Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
Hello again, everything works! Now my Linux-computer starts from HD and can communicate (by using its ethernet-card). Thanx to everyone who helped me (especially: Stephen Gregory, Sten Anderson, Craig Sanders, Laurent Picouleau. I hope I didn't forget anyone...). My last problem I had (the one I just solved...): I used the MINIX-partition and told fstab to mount it as /boot, started lilo (with the 'linear' option integrated in lilo.conf) and everything went fine. THANK YOU 5. I'm happy because everything works (now without start-disk) Soon, that will be the case. NOW this IS the case :-)) -- Von: Laurent PICOULEAU [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: 'Fabian Knittel' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Betreff: RE: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM Datum: Samstag, 17. Januar 1998 23:33 From : Fabian Knittel[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello 2°) I don't think that your BIOS support lba. I don't either... :-) If I'm right you'll have to declare your disk as having 16 heads, 63 sectors, 3308 cylinders because lilo relies on the BIOS to access the kernel and your BIOS don't know how to handle more than 16 heads. okay... First, try what Craig Sanders suggested : add linear in your lilo.conf. I've never used it but according to lilo's doc it should work and it's the simplest solution. What I said is useful for an installation or a complete reinstallation. The only annoyance will be to ensure that the kernel resides in the 1024 firs cylinders : just create a (small) partition there and mount it as /boot or a slightly larger one and mount it as / . But all of my HD-space is already in use! From where should I get the 'small' partition, that also has to reside in the first 1024 cylinders? Oh! Why not use the Linux/MINIX partition (dev/hda2) ? It doesn't have to be at the very beginning of the disk, just somewhere in the first 1024 cylinders... I didn't realize how big 1024 cylinders actually are. I thought this would only be a small amount of space (smaller than the space my swap takes away). I've got an idea, what if I just kill this unused Linux/MINIX-partition and the swap-partition and 'switch them round' (so that there is a small space of 1024 cylinders infront of swap left). It would (probably) look something like this: Device Boot BeginStart End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 *113 8064 83 Linux native -- will be mounted as /boot, should I mark it with 'bootable' ? No need to mark it bootable. Where lilo resides is to be bootable. So, if you put it in the MBR, no partition need to be bootable but all of them can be so without problem regarding lilo linux or the BIOS. /dev/hda244 2950368+ 82 Linux swap -- now my swap is here [...] I'll have to tell Linux to look at hda2 for a swap partition... probably in fstab, right? But can I just change the partition while the system is running? I couldn't find any notes on this. 1°) create a swap file (/somewhere/whatever) 2°) ativate it (swapon /somewhere/whatever) 3°) deactivate swap partition (swapoff /dev/hda1) 4°) play with fdisk (or cfdisk) 5°) *Initialize the swap partition* 6°) edit fstab, lilo.conf 7°) lilo (after reboot, you can delete the swap file if you want) If you'd have more ram 1°) and 2°) wouldn't be necessary Is the following procedure possible: 1. I change the partition tabel as shown above, using the cfdisk-utility 2. I edit fstab and correct the data in there Not useful if you take /dev/hda2 as /boot 3. I rerun lilo Don't forget to move te content of /boot to /dev/hda2 and then to mount it on /boot before (you should add it to fstab BTW) 4. I change HD-info (16 heads, 63 sectors, 3308 cylinders) in BIOS FIRST try linear option. If that doesn't work and you don't want to reinstall, some clever solution will have to be found ;-) I'm glad it worked with the normal method... :-) 5. I'm happy because everything works (now without start-disk) Soon, that will be the case. -- Laurent PICOULEAU [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Fabian Knittel ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
RE: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
Hello Hi, I've got some problems with Linux and my little test-computer. Im struggling with the low amount of memory (only 4 MB). The complete configuration: 80386 with 40 Mhz 4 MB of RAM 1.6 GByte HD [...] [ 1 ]L I L O At startup it only says: 3FA: It just stops there. :-( My partition-table by fdisk: This is not from lilo but from bootpart (I'm not sure of the name of the pakage but it is a very small package installing an mbr...). It's not an error message but an invitation to press either 3, F or A. 3 will boot /dev/hda3 (hence lilo), one F or A is used to boot /dev/fd0 and I don't remember the usefulness of the other [start] Disk /dev/hda: 64 heads, 63 sectors, 827 cylinders Units = cylinders of 4032 * 512 bytes [..] [end] And my /etc/lilo.conf: --- [start] --- boot=/dev/hda3 root=/dev/hda3 compact Try commenting out compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=20 image=/vmlinuz label=Linux read-only --- [end] --- Later I changed boot=/dev/hda3 to boot=/dev/hda. Now LILO starts and types LI: The first stage