mirror of https://github.com/tLDP/LDP
433 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
433 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
<!doctype linuxdoc system>
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************************** begin comment *****************************
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The following is the HOW-TO for recovering from linux crash, if
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linux fails to boot, LILO is destroyed and to rescue the system.
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This document is in the SGML format. You must use sgml package to
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process this document
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************************* end of comment *****************************
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-->
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<!--
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************************** SGML USER GUIDE *****************************
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The SGML user guide on linux is located at /usr/doc/sgml-tools
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Read the example.sgml and guide.html documents.
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Usage:
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HTML sgml2html foo (Do not give extension .sgml here!!)
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Text sgml2txt foo.sgml
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Latex sgml2latex foo.sgml
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(note: put extra dash - before language below, removed to compile)
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Postscript sgml2latex -language=english -o ps foo.sgml
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DVI sgml2latex -d foo.sgml
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Lyx sgml2lyx foo.sgml
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Richtext sgml2rtf foo.sgml
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gnuinfo sgml2info foo.sgml
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man sgml2txt -man foo.sgml
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SGML sgmlcheck foo.sgml
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************************* end of comment *****************************
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-->
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<article>
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<!-- Title information -->
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<title>LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOW-TO
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<!-- chapt change
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LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOW-TO
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-->
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<author>Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan)
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<htmlurl url="mailto:alavoor@yahoo.com"
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name="alavoor@yahoo.com">
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<date>v4.0, 12 Nov 2000
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<abstract>
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This document discusses methods to recover from Linux system failures.
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Various reasons for linux system failures can be -
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LILO is destroyed, or linux fails to boot, or Master Boot Record (MBR)
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is damaged or linux fails to boot when another
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operating system like Windows NT is installed which erases LILO or MBR.
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</abstract>
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<!-- Table of contents -->
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<toc>
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<!-- Begin the document -->
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<chapt>Introduction
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-->
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<sect>Introduction
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<p>
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You cannot avoid accidents and if it happens to linux systems then it
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may damage the
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master boot record (MBR) or LILO (Linux boot Loader).
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There may be cases where linux will not boot due to hard disk
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failures. The LILO may also fail if you accidentally re-partition the
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hard disk or you install another additional operating system like
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Windows 98/NT on the linux computer.
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This document gives you some ideas, tips and quick guide to recover
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fast without wading through hundreds of pages of documentation on
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LILO or Linux.
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<sect1> Quick Steps to recovery
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<p>
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Follow these steps to recover from LILO or system failures.
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<enum>
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<item> <bf>SCENE 1:</bf> If your system does not boot -
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<p>
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Get the tomsrtbt floppy <url url="http://www.toms.net/rb">
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Boot with tomsrtbt floppy
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Use fdisk /dev/hda to find the partitions
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Edit /etc/fstab and put (sample code given here) -
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<code>
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/dev/hda4 /a4 ext2 defaults 1 1
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/dev/hda1 /a1 vfat defaults 1 1
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On my computer hda4 contains the linux boot/root partition and
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hda1 has windows 95 vfat system.
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bash# mkdir /a4 /a1
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bash# mount /a4
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bash# mount /a1
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and repair the system
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</code>
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<p>
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<item> <bf>SCENE 2:</bf> If LILO is not working..
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<p>
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Follow scene 1 above, if that fails then
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<code>
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bash# mkdir /a4 /a1
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bash# mount /a4
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bash# mount /a1
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bash# chroot /a4 /sbin/lilo -q
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bash# man chroot
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bash# chroot /a4 /sbin/lilo
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</code>
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Alternatively, you can directly use /sbin/lilo instead of chroot. The
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-r option of lilo actually does chroot.
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<code>
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bash# man lilo
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bash# /sbin/lilo -r /a4
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</code>
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<p>
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<item> <bf>SCENE 3:</bf> If LILO is not working..
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<p>
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If scene 1 and 2 failes, then
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if you made the boot disk with 'mkbootdisk' (during install or
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by using 'man mkbootdisk'), boot with it and repair your partitions.
