Why won't Linux boot?

The Top Ten Reasons Why Linux won't boot from hard disk.

If you use loadlin instead of LILO to boot, there are
some other reasons. These seem to be the most popular.


10. Can't install Linux bootstrap loader in the Master
Boot Record (MBR), but MS installer can. Hard disk
drive sector zero is defective.

9. Didn't install the Linux bootstrap loader.

8. Didn't run LILO when installing or changing kernel.

7. No room in the partition containing /boot for map
file and/or a backup copy of the boot sector.

6. vmlinuz (or bzImage) or System.map is defective or
missing from /boot, or /etc/lilo.conf is clobbered
or missing.

5. Your BIOS doesn't allow booting from secondary IDE
hard disk drives, or at least from other than the
first two IDE disk drives. Not all BIOS-es have this
limitation, though.

4. You used MS Windows 98 fdisk or format, which replaced
the previously installed boot sectors, Linux or other-
wise. If you used the Windows 98 disk format program,
you trashed the Windows 98 partition as well.

3. MS Windows had trouble or crashed, scandisk ran and
replaced your dual boot setup in the Windows partition
boot sector with its own privately cached copy.

2. vmlinunz (or bzImage) or System.map is at cylinder
1024 or higher, in part or entirely. Both the kernel
and its map files must be entirely below cylinder 1024
unless you install LILO 21.4.3 (released May, 2000),
or newer.

1. The Linux partition containing /boot isn't active.
Ya gotta make each boot partition active when you
partition or repartition the drive.