boot loader was able to load the second stage boot loader, but has failed to execute it. This can either be caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. So what do I have to do now? In the moment I'm starting with my start-disk. 1°) Try commenting compact 2°) I don't think that your BIOS support lba. If I'm right you'll have to declare your disk as having 16 heads, 63 sectors, 3308 cylinders because lilo relies on the BIOS to access the kernel and your BIOS don't know how to handle more than 16 heads. The only annoyance will be to ensure that the kernel resides in the 1024 firs cylinders : just create a (small) partition there and mount it as /boot or a slightly larger one and mount it as / . [ 2 ]N E T W O R K I'm completly helpless here [ 3 ]R E S C U E - S T A R T U P If I use the rescue-disk (I'm not using it in the moment) to start and type linux root=/dev/hda3 the boot-up takes VERY long. In the end it just says could not fork, trying again... I've never seen another message after this one yet, because I don't realy think it's fun to wait for 2 hours... So this method doesn't work. But when I type rescue root=/dev/hda3 it boots normaly (and fast...). Is there a functional difference between the two methods or can I use the rescue command with no problems? Have a look at the conf files of syslinux on the rescue floppy (it's a fat formatted floppy ! :-) ) and I think you'll understand why linux doesn't work although rescue works. (Hint : ramdisk) -- Laurent PICOULEAU [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
From: Laurent PICOULEAU [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Samstag, 17. Januar 1998 02:34 1°) Try commenting compact Already tried that, then LILO started but only typed 'LI' 2°) I don't think that your BIOS support lba. I don't either... :-) If I'm right you'll have to declare your disk as having 16 heads, 63 sectors, 3308 cylinders because lilo relies on the BIOS to access the kernel and your BIOS don't know how to handle more than 16 heads. okay... The only annoyance will be to ensure that the kernel resides in the 1024 firs cylinders : just create a (small) partition there and mount it as /boot or a slightly larger one and mount it as / . But all of my HD-space is already in use! From where should I get the 'small' partition, that also has to reside in the first 1024 cylinders? Oh! I've got an idea, what if I just kill this unused Linux/MINIX-partition and the swap-partition and 'switch them round' (so that there is a small space of 1024 cylinders infront of swap left). It would (probably) look something like this: Device Boot BeginStart End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 *113 8064 83 Linux native -- will be mounted as /boot, should I mark it with 'bootable' ? /dev/hda244 2950368+ 82 Linux swap -- now my swap is here /dev/hda3 30 30 4532256 83 Linux native -- this is / /dev/hda4 46 46 827 15765125 Extended /dev/hda5 46 46 260 433408+ 83 Linux native /dev/hda6 261 261 28142304+ 83 Linux native /dev/hda7 282 282 827 1100704+ 83 Linux native I'll have to tell Linux to look at hda2 for a swap partition... probably in fstab, right? But can I just change the partition while the system is running? I couldn't find any notes on this. Is the following procedure possible: 1. I change the partition tabel as shown above, using the cfdisk-utility 2. I edit fstab and correct the data in there 3. I rerun lilo 4. I change HD-info (16 heads, 63 sectors, 3308 cylinders) in BIOS 5. I'm happy because everything works (now without start-disk) 6. I say thanx to all people who helped me set up my computer :-) - Fabian -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
Von: Sten Anderson [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: debian-user@lists.debian.org Betreff: Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM Datum: Sonntag, 18. Januar 1998 00:32 Fabian Knittel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: boot=/dev/hda3 root=/dev/hda3 compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=20 image=/vmlinuz label=Linux read-only A shoot in the dark: Try putting the root line after the image line. It now looks like this: --snip-- boot=/dev/hda3 # compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=20 image=/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 label=Linux read-only --snip-- lilo -v then reports: --snip-- LILO version 19, Copyright 1992-1996 Werner Almesberger Reading boot sector from /dev/hda3 Merging with /boot/boot.b Boot image: /vmlinuz Added Linux * /boot/boot.0303 exists - no backup copy made. Writing boot sector. --snip-- But at bootup I still get the LI - message. Nice try ;-) The first stage boot loader was able to load the second stage boot loader, but has failed to execute it. This can either be caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. Could this be caused by a geometry mismatch? (I don't know what it means...) I don't have ANY problems when booting by floppy (and I'm going too stick to booting from a floppy, with no problems... :-) Thanks for your help so far. - Fabian -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