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The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
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<p>
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<item> <bf>SCENE 4:</bf> If 1, 2 and 3 above fails and you do not have boot disk
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<p>
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If you have another computer running linux, then
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login as root and do -
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<code>
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bash$ man mkbootdisk
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bash# cp /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo-original.conf
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</code>
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Edit the /etc/lilo.conf and put the root partition name as you
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obtained in 'scene 1' above and insert a blank floppy and give -
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<code>
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bash# mkbootdisk /dev/fd0
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</code>
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The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
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Make sure you move the /etc/lilo-original.conf back to /etc/lilo.conf!! And
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then take this floppy and goto scene 3
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<p>
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<item> <bf>SCENE 5: </bf>If scenes 1, 2, 3 and 4 above fails then
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<p>
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<it><bf>Step 1: </bf></it>
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Boot tomsrtbt and mount the partitions and backup the root
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partition to another partition having disk space with comamnds -
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<code>
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Edit /etc/fstab and put (sample code given here) -
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/dev/hdb1 /b1 vfat defaults 1 1
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bash$ mkdir /b1; mount /b1
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bash$ cd /
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bash$ tar cvf /b1/root-a4.tar a4
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</code>
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<p>
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<it><bf>Step 2: </bf></it>
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Insert Linux cdrom, reboot and install the redhat linux
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on /dev/hda4 (but DO NOT install any extra packages, you just
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need to install only the root, boot systems and LILO manager that is, a very
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bare minimum). This will also install the LILO on hard disk.
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Boot linux now and login as root and do -
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<code>
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bash$ man mkbootdisk
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bash# cp /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo-original.conf
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</code>
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Note: You MUST remember to copy back lilo-original.conf to lilo.conf!!
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Edit the /etc/lilo.conf and put the root partition name as you
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obtained in 'scene 1' above and insert a blank floppy and give -
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<code>
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bash# mkbootdisk /dev/fd0
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bash# cp /etc/lilo-original.conf /etc/lilo.conf
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</code>
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Take this floppy to problem machine and
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test this boot floppy to see that this works and then
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restore back the all the files which you backedup using tar on
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/b1/root-a4.tar as in step 1 above.
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</enum>
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-->
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<sect1> Precautionary measures
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<p>
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You should take the following pre-cautionary measures to tackle the
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problems in future.
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<itemize>
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<item> You MUST make emergency boot disk from time to time and whenever you
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make changes to the partition. Insert a blank floppy and do this -
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<code>
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bash$ man mkbootdisk
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The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
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bash$ mkbootdisk --help
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bash$ mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 2.2.12-20
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</code>
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<p>
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<item>
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You must keep the tomsrtbt boot floppy handy. Visit
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<url url="http://www.toms.net/rb">
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<p>
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<item>
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You must keep the Yard rescue and boot floppy disk handy. Visit
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<url url="http://www.croftj.net/~fawcett/yard">
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<p>
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<item> Backup /root and /boot directories. Boot the Tomsrtbt floppy and
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then
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<code>
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bash# vi /etc/fstab
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And put these lines -
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/dev/hda1 /a1 vfat defaults 1 1
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/dev/hdb1 /b1 vfat defaults 1 1
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In my case hda1 had the linux root partition '/'
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bash# cd /
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bash# tar cvf /b1/linux-root-partition-hda1.tar a1
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bash# tar cvf /b1/linux-boot-partition-hda1.tar a1/boot
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</code>
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</itemize>
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-->
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<sect1> Removing LILO
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<p>
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You can replace the boot sector with the DOS boot loader by issuing the DOS command:
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<code>
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FDISK /MBR
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</code>
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where MBR stands for "Master Boot Record".
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See also LILO documentation on linux at /usr/doc/lilo* for other methods of
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uninstalling the LILO. And see also 'man lilo'.
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<!--
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-->
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<sect1> Common mistakes
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<p>
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After making changes to /etc/lilo.conf you MUST run lilo to make changes
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to go in effect. It is a very common mistake committed by newusers. Type -
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<code>
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bash# lilo -v -v -v
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</code>
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<chapt change> Related URLs
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-->
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<sect> Related URLs
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<p>
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Visit following locators which are related to LILO, Rescue Linux, crash recovery -
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<itemize>
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<item> Mini Lilo HOWTO at <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/LILO.html">
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<item> Bootdisk-HOWTO at <url url="http://www.metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html">
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<p>
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<item> Pre-made boot disks at <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/a1277.html">
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<item> Tomsrtbt boot floppy disk <url url="http://www.toms.net/rb">
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<item> Yard rescue and boot floppy disk <url url="http://www.croftj.net/~fawcett/yard">
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<p>
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<item> BootPrompt-HOWTO at <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html">
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<item> Multiboot with LILO mini HOWTO at <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Multiboot-with-LILO.html">
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<item> Linux+WinNT mini HOWTO at <url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT.html">
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<p>
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<item> Linux goodies main site <url url="http://www.aldev.8m.com">
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<item> Linux goodies mirror site <url url="http://aldev.webjump.com">
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<item> Vim color text editor for C++, C <url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Vim-HOWTO.html">
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</itemize>
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<!--
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************ End of Section ***************
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*******************************************
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<chapt change> Other Formats of this Document
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-->
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<sect> Other Formats of this Document
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<p>
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This document is published in 11 different formats namely - DVI, Postscript,
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Latex, Adobe Acrobat PDF,
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LyX, GNU-info, HTML, RTF(Rich Text Format), Plain-text, Unix man pages and SGML.
