[Prism54-users] Debian Custom Installing Kernel Problems

[Richard Atterer]

Hi James,

On Sat, Jan 24, 2004 at 01:17:51PM +0000, James Hosken wrote:
> I've just compiled my first kernel and I'm now having problems
> installing it.

You'd better sent this to debian-user@lists.debian.org, since it's not 
related to prism54 at all.

> I'm using Debian Sarge, I used the debain source for 2.6.0 The compile
> seamed to work ok, but when I come to install the .deb file I get into a
> few problems and I it's beyond me

You should check whether /etc/lilo.conf contains the correct information.
For example, I tell lilo to install itself directly in the MBR, and to boot 
Linux from /dev/hda5:

boot=/dev/hda
root=/dev/hda5

> Install a partition boot block on partition /dev/hda5? [Yes] n

This looks like you have boot=/dev/hda5, which is unlikely to work. 
...Unless you install some additional bootloader in the MBR, which is what 
lilo seems to suggest all the time. ISTR the Debian installer did that at 
one time, but I could never understand why.

> Make /dev/hda5 the active partition? [Yes]
> 5: not a valid partition number (1-4)

I think the "bootable" flag can only be set on primary partitions, not on
partitions inside extended partitions. But most BIOSes will ignore that
flag anyway and give up if booting from the MBR fails.

Note: Please read up on lilo before playing around with lilo.conf! 
Otherwise, you might end up with an unbootable system. It's also a good 
idea to have a bootable CD (Debian installer, Knoppix...) ready in case of 
problems.

Cheers,

  Richard

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