Machine won´t boot (right after instalation) (SOLVED)

MrAkuma · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 22

Hi, I´ve recently installed Gentoo, just finished the install actually, but my machine won´t start.

- Did de installation without problems
- Reboot
- Lilo shows up, y choose Gentoo
- I get this message:
BIOS data check successful
Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel

And nothing happens...

Any clue?

Thanks a lot
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scocou · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2003 11:42 pm Post subject:

Bad kernel or bad kernel arguments. Are you familiar with the machine you're using, specifically have you previously compiled kernels for this box? If not I would typically expect to have to build a few before I got it right (well ok maybe not anymore

but I used to). Did you install from a live-cd? If so you can easily get into your installation and fix it... I supect a kernel misconfiguation, but there's not much point in saying that until you answer my questions

After that I'll help you patiently. As a kind of cheap, shameless pitch... you should try GRUB, once you get used it LILO seems sooo ready to be put out to pasture (or sent to the glue-factory).
PS : Maybe you should post your lilo.conf as well, or whatever it's called these days.

MrAkuma · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 22

Ok, the problem is the kernel, thats for sure

A friend of mine has the same machine (an IBM Thinkpad i1460 laptop, 433 Celeron, 192 RAM and a LiveWire 10/100 pcmcia ethernet), and he gave me his kernel. I modified the lilo.conf, and now I can boot...

So, I am making a mistake when I choose things in the kernel configuration... have I told you that I am a complete newbie with this? (Redhat does not count as real linux)

The strange thing is that my friend gave me his kernel and a System.map file, that I don't know exactly what does it do... but it works

(I algo got a file to load at the kernel config, but I dont now why it doesnt work)

Some progress... gaining some knowledge... things are looking good :wink:

Scocou: I made a net install, because my DVDROM drive is broken. I used a stage 3 tarball.
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MrAkuma · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 22

Is there a way to know what is wrong with my kernel?

As my machine wont even display an error message with my kernel, I really don't know where am I making the mistake...
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abysed · Posted: Thu May 01, 2003 5:40 am Post subject:

I had the same problem with a computer I was trying to set up. Three identical Compaq computers (Pentium MMX's, 233MHz). Instead of compiling the same exact kernel three times, I made one and copied it to the other two. Two of them booted fine, but the third one didn't. I tried making numerous kernels (MMX>gcc31, MMX, Classic, Pro), but none of them worked. Not sure whats wrong with it :roll:

fuzzyfelt · n00b Joined: 08 Jan 2003 Posts: 49 Location: York, UK

From the output it appears that lilo is working ok and the kernel has loaded into memory ok.
I'm guessing the kernel has been compiled for the wrong processor.
In the kernel config under Processor type and features ensure your
processor is selected. If it is slected try knocking the select right down to 386 and work upwards from there.

MrAkuma · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 22

Ok, thanks for the advice guys, I am compiling the new kernel while I am writing this. I changed a couple of settings, we'll see what happens

I also corrected a problem with fstab, because when I edited it with nano it added some spaces where it should not, and with the "good" kernel it was not mounting all my partitions.

Update: my machine made a shutdown while I was compiling the kernel... :evil:

Update 2: another shutdown... I think it has something to do with APM o something... well... back to my Slack 9 bootdisks and chroot

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scocou · Posted: Thu May 01, 2003 8:31 pm Post subject:

MrAkuma · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Posts: 22

Everything works !

Thanks for all the help guys, everything is up and running, even the network.

The problem was in the kernel compilation I was using, I was making a mistake and also was levaing out some options for my chipset (Ali). Also, my first try was with the Gentoo Kernel, and I am now using the vanilla 2.4.20 (as it is said in the documentation, beware that /src/linux is pointing to the first kernel you emerged - the first time I was copying the old kernel instead of the new one to /boot)

The shutdowns are something I cant explain, maybe as scocou said it got something to do with heat...

Before shutting down, I heard 4 or 5 beeps, and the machine would just turn off... strange... maybe some feature of the APM of the kernel I was using, I really don't know... but I have to solve this before I even try to compile XFree or Gnome...

Thanks again for the help guys
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