[ale] MBR rebuilder ?

Thompson Freeman tfreeman at tfreeman.vnet.net
Tue Jul 7 11:08:51 EDT 1998


You appear to have a similar setup to what I used to run. I routinely used
loadlin to get out of dos and into Linux. No problem, no sweat. Loadlin is
a dos program, reads the linux kernel from a dos file (and the ram disk if
needed and specified) and off you go...

On Tue, 7 Jul 1998, 'Nomad the Wanderer' wrote:

> Doesn't this require umsdos and linux on the same filesystem?  I have
> 2 internal scsi disks.  One for Linux, one for the bloatware.
> 
> Robert
> 
> Thus spake Eric Z. Ayers (eric at compgen.com):
> 
> > 
> > Since you don't have a floppy installed, why not try 'loadlin' to boot 
> > your system?  that can be run from dos/windows and I don't think it
> > requires a floppy.
> > 
> > -Eric.
> > 
> > John M. Mills writes:
> >  > 
> >  > On Mon, 6 Jul 1998, Jacob Langseth wrote:
> >  > > On Monday, July 06, 1998 6:19 PM, Nomad the Wanderer [SMTP:nomad at orci.com] 
> >  > > wrote:
> >  > > > Anyone here willing to write a proggy that given a -r will read the
> >  > > > contents of the mbr and given a -w will write it back so I don't have
> >  > > > to go through the rescue disk stuff to rebuild my box?  It wouldn't be
> >  > > > such a big deal, but I don't have a floppy in it right now...
> >  > 
> >  > > One possibility would be to create a boot/root disk (ala
> >  > > ancient slackware) and stick dd on it.
> >  > > dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/fd0 block_size=512 count=1, iirc
> >  > 
> >  > (1) I expect that you mean something you could run from DOS, since
> >  >     (a) you'll just have installed Win@#$!! and now can't boot Linux, and
> >  >     (b) Win@#$!! won't allow you to get at the mbr (except 'fdisk /mbr'),
> >  >     which means you'll have to reboot from a floppy in any case, no?
> >  > (2) You _did_ make a boot floppy didn't you? For my RH4.2:
> >  >     # cd /boot
> >  >     # dd if=vmlinuz of=/dev/fd0
> >  > 
> >  > I would just boot from that floppy and run lilo.  Looks about as simple to
> >  > me as a trick DOS utility to clean your Windows. 
> >  > 
> >  >   John M. Mills, Senior Research Engineer -- john.mills at gtri.gatech.edu
> >  >   Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0834
> >  >         Phone contacts: 404.894.0151 (voice), 404.894.6285 (FAX)
> >  >   "No matter how long you work on your writing, as soon as you pick it   
> >  >    up again, your eye will fall instantly on a typographical error."
> >  >                                    - Hugh Denny's Law of report writing
> >  > 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Robert L. Harris                |   Educate the Masses,
> Senior System Administrator II  |      Don't just help them to
>   at Great West Life.           \_       Remain ignorant.       
> 
> http://www.orci.com/~nomad
> 
> DISCLAIMER:
>       These are MY OPINIONS ALONE.  I speak for no-one else.
> 
> FYI:
>  perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
> 

---------------------------------------------------
Thompson Freeman

Free Wisdom!! Bring your own bucket and shovel!
---------------------------------------------------






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