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| Newer page: | version 3 | Last edited on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:08:55 am | by AristotlePagaltzis | |
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-
-
-
-LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOW-TO
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!!LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOW-TO
-
-!!Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan)
-alavoor
[[AT
]yahoo.comv10.6, 14 March 2002
-
-
-----
-''This document discusses methods to recover from Linux system failures.
-Various reasons for linux system failures can be - LILO is destroyed, or linux fails to boot, or Master Boot Record (MBR)
-is damaged or linux fails to boot when another
-operating system like Windows NT is installed which erases LILO or MBR.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-*1.1 Tiny Floppy Linux
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Crash Recovery
-
-
-*2.1 Preparation Tips
-
-*2.2 Quick Steps to recovery
-
-*2.3 Precautionary measures
-
-*2.4 Removing LILO
-
-*2.5 Common mistakes
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3. Related URLs
-
-
-
-
-!!4. Other Formats of this Document
-
-
-*4.1 Acrobat PDF format
-
-*4.2 Convert Linuxdoc to Docbook format
-
-*4.3 Convert to MS !WinHelp format
-
-*4.4 Reading various formats
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5. Copyright
-----
-
-!!1. Introduction
-
-
-__(The latest version of this document is
-at
-http://www.milkywaygalaxy.freeservers.com. You may
-want to check there for changes).__
-
-
-You cannot avoid accidents and if it happens to linux systems then it
-may damage the
-master boot record (MBR) or LILO (Linux boot Loader).
-There may be cases where linux will not boot due to hard disk
-failures. The LILO may also fail if you accidentally re-partition the
-hard disk or you install another additional operating system like
-Windows 98/NT on the linux computer.
-
-
-This document gives you some ideas, tips and quick guide to recover
-fast without wading through hundreds of pages of documentation on
-LILO or Linux.
-
-!! 1.1 Tiny Floppy Linux
-
-
-
-To recover any Windows 95/NT/2000, OS/2, BeOS or Linux box you may need the
-tiny linux which fits on a single floppy disk.
-See the list of tiny floppy linux given below -
-
-
-* The best
-Tomsrtbt
-*
-
-* Second best floppy linux
-!MuLinux
-*
-
-*
-Trinux
-*
-
-*
-DLX
-*
-
-*
-FloppyFW
-*
-
-*
-Linux Router Proejct floppy
-*
-
-*
-Tiny Linux distributions
-*
-
-*
-TINYLinux
-*
-
-----
-
-!! 2. Crash Recovery
-
-
-
-
-!! 2.1 Preparation Tips
-
-
-
-It is a good idea to backup the important system files like /etc/fstab, /etc/lilo.conf
-after you login using Tomsrtbt floppy in next section. This can be very handy during
-crash situation or something happens to system files.
-----
-
-bash# cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig
-bash# cp /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo.conf.orig
-bash# cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.orig
-bash# cp /etc/hosts.allow /etc/hosts.allow.orig
-bash# cp /etc/hosts.deny /etc/hosts.deny.orig
-bash# cp /etc/inetd.conf /etc/inetd.conf.orig
-bash# cp /etc/inittab /etc/inittab.orig
-bash# cp /etc/networks /etc/networks.orig
-
-----
-
-!!2.2 Quick Steps to recovery
-
-
-
-Follow these steps to recover from LILO or system failures.
-
-
-
-
-
-# __SCENE 1:__ If your system does not boot -
-
-
-Get the tomsrtbt floppy
-http://www.toms.net/rb or !MuLinux floppy
-(see also
-Tiny Linux).
-Boot with tomsrtbt floppy
-Use fdisk to find the partitions. Try to recognise the
-root and boot partition. Watch out, you may be having the /boot files on
-the root partition itself.
-
-
-The Linux's root partition has the following directories
-__bin__,
-__boot__,
-__etc__,
-__usr__.
-
-
-And the Linux's boot partition has these directories:
-__vmlinuz__,
-__boot.b__,
-__chain.b__,
-__map__.
-
-
-To find out root partition do this :
-----
-
-bash# fdisk /dev/hda
-Command (m for help): m (Gives you help on commands)
-Command (m for help): p (Gives you list of partitons)
-Command (m for help): q
-bash# mkdir /test
-bash# mount /dev/hda1 /test
-bash# ls /test
-You should see root-partition list like this -
-bin fd lib mnt proc sbin usr
-boot dev etc home lost+found opt root tmp var
-
-----
-If this is not a root partition, then try the next partition /dev/hda2.
