Bug 2609

Summary:	new LILO confuses SystemSoft BIOS
Product:	[Retired] Red Hat Linux	Reporter:	eric
Component:	lilo	Assignee:	David Lawrence <dkl>
Status:	CLOSED DEFERRED	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	6.0
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	i386
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	1999-06-01 22:31:03 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description eric 1999-05-06 20:17:30 UTC

The version of LILO included with Red Hat 6.0 apparently
confuses the SystemSoft BIOS used on many low-cost AMD-based
laptop computers using the Intel TX Socket-7 chipset. It
apparently does not detect a valid boot signature on the
hard drive and refuses to load and run the boot sector.
Instead, the BIOS prompts for a floppy.

The computer boots up fine off of the boot floppy. Various
configurations of /etc/lilo.conf were tried:
   a)  Use "fdisk /mbr" from a Windows floppy, then set the
Linux partition as active. Use boot floppy into Linux, set
lilo.conf to write boot record to /dev/hda3 (the Linux root
partition). Run /sbin/lilo then reboot. Same result (BIOS
prompts for a floppy upon reboot).
  b) Use boot floppy into Linux, set lilo.conf to write boot
record to /dev/hda. Same result (BIOS prompts for a floppy
upon reboot).

Temporary work-around: boot off of the boot floppy,
downgrade to the Red Hat 5.2 version of LILO and run
/sbin/lilo . (With the same /etc/lilo.conf that did not work
with the Red Hat 6.0 version of LILO).

Note: This appears to be a BIOS-specific interaction. No
problems have yet been observed with LILO on desktop
machines using the AWARD or Phoenix BIOS.

Comment 1 David Lawrence 1999-06-01 22:31:59 UTC

We will need to obtain hardware that contains this brand of BIOS to
accurately troubleshoot the problem associated with LILO shipped with
6.0. This may take a while.