lilo

[Monty J. Harder]

On Fri, 20 Oct 2000 07:40:05 -0700 (PDT) Steven Sanders
<geigertube at yahoo.com> writes:

> Do you happen to be using Mandrake? I had that exact
> same problem with it when I installed it. I forget
> what exactly lead up to the LI <freeze> problem, but I
> tried everything I could to get rid of it and nothing
> worked. I reformatted the hd several times, using
> FDISK, Format, the partitioner that came with mandrake
> and some shareware disk formatters. I also tried
> reinstalling Linux and then uninstalling LILO. It
> basically screwed the drive up so I can no longer use
> it as a windows bootable. Made me so frustrated I

  That's because running FDISK interactively does not rewrite the boot
code in the Master Boot Record.  To fix that, run FDISK /MBR from a DOS
prompt.  Right now, the boot code is trying to find boot code in the
partition you selected in the Mandrake install, and isn't finding any. 
Note that this overrides anything you might tell FDISK in interactive
mode about an "active" partition.

  I recommend to newbies that they put their Linux boot code in a primary
partition (other than the Win one - tell the installer that you want to
put LILO in /dev/hda2 or whatever) so that resetting the "active"
partition takes LILO right out of the mix.  The added time to let the MBR
load the boot record from the primary is so short you'll never notice.
________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.