-Keep trying hda3, hda4, hda5, etc.. untill you find the root partition.
-If you do not find root partition in __hda__ device then repeat the above
-steps for other hard disk devices like __hdb__, __hdc__, __hdd__ etc..
-
-
-Next, you should find the /boot, /usr and /var partitions.
-The disk locations of these partitions are needed to create the new lilo configuration.
-
-
-In my case the root partition is /dev/hda4 which is used in the examples below:
-----
-
-bash# mkdir /rootpart
-bash# mount /dev/hda4 /rootpart
-bash# cat /rootpart/etc/fstab
-Read the output of fstab and mount partitions as per fstab file, see below -
-bash# mount /dev/hda5 /rootpart/boot
-bash# mount /dev/hda6 /rootpart/usr
-bash# mount /dev/hda7 /rootpart/var
-bash# mount /dev/hda8 /rootpart/opt
-bash# mount /dev/hda9 /rootpart/root
-bash# mount /dev/hda10 /rootpart/home
-
-----
-In my case, as per fstab file hda5 was __boot__, hda6 was __usr__,
-hda7 was __var__, hda8 was __opt__,
-hda9 was __root__, hda10 was __home__ and hda11 was windows95 (FAT16 partition).
-
-
-Edit /etc/fstab (not /rootpart/etc/fstab) and put (sample code given
here) -
-----
-
-/dev/hda4 /rootpart ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda5 /rootpart/boot ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda6 /rootpart/usr ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda7 /rootpart/var ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda8 /rootpart/opt ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda9 /rootpart/root ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda10 /rootpart/home ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda11 /rootpart/win95part vfat defaults 1 1
-On my computer hda4 contains the linux root partition, hda5 had boot partition and
-hda11 has windows 95 vfat system.
-bash# mkdir /rootpart/win95part
-bash# mount /rootpart/win95part
-And repair the problem partitions using fsck or e2fsck commands.
-bash# man fsck
-bash# man e2fsck
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-# __SCENE 2:__ If LILO is not working..
-
-
-Follow scene 1 above, if that fails then follow these steps.
-After executing steps in scene 1 above, you should have
-already mounted /rootpart and have created /etc/fstab file.
-
-
-Note: It is very important to note how chroot command works below. The __/sbin/lilo__
-file which chroot uses is actually located in __/rootpart/sbin/lilo__ and
-NOT in /sbin!! Hence, do not get confused.
-----
-
-bash# mount -a
-bash# chroot /rootpart /sbin/lilo -q
-bash# man chroot
-bash# chroot /rootpart /sbin/lilo
-
-----
-
-
-Note: New users of chroot will be confused. If chroot command complains that
-it cannot find /boot/map file then it actually
-means it that it cannot find /rootpart/boot/map. Because you gave /rootpart as the
-first argument to chroot and all references are with respect to /rootpart.
-
-
-Alternatively, you can directly use /sbin/lilo instead of chroot. The
--r option of lilo actually does chroot.
-It is very __strongly recommended__ that you use chroot, instead of lilo -r,
-as it is more convenient and can catch errors more easily.
-----
-
-bash# man lilo
-bash# /sbin/lilo -r /rootpart
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-# __SCENE 3:__ If LILO is not working..
-
-
-If scene 1 and 2 failes, then
-if you made the boot disk with 'mkbootdisk' (during install or
-by using 'man mkbootdisk'), boot with it and repair your partitions.
-The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
-Or get boot disks for Linux/NT/Windows/DOS/Mac are at
-http://www.bootdisk.com
-Other option is - get a hold of installation Linux-CDROM. Just about every Linux distribution
-provides a image of a rescue disk on their CD. Under Linux use
-"dd if=/cdrom/disks/rescue of=/dev/fd0" to create a rescue floppy disk. Under DOS
-use rawrite.exe (included on Linux CD) and then do "rawrite image-name a:".
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-# __SCENE 4:__ If 1, 2 and 3 above fails and you do not have boot disk
-
-
-If you have another computer running linux, then
-login as root and do -
-
-
-Note: If you compile your own kernel as a bzImage (for instance, bzImage-2.4.4),
-then you should create a hard link to vmlinuz-2.4.4 as follows (note the
-the z in name vmlinuz and it is not vmlinux). If you do not do this then
-mkbootdisk command may fail.
-----
-
-bash# cd /boot
-bash# ls -l vmlinuz*
-bash# ln /boot/bzImage-2.4.4 /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.4
-
-----
-Now that you have bzImage and vmlinuz, give these commands -
-----
-
-bash$ man mkbootdisk
-bash# cp /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo-original.conf
-
-----
-Edit the /etc/lilo.conf and put the root partition name as you
-obtained in 'scene 1' above and insert a blank floppy and give -
-----
-
-bash$ mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 2.2.12-20
-
-----
-The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
-Make sure you move the /etc/lilo-original.conf back to /etc/lilo.conf!!
-And then take this floppy and goto scene 3
-
-
-
-
-#
-
-# __SCENE 5: __ This is the worst scenerio and hopefully you will never come to this
-stage. Scenes from 1 to 4 will take care of majority of cases. But just in case, all the above
-scenes 1, 2, 3 and 4 fail then -
-
-
-''__Step 1: __''
-Boot tomsrtbt
-(see
-Tiny Linux)
-and mount the partitions and backup the root
-partition to another partition having disk space with comamnds -
-----
-
-Edit /etc/fstab and put (sample code given here, you may have to
-change as per your disk layout) -
-/dev/hda4 /rootpart ext2 defaults 1 1
-/dev/hda11 /b1 vfat defaults 1 1
-bash$ mkdir /rootpart; mount /rootpart
-bash$ mkdir /b1; mount /b1
-bash$ cd /
-bash$ df
-And see that there is enough disk space in /b1 to tar up the root partition
-bash$ tar cvf /b1/root-hda4.tar /rootpart
-
-----
-
-
-''__Step 2: __''
-Insert Linux cdrom, reboot and install the redhat linux
-on /dev/hda4 (but DO NOT install any extra packages, you just
-need to install only the root, boot systems and LILO manager that is, a very
-bare minimum). This will also install the LILO on hard disk.
-Boot linux now and login as root and do -
-----
-
-bash$ man mkbootdisk
-bash# cp /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo-original.conf
-
-----
-Note: You MUST remember to copy back lilo-original.conf to lilo.conf!!
-Edit the /etc/lilo.conf and put the root partition name as you
-obtained in 'scene 1' above and insert a blank floppy and give -
-----
-
-bash$ mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 2.2.12-20
-bash# cp /etc/lilo-original.conf /etc/lilo.conf
-
-----
-Test this boot floppy to see that this works and then
-restore back the all the files which you backedup using tar on
-/b1/root-hda4.tar as in step 1 above.
-
-#
-
-
-!!2.3 Precautionary measures
-
-
-
-You should take the following pre-cautionary measures to tackle the
-problems in future.
-
-
-
-
-
-* You MUST make emergency boot disk from time to time and whenever you
-make changes to the partition. Insert a blank floppy and do this -
-----
-
-bash$ man mkbootdisk
-The mkbootdisk is in mkbootdisk*.rpm package, you must install this.
-bash$ mkbootdisk --help
-bash$ mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 2.2.12-20
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-* You MUST backup the partition tables setup to a floppy and to a hard disk.
-You should also print this out and paste it on the computer box.
-----
-
-bash$ su - root
-bash# man fdisk
-bash# fdisk -l /dev/sda > partition_table_backup.txt
-
-----
-Very helpful if you need to repartition the hard disk.
-From the printout, you would know where your partition starts.
-During recovery, after repatitioning and formating you can restore data from the backup.
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-*You must keep the tomsrtbt boot floppy handy. Visit
-http://www.toms.net/rb
-(see also
-Tiny Linux)
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-*You must keep the Yard rescue and boot floppy disk handy. Visit
-http://www.linuxlots.com/~fawcett/yard
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-* Backup /root and /boot directories. Boot the Tomsrtbt
-floppy
-(see also
-Tiny Linux)
-and then
-----
-
-bash# vi /etc/fstab
-And put these lines -
-/dev/hda1 /a1 vfat defaults 1 1
-/dev/hdb1 /b1 vfat defaults 1 1
-In my case hda1 had the linux root partition '/'
-bash# cd /
-bash# tar cvf /b1/linux-root-partition-hda1.tar a1
-bash# tar cvf /b1/linux-boot-partition-hda1.tar a1/boot
-
-----
-
-*
-
-
-!!2.4 Removing LILO
-
-
-
-You can replace the boot sector with the DOS boot loader by issuing the DOS
-command at MS DOS prompt:
-----
-
-FDISK /MBR
-
-----
-where MBR stands for "Master Boot Record".
