-----Original Message----- From: Dale Harrison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org <debian-user@lists.debian.org> Date: Wednesday, October 29, 1997 9:26 PM Subject: Linux, FAT32 and a mighty odd MBR.
>Hello. > >I had a weird problem last night, installing Debian 1.3* on a friends PC. >For what it's worth, it's a PentiumII/266, some hideous amount of memory, >some hideous amount of HD space. > >Aside from the SuperMicro motherboard bug [Which has been reported, I'm >fairly sure..], you know, the one where the bootable cd sits there at the >LDLINUX.SYS line.., everything went fairly smoothly. > >Until it came to LILO. Installed LILO, booted Linux fine. Added the lines >to boot Win95, it took 2 goes for it to install the new record [it never >complained the first time about failing]. Problem is, it simply doesn't >boot Win95. It says "booting Win95", then returns to the LILO prompt. > >Ok, a bit of a hassle. He needs his Win95 stuff more than Linux, so I'll >just remove LILO and figure out something else later. lilo -u, lilo -U >both complain that theres no LILO boot signature on /dev/hda. Hence >nothing is removed. > >Hmmm. Boot via Win95 rescue disk and fdisk /mbr. Reboot and LILO's STILL >there. Tried this more times than I can recall.. LILO won't die. System >Commander reported some wacky things about the MBR, saying things were >pretty well screwed with it. > >The problem remains, I can't seem to overwrite the MBR, not with LILO, not >with fdisk. I found out that the Windows partition was FAT32, but surely >LILO can handle this? [does it make much of a difference with the MBR?] > >So, I guess I'm throwing this out to you guys, is this a Windows problem? >A Debian problem? A LILO problem? A FAT32 problem? > >Any suggestions for fixing? > >Thanks, >D. Using this setup /dev/hda1 Win95 /dev/hda2 Linux /dev/hda3 Linux Swap /dev/hda Generic MBR, not Lilo /dev/hda1 Win95 Boot sector /dev/hda2 LILO /dev/hda2 is set as active with FDISK. Bios reads generic MBR off of /dev/hda. MBR reads the first sector off the active partition, ie /dev/hda2. LILO is now active. From here, it either reads the linux kernel, or some other, ie chained, partition. Solution: Use FDISK to change active flag. I don't know why you can't boot win95 from lilo's prompt. Could we see your /etc/lilo.conf file? And a copy of fdisk's output? (echo /etc/lilo.conf;cat /etc/lilo.conf;echo -n;echo -e "p\nq\n"|fdisk)|email.txt Adam Heath [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwp.mirabilis.com/3375265 -- Page me -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .