Have a HP Vectra VA PPro box w/160MB RAM,
6GB Maxtor (which tests healthy in PowerMax)
original BIOS (not upgradeable except for a
minor functionality I don’t need) — have tried
three times to install RH8 Personal/Home
Office on clean empty drive with result that an
apparently successful install will in each case
not boot. First install: with HD translation in
BIOS set to “Extended” and GRUB loader,
would not boot; booting to floppy got circular
rebooting, back to BIOS setup (“Press F2 for
Setup”) repeatedly. Second install: same HD
setting, LILO loader, same result, boot stops
on single “L” which could indicate some kind
of geometry mismatch; third install: changed
HD setting to “Standard,” reformat, freshinstallation, same single”L”, same behavior
using boot disk. Will boot using boot disk if
type “linux rescue” for a parameter. Once
booted, functions quite well, recognizes
peripherals, etc. Here is /etc/lilo.conf:
prompt
timeout=50
default=linux
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
message=/boot/message
linear
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14
label=Linux
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.18-14.img
read only
append=”root=LABEL=/”
Have tried changing “linear” to “lba32” with
same results as before (ie nothing changed)
— have tried deleting the “append” line and
substituting “root=/dev/hda2” with no change
in behavior. fstab has the HD geometry exactly
as reported by BIOS and PowerMax. Anybody
know what gives? — I am getting out of my
depth. Thanks, Reid
