[Solved] Lilo boots wrong kernel; no kb or mouse

[mobius]

On a freshly partitioned HDD, I installed Salix Xfce 14.2 on sda2, then Salix Mate 14.1 on sda5, and LILO in MBR. Mate boots/runs fine, but when booting Xfce, it gets as far as the graphical login screen, at which point keyboard and mouse are completely ineffective, and reset button is necessary. [One other note: when booting Xfce, all the text is in standard 80x25 resolution; whereas when booting Mate, the video changes to a much higher resolution (smaller text.)]

Searching these forums, I found a thread suggesting this type of problem may be caused by LILO booting the wrong kernel, and on the post's recommendation, I ran (on Mate) lilo -v. After this, I was able to boot/run Xfce normally one time. After that, the original problem was back.

This is lilo.conf:

Code: Select all

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
boot = /dev/sda

compact

# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append="quiet  vt.default_utf8=1"
prompt
timeout = 50
# Normal VGA console
vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# ramdisk = 0     # paranoia setting
# End LILO global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda2
  label = SalixX
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
image = /boot/vmlinuz
  root = /dev/sda5
  label = SalixM
  read-only  # Partitions should be mounted read-only for checking
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda1
  table = /dev/sda
  label = Recover
# Linux bootable partition config ends

When lilo is run with increased verbosity, it appears that, for Xfce, it is indeed pointing to the wrong kernel. Here is the output from a test run:

Code: Select all

# lilo -v 3 -t
LILO version 24.0 (test mode)
  * Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger  (until v20)
  * Copyright (C) 1999-2007 John Coffman  (until v22)
  * Copyright (C) 2009-2013 Joachim Wiedorn  (since v23)
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software 
distributed under the BSD License (3-clause). Details can be found in 
the file COPYING, which is distributed with this software.
Compiled at 11:01:28 on Dec 30 2013
Running Linux kernel 3.10.17 on x86_64

Warning: LBA32 addressing assumed
device-mapper major = 253
raid_setup returns offset = 00000000  ndisk = 0
 BIOS   VolumeID   Device
Reading boot sector from /dev/sda
pf_hard_disk_scan: ndevs=2
  0800  00015787  /dev/sda
  0810  0691527A  /dev/sdb
Resolve invalid VolumeIDs
Resolve duplicate VolumeIDs
  0800  00015787  /dev/sda
  0810  0691527A  /dev/sdb
device codes (user assigned pf) = 0
device codes (user assigned) = 0
device codes (BIOS assigned) = 3
device codes (canonical) = 3
Device 0x0800: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 0 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
Device 0x0805: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 184553472 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
mode = 0x03,  columns = 80,  rows = 25,  page = 0
Using MENU secondary loader
Calling map_insert_data
Secondary loader: 18 sectors (0x3600 dataend).
bios_boot = 0x80  bios_map = 0x80  map==boot = 0  map S/N: 00015787
BIOS data check was okay on the last boot

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-huge-3.10.17
Device 0x0805: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 184553472 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
Setup length is 33 sectors.
Compaction removed 12344 BIOS calls.
Mapped 12575 sectors.
Added SalixX  *
    <dev=0xe0,hd=9,cyl=177,sct=218>
    "ro root=802 quiet  vt.default_utf8=1"

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-huge-3.10.17
Device 0x0805: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 184553472 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
Setup length is 33 sectors.
Compaction removed 12344 BIOS calls.
Mapped 12575 sectors.
Added SalixM
    <dev=0xe0,hd=9,cyl=177,sct=223>
    "ro root=805 quiet  vt.default_utf8=1"

Boot other: /dev/sda1, on /dev/sda, loader CHAIN
Device 0x0801: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 2048 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
Device 0x0800: BIOS drive 0x80, 255 heads, 60801 cylinders,
               63 sectors. Partition offset: 0 sectors.
Using Volume ID 00015787 on bios 80
Compaction removed 0 BIOS calls.
Mapped 6 (4+1+1) sectors.
Added Recover
    <dev=0xe0,hd=198,cyl=19,sct=239>

 BIOS   VolumeID   Device
  80    00015787    0800
  81    0691527A    0810
The boot sector and the map file have *NOT* been altered.
One warning was issued.

Notice that both SalixX and SalixM point to '/boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-huge-3.10.17' which is the Mate kernel (on sda5); SalixX should be pointing to '/boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-huge-4.4.19' (on sda2). I have tried rearranging the order of the image entries in lilo.conf without any change.

What's next?

EDIT: Add [Solved] to title.

[mobius]

Solved: found very old thread, advising to mount the other system, then edit the lilo.conf image to point to the /mounted/boot/kernel and rerun lilo. Worked !