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<itemize>
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<item>
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You can get this HOWTO document as a single file tar ball in HTML, DVI,
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Postscript or SGML formats from -
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<url url="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/">
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<item>Plain text format is in: <url url="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO">
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<item>Translations to other languages like French, German, Spanish,
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Chinese, Japanese are in
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<url url="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO">
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Any help from you to translate to other languages is welcome.
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</itemize>
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The document is written using a tool called "SGML-Tools" which can be got from -
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<url url="http://www.sgmltools.org">
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Compiling the source you will get the following commands like
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<itemize>
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<item>sgml2html LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.sgml (to generate html file)
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<item>sgml2rtf LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.sgml (to generate RTF file)
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<item>sgml2latex LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.sgml (to generate latex file)
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</itemize>
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LaTeX documents may be converted into PDF files simply by
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producing a Postscript output using <bf>sgml2latex</bf> ( and dvips) and running the
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output through the Acrobat <bf>distill</bf> (<url url="http://www.adobe.com">) command as follows:
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<code>
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bash$ man sgml2latex
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bash$ sgml2latex filename.sgml
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bash$ man dvips
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bash$ dvips -o filename.ps filename.dvi
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bash$ distill filename.ps
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bash$ man ghostscript
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bash$ man ps2pdf
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bash$ ps2pdf input.ps output.pdf
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bash$ acroread output.pdf &
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</code>
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Or you can use Ghostscript command <bf>ps2pdf</bf>.
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ps2pdf is a work-alike for nearly all the functionality of
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Adobe's Acrobat Distiller product: it
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converts PostScript files to Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
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<bf>ps2pdf</bf> is implemented as a very small command script (batch file) that invokes Ghostscript, selecting a special "output device"
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called <bf>pdfwrite</bf>. In order to use ps2pdf, the pdfwrite device must be included in the makefile when Ghostscript was compiled;
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see the documentation on building Ghostscript for details.
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This howto document is located at -
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html">
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</itemize>
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Also you can find this document at the following mirrors sites -
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.caldera.com/LDP/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html">
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<item> <url url="http://www.WGS.com/LDP/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html">
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<item> <url url="http://www.cc.gatech.edu/linux/LDP/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html">
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<item> <url url="http://www.redhat.com/linux-info/ldp/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html">
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<item> Other mirror sites near you (network-address-wise) can be found at
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<url url="http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/hmirrors.html">
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select a site and go to directory /LDP/HOWTO/LILO-crash-rescue-HOWTO.html
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</itemize>
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In order to view the document in dvi format, use the xdvi program. The xdvi
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program is located in tetex-xdvi*.rpm package in Redhat Linux which can be
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located through ControlPanel | Applications | Publishing | TeX menu buttons.
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To read dvi document give the command -
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<tscreen><verb>
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xdvi -geometry 80x90 howto.dvi
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man xdvi
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</verb></tscreen>
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And resize the window with mouse.
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To navigate use Arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down keys, also
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you can use 'f', 'd', 'u', 'c', 'l', 'r', 'p', 'n' letter
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keys to move up, down, center, next page, previous page etc.
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To turn off expert menu press 'x'.
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You can read postscript file using the program 'gv' (ghostview) or
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'ghostscript'.
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The ghostscript program is in ghostscript*.rpm package and gv
|
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program is in gv*.rpm package in Redhat Linux
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which can be located through ControlPanel | Applications | Graphics menu
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buttons. The gv program is much more user friendly than ghostscript.
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Also ghostscript and gv are available on other platforms like OS/2,
|
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Windows 95 and NT, you view this document even on those platforms.
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<itemize>
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<item>Get ghostscript for Windows 95, OS/2, and for all OSes from <url url="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost">
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</itemize>
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To read postscript document give the command -
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<tscreen><verb>
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gv howto.ps
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ghostscript howto.ps
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</verb></tscreen>
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You can read HTML format document using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet
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explorer, Redhat Baron Web browser or any of the 10 other web browsers.
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You can read the latex, LyX output using LyX a X-Windows front end to latex.
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<!--
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************ End of Section ***************
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*******************************************
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<chapt> Copyright
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-->
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<sect> Copyright
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<p>
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Copyright policy is GNU/GPL as per LDP (Linux Documentation project).
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LDP is a GNU/GPL project.
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Additional requests are that you retain the author's name, email address
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and this copyright notice on all the copies. If you make any changes
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or additions to this document then you please
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intimate all the authors of this document.
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Brand names mentioned in this document are property of their respective
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owners.
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<!--
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-->
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</article>
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