On Sun, 18 Jan 1998, Fabian Knittel wrote: A shoot in the dark: Try putting the root line after the image line. that wouldn't (shouldn't) make any difference at all, except that you now have to repeat the root= line for every image listed in lilo.conf. values set in the global section of lilo.conf are inherited by all the images unless they over-ride them. that's why i put read-only in the global section rather than with each image (i know debian does that by default...i've got used to changing it on every debian box i build). --snip-- boot=/dev/hda3 # compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=20 image=/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 label=Linux read-only --snip-- try linear. ---cut here--- boot=/dev/hda3 root=/dev/hda3 linear # compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=100 read-only image=/vmlinuz label=Linux ---cut here--- Could this be caused by a geometry mismatch? (I don't know what it means...) the linear option should fix that. see /usr/doc/lilo for more information. craig -- craig sanders -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
--snip-- boot=/dev/hda3 I can't rember what your exact setup was, but you might want to change this to boot=/dev/hda That is how I have it set. ( I have a dual booting linux + dos/win95 machine) IIRC this will set the boot information for the whole drive (mater boot record). The above line( boot...hda3) will set the boot information on the third partition (partition boot record). You might want to boot to dos and run 'fdisk /mbr' to insure that the changes made by previous instances of lilo are erased. Nothing like trial and error to solve a problem. :-) -- Stephen Gregory -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
[ 1 ] L I L O At startup it only says: 3FA: I had the same problem. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and comment out the compact line. BTW this is a bug. How do I report a bug? Lilo.conf should have compact off by default. The documentation clearly states that compact does not work on all computers. --- [start] --- compact change this to # compact --- [end] --- So what do I have to do now? Edit that compact line and a buch of things should go away [ 2 ]N E T W O R K when you specify the io address on the command line, do you remember to use 0x to indicate hex. [ 3 ]R E S C U E - S T A R T U P rescue root=/dev/hda3 it boots normaly (and fast...). Is there a functional difference between the two methods or can I use the rescue command with no problems? If it works then don't worry about it :-) P.P.S Please excuse any 'errors' in my language. I'm not a native english speaker... No problem. Please excuse mine, however I am a native anglophone Just as a note, I would specify atleast a 12MB swap partition. My 386 only had 4MB ram + 8 MB swap and I ran into problems when running dselect. My swap file was full as was my ram and ld.so could not load some libc stuff. It now has 8MB ram and I haven't had any problems to date. -- Stephen Gregory -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
Thanx for your tips, but they didn't help :-( -- Von: Stephen Gregory [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: Fabian Knittel [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org Betreff: Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM Datum: Samstag, 17. Januar 1998 19:42 [ 1 ] L I L O At startup it only says: 3FA: I had the same problem. Edit /etc/lilo.conf and comment out the compact line. BTW this is a bug. How do I report a bug? Lilo.conf should have compact off by default. The documentation clearly states that compact does not work on all computers. Edit that compact line and a buch of things should go away Well at least the 3FA: went away, but it still stops at LI ! What else could it be? [ 2 ]N E T W O R K when you specify the io address on the command line, do you remember to use 0x to indicate hex. I have to check the address again. I'm not sure what it says in the bios of this card (for that, I have to start a MSDOS-program). I'm wondering, why this module doesn't complain if I give it a wrong io or irq... Could this message (loading device 'eth0' ... /lib/modules/2.0.29/net/eepro.o init_module: Device or resource busy) mean something else too? [ 3 ]R E S C U E - S T A R T U P rescue root=/dev/hda3 it boots normaly (and fast...). Is there a functional difference between the two methods or can I use the rescue command with no problems? If it works then don't worry about it :-) Okay, but I still don't know where the two commands differ. Just as a note, I would specify atleast a 12MB swap partition. My 386 only had 4MB ram + 8 MB swap and I ran into problems when running dselect. My swap file was full as was my ram and ld.so could not load some libc stuff. It now has 8MB ram and I haven't had any problems to date. (MB ram would be nice for my computer too...) Actually, I have 50 MB swap :-) Could there be a problem with too much swap? - Fabian -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Re: Problems with 80386 and 4 MB of RAM
Fabian Knittel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: boot=/dev/hda3 root=/dev/hda3 compact install=/boot/boot.b map=/boot/map vga=normal delay=20 image=/vmlinuz label=Linux read-only A shoot in the dark: Try putting the root line after the image line. - Sten Anderson -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