-
-
-See also LILO documentation on linux at /usr/doc/lilo* for other methods of
-uninstalling the LILO. And see also 'man lilo'.
-
-!!2.5 Common mistakes
-
-
-
-After making changes to /etc/lilo.conf you __MUST run lilo__ to make changes
-to go in effect. It is a very common mistake committed by newusers. Type -
-----
-
-bash# lilo -v -v -v
-
-----
-----
-
-!!3. Related URLs
-
-
-Visit following locators which are related to LILO, Rescue Linux, crash recovery -
-
-
-* Mini Lilo HOWTO at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/LILO.html
-*
-
-* Bootdisk-HOWTO at
-http://www.metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-* Pre-made boot disks at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO
-*
-
-* Boot disks for Linux/NT/Windows/DOS/Mac at
-http://www.bootdisk.com
-*
-
-* Tomsrtbt boot floppy disk
-http://www.toms.net/rb
-and (see also
-Tiny Linux)
-*
-
-* Yard rescue and boot floppy disk
-http://www.linuxlots.com/~fawcett/yard
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-* !BootPrompt-HOWTO at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/!BootPrompt-HOWTO.html
-*
-
-* Multiboot with LILO mini HOWTO at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Multiboot-with-LILO.html
-*
-
-* Linux+WinNT mini HOWTO at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/Linux+WinNT.html
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-* Linux goodies main site
-http://www.milkywaygalaxy.freeservers.com
-Mirror sites are at -
-http://aldev0.webjump.com,
-angelfire,
-geocities,
-virtualave,
-50megs,
-theglobe,
-NBCi,
-Terrashare,
-Fortunecity,
-Freewebsites,
-Tripod,
-Spree,
-Escalix,
-Httpcity,
-Freeservers.
-
-*
-
-* Vim color text editor for C++, C
-http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Vim-HOWTO.html
-*
-
-----
-
-!!4. Other Formats of this Document
-
-
-This document is published in 14 different formats namely - DVI, Postscript,
-Latex, Adobe Acrobat PDF,
-LyX, GNU-info, HTML, RTF(Rich Text Format), Plain-text, Unix man pages, single
-HTML file, SGML (Linuxdoc format), SGML (Docbook format), MS !WinHelp format.
-
-
-This howto document is located at -
-
-
-*
-http://www.linuxdoc.org and click on HOWTOs and search
-for howto document name using CTRL+f or ALT+f within the web-browser.
-*
-
-
-
-You can also find this document at the following mirrors sites -
-
-
-*
-http://www.caldera.com/LDP/HOWTO
-*
-
-*
-http://www.linux.ucla.edu/LDP
-*
-
-*
-http://www.cc.gatech.edu/linux/LDP
-*
-
-*
-http://www.redhat.com/mirrors/LDP
-
-*
-
-* Other mirror sites near you (network-address-wise) can be found at
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/mirrors.html
-select a site and go to directory /LDP/HOWTO/xxxxx-HOWTO.html
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*You can get this HOWTO document as a single file tar ball in HTML, DVI,
-Postscript or SGML formats from -
-ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/
-and
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-*Plain text format is in:
-ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
-and
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-*Single HTML file format is in:
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto
-
-
- Single HTML file can be created with command (see man sgml2html) -
-sgml2html -split 0 xxxxhowto.sgml
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-*Translations to other languages like French, German, Spanish,
-Chinese, Japanese are in
-ftp://www.linuxdoc.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO
-and
-http://www.linuxdoc.org/docs.html#howto
-Any help from you to translate to other languages is welcome.
-*
-
-The document is written using a tool called "SGML-Tools" which can be got from -
-http://www.sgmltools.org
-Compiling the source you will get the following commands like
-
-
-*sgml2html xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate html file)
-*
-
-*sgml2html -split 0 xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate a single page html file)
-*
-
-*sgml2rtf xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate RTF file)
-*
-
-*sgml2latex xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate latex file)
-*
-
-
-!! 4.1 Acrobat PDF format
-
-
-
-PDF file can be generated from postscript file using
-either acrobat __distill__ or __Ghostscript__.
-And postscript file is generated
-from DVI which in turn is generated from !LaTex file.
