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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.
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.