Dual boot in linux gives me blank screen! Help please!

[blahblah99]

I installed both w2k and redhat 7.0 on the same drive with different partitions. 15GB for the w2k and 5GB for the linux partitions.

Here's what I did:

1. Installed w2k first on the 15GB partition.
2. Installed linux on the 5GB partition. I didn't get a message asking whether I want LILO installed on MBR. Infact, I didn't get any messages dealing with that.

3. For linux, I have a /boot paritition and a / root partition. my /boot is /dev/hda2 and root partition is /dev/hda5.

4. did the command "dd if=/dev/hda2 of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1"
5. copied that file to a floppy, rebooted into w2k, copied it to c:\, modified boot.ini, rebooted w2k and linux shows up on the selection boot list.

Basically, when I try to boot up into linux using the MS boot loader, I get a blank screen and it goes nowhere. Please help! I don't know too much about linux, but do know the basics to get me around. Thanks.

 

[MedicBob]

Can you boot into linux with a boot floppy?

 

[blahblah99]

Yeah, I made a linux boot disk and it can boot into linux with that...

 

[drag]

ew... Redhat 7.0 is yucky.... It was a unfortunatly buggy release, Redhat has improved 7.x by quite a bit. If you reinstall to a newer version you would get much better results. If you can it's a good idea to go with the newest stable release possible, but I can understand if you are stuck with what you've got.....

The linux boot loader that I am familar with is called lilo. It can install itself into the mbr if you want it to, and can easily dual boot into windows using it. You can even set it up to have Windows as a defualt OS to use. However this will erase the Windows loader there.

In order to use it you will have to configure it properly. The best way to learn about it is to read the man file. (at a console type "man lilo" (no quotes)) The configuration file is located is /etc/lilo.conf, however Redhat does have a nice program that will do the configuration for you. something like lilo-cfg or lilo-config or something like that..... don't remember exactly.

Another alternative is to use linload. It is a DOS executionable that can be used to boot from windows into Linux. (i donno with w2k, though... no dos mode?) Its pretty easy to figure out how to configure it.

Lilo works pretty well, but not 100% all the time

I use it and trust it, though. Most of the problems are usually human error. It may take a couple of tries to get it right. It's a good thing to have the boot disks for both OS's handy (+ you aught to be able to boot off of the redhat installation disk and into you linux partition, but its beetter to have boot disks)

I am not familar with w2k's boot loader so I am not sure how to fix that though....

 

[Tiger]

I assume your using the AT W2K bootloader FAQ.
For the FAQ to work LILO must be installed on the first linux partition, not the MBR.
To see where LILO is installed use the boot floppy you made and boot the system.
Open up /etc/lilo.conf in the editor of your choice and look for the boot=/dev/hdax line.
If it says boot=/dev/hda LILO is installed on the MBR. If it is you'll need to run FIXBMBR from the W2K/XP recovery console to fix the MBR.
To install LILO on hda2 just edit that boot= line to read hda2, save the file, and re-run LILO from the prompt, /sbin/lilo -v. Everytime you edit that lilo.conf file you need to rerun LILO.