If LILO fails at some point, the letters printed so far can be used to identify the problem.
- (nothing)
- No part of LILO has been loaded. LILO either isn't installed or the partition on which its boot sector is located isn't active.
- L
- The first stage boot loader has been loaded and started, but it can't load the second stage boot loader. The two-digit error codes indicate the type of problem. (See also section "Disk error codes".) This condition usually indicates a media failure or a geometry mismatch (e.g. bad disk parameters). /boot/boot.b could not be loaded. The cause could be a disk error of any kind.
- LI
- The first stage boot loader was able to load the second stage boot loader, but has failed to execute it. This can either be caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. /boot/boot.b has been moved w/out reinstalling LILO or a disk error has occured.
- LIL
- The second stage boot loader has been started, but it can't load the descriptor table from the map file. This is typically caused by a media failure or by a geometry mismatch. LILO can't allocate needed data from the map file probably because of a disk error.
- LIL?
- The second stage boot loader has been loaded at an incorrect address. This is typically caused by a subtle geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/boot.b without running the map installer. /boot/boot.b has been moved w/out reinstalling LILO or a disk error has occured.
- LIL-
- The descriptor table is corrupt. This can either be caused by a geometry mismatch or by moving /boot/map without running the map installer. Invalid map file data or /boot/boot.b has been moved w/out reinstalling LILO or a disk error has occured.
- LILO
- All parts of LILO have been successfully loaded.
If the BIOS signals an error when LILO is trying to load a boot image, the respective error code is displayed. These codes range from
0x00
through
0xbb
. See the LILO User Guide for an explanation of these.
These error codes can be found here.
Consider reading the LILO, Linux Crash Rescue HOWTO thanks to ronmon