Using live-CD to fix LILO boot

[Todd And Margo Chester]

On 09/02/2011 07:12 AM, Ron Leach wrote:
> Good afternoon,
>
> Though I use XFCE on my netbook - and very pleased with that, by the
> way - I have been trying to also use the LiveCD to help me fix a LILO
> and RAID configuration on a desktop system.
>
> I couldn't see how to access the main filesystems (which are XFS) on
> the desktop's SATA drives; they weren't mounted automatically by the
> LiveCD, and I don't seem to be able to edit /etc/fstab, so I'm a bit
> at sea, here.  The 'places' commands only shows the LiveCD filesystem,
> not the SATA drives.
>
> (Skip this because this is NOT my question, but the context is this: I
> think I know what's wrong with the LILO config.  The RAID system used
> to work with /sdb and /sdc but then a separate non-raid disc failed
> yesterday.  Removing it resulted in the RAID system wanting to use its
> existing drives as /sda and /sdb instead.  I did re-configure the RAID
> /md partitions to do this, and they re-synced ok, and the system was
> working fine.  But on restart this morning, LILO doesn't recognise the
> 'VFS' and I 'think' it's because LILO is still looking at /sdb and
> /sdc.  So I want to inspect the LILO config, and change it as necessary.)
>
> Could somebody put me right?  Putting the XFCE LiveCD into the desk
> and rebooting, what should I then do for it to see the existing XFS
> partitions and mount a filesystem (even if only for inspection, that
> would be a help so I can do some checks)?
>
> (I'm not expecting detailed RAID advice here - I'll happily ask on the
> RAID list if I need that - I just want to 'see' the existing drives
> and files using the LiveCD I already have.)
>
> Very grateful for any pointers,
>
> regards, Ron
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>
Hi Ron,

    The Live CD does not always mount all your stuff as it does
not cover all the controller the installation CD comes with.

    Instead, use your installation CD's rescue mode.  Here are
my notes on how to do this.  It is a bit dated, but everything
is there.  I have used it several time with success.

   I am the person who reported the "burn a DVD and destroy
your hard drive" bug to Red Hat -- they fixed it for me.  I had
to completely reinstall my hard drive twice, lilo and all.

HTH,

-T


---Lilo.Recovery.txt---

How to reinstall Lilo:

Boot into rescue mode from your first Red Hat install disk:

It should automatically detect your linux partitions and
mount them at /mnt/sysimage.

     #chroot /mnt/sysimage
     #cd /etc
     #lilo