Block move error 0xAE

Or.. is there a way to fix this without doing another install?

Explain a couple of things to me, please.

Quote: If I just let it do it's thing, it will load linux. But if I manually select anything, it prints this:

What do you mean by manually select anything? Are you talking about the lilo prompt? If so what are you trying to type in manually?

Quote: I've read in someplaces that the kernal needs to be before the 1024 cylindar. And that if the kernal is above that cylindar, to use linear mode.

Is the error because the kernal is above the 1024 cylindar?
Is it safe to use linear mode, if your not sure where the kernal is?
Should I not install LILO to the MBR?

Well yes the kernel should be above the 1024th cylinder. How are your partitions setup? With a 30GB drive, I would probably do something like this: / (root) 50-100MB, swap -250MB, /var 250MB, /usr -2GB, /home - rest. Installing lilo to the MBR is fine. Are you manually editing the lilo file? If so this will cause problems like this. Never edit lilo. Always edit lilo.conf, then from the command line, type lilo and this will update lilo the next time you reboot. I know that Mandrake 7.2 came with a bootloader called grub that overcame the 1024 cylinder limit but I am not sure if it is an option with 8.0.

Quote: If I just let it do it's thing, it will load linux. But if I manually select anything, it prints this:

If I don't do anything at the LILO prompt, and let it timeout, it will load linux. If I use the up/down keys and select linux (or anything) and hit enter, then I get the error. If I keep hitting enter, eventually it will load.

I found a guy with the same problem (except my drive only has linux on it). He made a post here.

Quote: Well yes the kernel should be above the 1024th cylinder.

Above? I thought it needed to be 'before'.

No, I have not edited anything related to LILO.

I'm not sure how the partitioning is. I'm very new to installing linux, so I did the auto-partition for the install.

Oops, that should say below 1024.

I don't know about the block error. I have not seen that one before. Doing a little google research didn't really show much except that it was related generally to lilo. Mandrake as you probably found out, yielded nothing. I wonder if you can try using the non-graphical version of lilo. Also if you have a dedicated hard drive, look into grub. You might also post a question over at Mandrake Expert. I will ask around and see if I can find out any more info on a fix.

Well here a couple of responses that I got back on your problem.

----------------1st response--------------------------------
This sounds like a BIOS/Mandake error.
When IDE drives exceed about 27GB, BIOS`s need to be very recent.
Retry the install but this time be sure to set a "boot" partition of 16MB or less. In most cases, this should do the trick provided your controller is a supported device.
Try updating the BIOS. Failing this, manually partition the drive like thus:
1. Boot partition (less then 16MB) Often, a 10-12MB partition is more then enough.
2. /usr Make this partition any size you see fit but to prevent goofy errors, set the size to 7.5GB or less.
3. / (root partition) Set this partition to a size not exceeding 8GB (7.5GB is safest) The usable (useful) size need only be about 4GB.
4. /home This is the one partition that can be a big monster. All your files and all user files will be stored here. Again, dependant on the support for your hardware, set to 7.5GB or less.
5. /temp Set this partition to about 4GB but any size is ok using 7.5 as an upper limit to avoid any compatability issues.
6. /swap No matter the amount of memory installed, you should have a swap partition. Sizes in excess of 256MB are wasteful.
7. /download This is a great partition to make and Linux takes great advantage of it. Set this to any size that fits your file size "guestimates" 2-5 GB is great.
------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------Response 2-------------------------------
How abt appending lba32 to /etc/lilo.conf
It might help.
------------------------------------------------------------

So try the easy one first. Add lba32, to lilo.conf and then run lilo. Reboot and see what happens. If that doesn't work, reinstall and make sure that you don't have a partition over 7.5GB.
Hope these help.

What's the syntax for that?
My lilo.conf file looks like this:

Pretty easy actually.
In /etc/lilo.conf add the line:
lba32
Then if you want to test things run
lilo –t –v
If no error messages, then run
lilo

I got an error the first few times I ran lilo -t -v.
Eventually, I got the errors to stop. I found out that I can't have linear and lba32 both in the config so I ended up with this config..

Well you have a few options the way I see it.

• Option 1 - try flashing the BIOS to a newer one.
• Option 2 - reinstall Linux, using the instructions above.
• Option 3 - do nothing and just let it go. It probably won't be much of a problem unless you have Windows on that same menu.

Ya.. I was begining to think that I'd just leave it.
I'll into flashing my BIOS. If that doesn't work, it's not that big a deal. This box will only have linux on it anyway.

Thanks for the help!

I found what I think is what I need..

I'm running a Compaq 5700T, and they have a 'ROMPaq'. They say it will work with these OS Systems:
Windows 95, MS-DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME

Will this same 'ROMPaq' work with linux?

Driver
Installation Instructions

It is not supported but may help you out. I had forgotten that you had a Compaq. Compaq has a weird BIOS with some of the BIOS installed on the HD.

Compaq has been really ticking me off lately...

I ran the BIOS.. err.. 'ROMPaq'. It said current version was 11/05/99 and the version to be installed was 10/13/99.

I honestly have no idea what their engineers do all day. Probably play Neo Geo emulators on their Alpha systems...

ive been having the same problem, i also own a compaq (presario) Ive updated the bios, no help there, reset the bios several times, no help. The only thing i have to add is that im getting a similar error when trying to boot to windows, it gives me a non system disk error some of the timess. Also i cannot boot from a cd at all

dave