HD Install :: Boot Sequence Does Not Complete



I made a dumb mistake the other day - I added a task to bootlocal.sh with no definate end that was not backgrounded and thus the boot sequence could not complete.

As far as I could tell, the only way to get out of the situation was by using <ctrl-alt-del> which shut down the machine.

All that needed doing to fix the problem was to comment out one line in bootlocal.sh, but...

1. On a frugal-hd-lilo install, I cannot enter "base norestore" at the prompt (because there isn't one) so I was stuck in the loop.
2. After a floppy "fromusb" boot I edited bootlocal.sh in backup.tar.gz using emelFM, but this caused the file to be unreadable on the next frugal-hd-lilo boot
3. After another floppy "fromusb" boot I moved backup.tar.gz, effectively creating a "norestore" situation on the next frugal-hd-lilo boot, but then after manually unpacking and copying a bunch of files from backup.tar.gz I of course missed some...

Apart from not making dumb mistakes in the first place, there has to be a better/smarter/easier way to fix this kind of error - any suggestions for next time would be gratefully received  :)

[NB: frugal-hd-lilo boot = 5mins, floppy "fromusb" boot = 10mins on this machine]
With Lilo, I think you'd be out of luck unless there is some way of interrupting init with some key codes (ctrl c? which probably won't work) or remoting in perhaps (one reason why I always start sshd)...

For your "fromusb" boot: why not use "fromhd" instead?
Or create your own specific rescue entry in lilo (or on a bootfloppy)...

Or you could use another bootloader (if you can).
Well, I would've used a boot floppy with grub to boot your installation, only with the norestore option.
It is surprisingly handy; and you don't have to include DSL specifically in the menu, just go to the command line and use cat to look at all the options in lilo.conf, then adapt slightly for grub, and boot.
I agree having grub boot floppy is a life saver, a must have tool. It has saved me from my oops many times.
'made myself a grub boot floppy, but:
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Check if you have turned on the support for INT 13 extension (LBA). If so, disable the support and see if GRUB can now access your SCSI disk. This will make it clear that your SCSI BIOS sucks.

For now, we know the following doesn't provide working LBA mode:
Adaptec AIC-7880

In the case where you have such a SCSI controller unfortunately, you cannot use the LBA mode, though GRUB still works fine in the CHS mode (so the well-known 1024 cylinders problem comes again to you).

- guess which kind of scsi adapter I have  :(
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