Installation/Boot parameters?

[IIMarckus]

Hi guys, I've never run Linux before. I've been slowly getting into it with some liveCDs like Slax and Knoppix, and today I installed Slackware on my system. The box is an older machine with an AMD-K6 processor.

When I first put in the Slackware install disk, it gave a message saying

This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
0:15
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

I then booted the CD with the parameter "huge.s," and it ran fine. I then installed Slackware, as well as LILO. When LILO asked for default boot parameters, I put in "huge.s", assuming it would require the same parameter as before. Then I continued with the rest of the installation. Everything seemed to go fine, but now the computer doesn't work.

When the computer is turned on, a Slackware screen pops up asking to choose an OS, Windows or Linux. (The computer has two hard drives; hda has Windows 2000 and hdb has Linux.) Windows works fine. When I try Linux, this displays:

Loading Linux......................................
BIOS data check successful
This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU:
0:15
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

I hear first-time Linux users frequently have problems, but I didn't expect something this early. Any insights? :D

[saulgoode]

I then booted the CD with the parameter "huge.s," and it ran fine. I then installed Slackware, as well as LILO. When LILO asked for default boot parameters, I put in "huge.s", assuming it would require the same parameter as before.
You probably don't need to enter any boot parameters here, and it is certainly not necessary to type "huge.s" (that is the name of the kernel image to be loaded, it is not a parameter).

You should reboot into your system using the install CD. At the LILO menu, type in the following command:

huge.s root=/dev/hda1 noinitrd ro

After you have logged in as root, go to the /boot directory and do an "ls -l". You should see something similar to (ignore the "tesla" files, which are my custom kernels):


lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 37 2008-04-21 22:34 README.initrd -> /usr/doc/mkinitrd-1.3.2/README.initrd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 2008-05-05 06:17 System.map -> System.map-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 902376 2008-05-05 08:23 System.map-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 844024 2008-04-30 15:02 System.map-generic-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 880187 2008-04-30 14:19 System.map-generic-smp-2.6.24.5-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1282875 2008-04-30 15:15 System.map-huge-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1320655 2008-04-30 14:42 System.map-huge-smp-2.6.24.5-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 2008-04-12 03:08 boot.0300
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 2008-04-11 03:03 boot.0301
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 199 2008-04-12 03:08 boot_message.txt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 2008-05-05 06:17 config -> config-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82657 2008-05-05 06:07 config-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82369 2008-04-30 15:02 config-generic-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82657 2008-04-30 14:19 config-generic-smp-2.6.24.5-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82208 2008-04-30 15:15 config-huge-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82536 2008-04-30 14:42 config-huge-smp-2.6.24.5-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5040 2008-04-01 03:39 diag1.img
-rw------- 1 root root 98816 2008-05-05 08:23 map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15754 2008-02-21 19:08 slack.bmp
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2008-05-05 06:17 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2326072 2008-05-05 08:22 vmlinuz-2.6.24.5-tesla
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2055544 2008-04-30 15:02 vmlinuz-generic-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2167384 2008-04-30 14:19 vmlinuz-generic-smp-2.6.24.5-smp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4205208 2008-04-30 15:15 vmlinuz-huge-2.6.24.5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4369880 2008-04-30 14:42 vmlinuz-huge-smp-2.6.24.5-smp

The main items of interest are the symbolic links (i.e., the lines that begin with a lowercase L). You want to change the 'vmlinuz' link so that it points to the 'vmlinuz-huge-2.6.24.5' kernel:

rm vmlinuz && ln -s vmlinuz-huge-2.6.24.5 vmlinuz

You will likewise want to change the 'System.map'

rm System.map && ln -s System.map-huge-2.6.24.5 System.map

And 'config':

rm config && ln -s config-huge-2.6.24.5 config

After making these changes, run LILO:

lilo

And reboot. If this does not work, please post the contents of '/etc/lilo.conf' and the listing of your '/boot' directory (long format).