RH 7.1 Linux won't boot

[Pierre M. Camilleri]

Hi Everyone

I've just installed RH 7.1 onto a workstation running Windows NT WS 4 already. I installed RH 7.1 on a second drive. NT resides on the first drive. I paid particular attention that I do not install Linux on MBR.
I next copied Bootsect.lnx to C:\ and edited the boot.ini so that I could select Linux from the NT Loader Menu.
However when selecting it nothing happens. Only a flashing cursor. When I boot from the Linux boot diskette, Linux loads successfully. When I type LILO at the system prompt I get the following error message:
Warning: /dev/hdc1 is not on the first disk.
Can anyone please help me.
TIA
Pierre

[Vincenzo Restuccia · Accepted solution]

Install LILO in /boot of the first disk.

[Roberto Gallis]

Hi,
I think is better to install LILO on mbr of the first disk (boot disk) and not to load linux from NT boot.
Then edit /etc/lilo.conf to load your NT os

LILO must be configured on the first disk (/dev/hda), /dev/hdc1 maybe the second disk (first partition)

[Bill Thorsteinson]

Here a few options to try.

Install Lilo boot on /dev/hdc and change the bios to boot
it. Setup the NT boot in lilo to boot /dev/hda. Lilo will save your current boot sector and can put it back.

Create a small (5 to 10 MB) linux boot partition in the
first 1024 sectors of the first drive.

If you are more adventurous, swap drives so linux is
/dev/hda. You will need to edit /etc/fstab to reflect
the change from /dev/hdc to /dev/hdc.
Add disk lines to lilo.conf to swap disks before booting
NT from /dev/hda. Lines should be something like:
device=/dev/hda
disk=/dev/hda
bios=0x81
disk=/dev/hdc
bios=0x80
label=NT
Bios for /dev/hda might be 0x82.

You can copy the boot block to backup using :
dd ifile=/dev/hda ofile=boot.backup count=1 bs=512
Reverse ifile and ofile to restore the block.
Use the command:
od -N 512 /dev/hda
to display the boot block.