HELP !!!!!!!!!

[t1grm]

OK panic stations... I'm ed...

My laptop has just died big style. It hangs on bootup. I just get a blank screen saying LI and a flashing cursor. I think the LI is the start of the Linux Loader message which I had installed. It's running Win 2K pro. Now the good bit. I have:

1. No bootable Windows floppy.
2. No install CD for Win 2K pro.
3. A bootable image CD from the laptop manufacturer (IBM) which just dumps all the software onto the HDD obliterating what was already there.
4. A bootable NT workstation CD but it just runs the NT set up program and won't give me a DOS shell to look at the HDD.
5. A bootable Linux repair floppy (Redhat 7.1).
6. A lot of data that isn't backed up which I don't want to loose.

Any ideas on how I can fix this without overwriting the data on the disk? I was thinking of installing NT but since it hangs on boot there's no garuntee that will work.

HELP PLEASE! Learning to type on an ipaq very quickly!

BTW I need this PC on client site tomorrow and don't have a spare!

[arcturus]

Were Linux and Win 2k both installed and if so what were you using as your boot manager? LILO or something else such as Boot Magic?

Has Linux been removed or is it still on the machine?

When was 2k installed relative to Linux?

[Bodo]

Assuming the Linux installation is Redhat 7.1, and the bootloader is LILO, you could have a look into the LILO documentation for interpreting the cause for stopping to load after the letters L and I appeared.

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~mibe/linux/lilo/user/

documentation said:

5.2.1 LILO start message When LILO loads itself, it displays the word ``LILO''. Each letter is printed before or after performing some specific action. If LILO fails at some point, the letters printed so far can be used to identify the problem. This is described in more detail in the technical overview. Note that some hex digits may be inserted after the first ``L'' if a transient disk problem occurs. Unless LILO stops at that point, generating an endless stream of error codes, such hex digits do not indicate a severe problem. (nothing) No part of LILO has been loaded. LILO either isn't installed or the partition on which its boot sector is located isn't active. L error The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started, but it can't load the second stage boot loader. The two-digit error codes indicate the type of problem. (See also section 5.2.2.) This condition usually indicates a media failure or a geometry mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters, see section 3.4). 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. LIL The second stage boot loader has been started, but it can't load the descriptor table from the map file. This is typically caused by a media failure or by a geometry mismatch. LIL? The second stage boot loader has been loaded at an incorrect address. This is typically caused by a subtle geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. LIL- The descriptor table is corrupt. This can either be caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/map without running the map installer. LILO All parts of LILO have been successfully loaded.

[t1grm]

Dave

I installed redhat first then win 2K in seperate partitions. I was using LILO. Later I deleted redhat and formatted the partition for win 2K using partition magic (mounted under a seperate drive letter). However LILO continued to appear on bootup so I assumed it installed to the MBR. Not a problem as I just selected Win 2K all the time. This was months ago. Today I copied a lot of data to the old redhat partition and now I get this error. I don't see how it's possible I damaged the LILO installation in doing this since it had already been formatted for FAT32. My latest angle is to reinstall redhat on the FAT32 partition to see if that repairs the LILO installation since I think that's where the problem lies.

[steve-p]

The last time I used Partition Magic, it toasted all partitions on the dual boot NT/98 system I was using at the time. That was about 4 years ago, but one occurrence like that tends to make you think it should be avoided like the plague.

[t1grm]

Bodo

That's a very helpful post thanks! Since I get up to LI this sort of confirms my suspicion that the LILO install is corrupted. The only way I know how to fix that is to run the Redhat install program. It looks like I can install Redhat to an existing FAT32 partition without overwriting the existing data so that's what I'm doing now. Hopefully this will recreate the LILO install correctly and I can then boot into Win 2K from there. Fingers crossed!

Steve

Agree! After this I'm going back to one partition and one OS!

[t1grm]

PHEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m back Thank god for that. I was getting really worried then.

Quite an easy fix in the end. Created a bootable floppy with fdisk.exe on it and ran fdisk /mbr from the DOS prompt. This deletes the master boot record and so wiped what remained of the corrupted LILO install so the PC just booted into the primary Win 2K partition. Job done!

Found a good site to create boot disks from here:

www.bootdisk.com/

Definitely regular FULL back ups for me in future and no messing round with multiple OS’s and boot managers!

[wiggy001]

Might be worth ditching the laptop and trying to Instal Linux on a dead badger instead