Subject: [Linux-Madurai] Installing Pcqlinux 7.1 beyond 1024 cylinders ___________________________________________________ Installing on a partition beyond 1024 cylinder : ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` Dear all, For those who have problems installing pcqlinux7.1 or redhat 7.1 please read the below. bye Prasanna Kumar The PCQlinux/RedHat 7.1 DiskDruid partitioning tool used during installation cannot create a boot partition (/boot) that lies beyond 1024 cylinders. However, the distribution itself supports this on machines that have an LBA32 (EDD) capable BIOS. (For more on the EDD BIOS specification see Enhanced Disk Drive Specification Ver 1.1) To work around this problem, do the following: Boot off the CD as usual and select options until you reach the screen that asks you to choose between DiskDruid and fdisk partitioning. Select partitioning using fdisk Select the hard disk to partition When fdisk starts, press "p" and [enter], and verify that you have an extended partition defined. If you do, skip the next step If you do not see an extended partition, create one as follows: Type "n" and press [enter] Select "e" and press [enter] Choose "4" for the extended partition number Press [enter] to accept all defaults When you return back to the command prompt, type "p" and verify that you now have an extended partition Now press "n" and select "l" (small ell) and [enter] Press [enter] to accept the default start cylinder Enter "+50M" to specify the size of 50 MB Type "p" and [enter] to verify that you now have a Linux partition, and that the partition number is >=5 (which means that it is logical). Type "w" and [enter] to write the config to disk and exit When you are back in the installer, press the [back] button to get back to the DiskDruid/fdisk choice screen Select DiskDruid, and press [next] In DiskDruid, double-click the nameless 50 MB partition you see there and call it "/boot" Create swap, root and other partitions as required verify that none of the partitions are showing up in red colour and that they all have a value in the "Actual Allocation" column. Proceed to the next screen by pressing [next]. At this point, you will receive a warning about /boot being beyond 1024 cylinders, just click [OK] You have put the partition containing the kernel above the 1024 cylinder limit. It appears thet this system's BIOS supports booting from above this limit If the error message indicates that your system's BIOS does not support booting from above the 1024 limit, this method will not work. You will have to resize partitions and make sure that /boot is within the first 1024 cylinders. Placing /boot within the first 6.4GB is a safe bet. In any case, make a boot-disk on a clean floppy which has *no* bad sectors. Loadlin is also a clean solution for use in case LILO fails.