-You can download distill software from
-http://www.adobe.com. Given below
-is a sample session:
-----
-
-bash$ man sgml2latex
-bash$ sgml2latex filename.sgml
-bash$ man dvips
-bash$ dvips -o filename.ps filename.dvi
-bash$ distill filename.ps
-bash$ man ghostscript
-bash$ man ps2pdf
-bash$ ps2pdf input.ps output.pdf
-bash$ acroread output.pdf &
-
-----
-Or you can use Ghostscript command __ps2pdf__.
-ps2pdf is a work-alike for nearly all the functionality of
-Adobe's Acrobat Distiller product: it
-converts !PostScript files to Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
-__ps2pdf__ is implemented as a very small command script
-(batch file) that invokes Ghostscript, selecting a special "output device"
-called __pdfwrite__. In order to use ps2pdf, the pdfwrite
-device must be included in the makefile when Ghostscript was compiled;
-see the documentation on building Ghostscript for details.
-
-!! 4.2 Convert Linuxdoc to Docbook format
-
-
-
-This document is written in linuxdoc SGML format. The Docbook SGML format
-supercedes the linuxdoc format and has lot more features than linuxdoc.
-The linuxdoc is very simple and is easy to use. To convert linuxdoc SGML
-file to Docbook SGML use the program __ld2db.sh__ and some perl scripts.
-The ld2db output is not 100% clean and you need to use the __clean_ld2db.pl__
-perl script. You may need to manually correct few lines in the document.
-
-
-* Download ld2db program from
-http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~rrt/docbook.html
-or from
-Milkyway Galaxy site
-*
-
-* Download the cleanup_ld2db.pl perl script from
-from
-Milkyway Galaxy site
-*
-
-The ld2db.sh is not 100% clean, you will get lots of errors when you run
-----
-
-bash$ ld2db.sh file-linuxdoc.sgml db.sgml
-bash$ cleanup.pl db.sgml > db_clean.sgml
-bash$ gvim db_clean.sgml
-bash$ docbook2html db.sgml
-
-----
-And you may have to manually edit some of the minor errors after
-running the perl script. For e.g. you may need to put closing tag <
-/Para> for each <
-Listitem>
-
-!! 4.3 Convert to MS !WinHelp format
-
-
-
-You can convert the SGML howto document to Microsoft Windows Help file,
-first convert the sgml to html using:
-----
-
-bash$ sgml2html xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate html file)
-bash$ sgml2html -split 0 xxxxhowto.sgml (to generate a single page html file)
-
-----
-Then use the tool
-!HtmlToHlp.
-You can also use sgml2rtf and then use the RTF files for generating winhelp files.
-
-!! 4.4 Reading various formats
-
-
-
-In order to view the document in dvi format, use the xdvi program. The xdvi
-program is located in tetex-xdvi*.rpm package in Redhat Linux which can be
-located through !ControlPanel | Applications | Publishing | TeX menu buttons.
-To read dvi document give the command -
-
-
-xdvi -geometry 80x90 howto.dvi
-man xdvi
-
-
-And resize the window with mouse.
-To navigate use Arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down keys, also
-you can use 'f', 'd', 'u', 'c', 'l', 'r', 'p', 'n' letter
-keys to move up, down, center, next page, previous page etc.
-To turn off expert menu press 'x'.
-
-
-You can read postscript file using the program 'gv' (ghostview) or
-'ghostscript'.
-The ghostscript program is in ghostscript*.rpm package and gv
-program is in gv*.rpm package in Redhat Linux
-which can be located through !ControlPanel | Applications | Graphics menu
-buttons. The gv program is much more user friendly than ghostscript.
-Also ghostscript and gv are available on other platforms like OS/2,
-Windows 95 and NT, you view this document even on those platforms.
-
-
-
-
-
-*Get ghostscript for Windows 95, OS/2, and for
-all OSes from
-http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost
-*
-
-
-
-To read postscript document give the command -
-
-
-gv howto.ps
-ghostscript howto.ps
-
-
-
-
-You can read HTML format document using Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet
-explorer, Redhat Baron Web browser or any of the 10 other web browsers.
-
-
-You can read the latex, LyX output using LyX a X-Windows front end to latex.
-----
-
-!!5. Copyright
-
-
-Copyright policy is GNU/GPL as per LDP (Linux Documentation project).
-LDP is a GNU/GPL project.
-Additional requests are that you retain the author's name, email address
-and this copyright notice on all the copies. If you make any changes
-or additions to this document then you please
-intimate all the authors of this document.
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