LILO v20: Loader for other operating systems

Support knowledgebase (kgw_lilo_20_chainb)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Versions since 5.1

Symptom:

You have configured LILO such as to be able to boot other systems as well. For this purpose you use the loaders any_b.b or any_d.b.

You plan to update your former S.u.S.E. Linux version to a 5.1 without changing your former LILO configuration (e.g. LILO configuration within YaST).

However, you are not able to reinstall LILO using your old /etc/lilo.conf. The installation aborts displaying an error message:

Chain loader is version nnn. Expecting version 20
oder
open /boot/any_d.b: No such file or directory

Cause:

There is no more /boot/any_b.b or /boot/any_d.b in LILO 20. Their functionality has been integrated into the standard loader /boot/chain.b. (/boot/os2_d.b still exists for booting OS/2 from the second hard disk).

Solution:

Use /boot/chain.b instead of /boot/any_b.b or /boot/any_d.b.

Caution! Contrary to these obsolete loaders, chain.b does not switch drives automatically! You have to tell it explicitly to do so in /etc/lilo.conf. This may be done by entering (e.g.) the following lines:

  map-drive = 0x80
      to    = 0x81 
  map-drive = 0x81
      to    = 0x80
Adapt your /etc/lilo.conf accordingly. You may do so using either YaST or an editor.
Keywords: BOOTEN, INSTALLATION, LILO, UPDATE, YAST

SDB-kgw_lilo_20_chainb, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 18. Nov 1997
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 03. Mai 2000 by kgw (sdb_gen 1.40.0)