[ILUG] Solaris 10 / Linux dual booting (was Problems installing Win XP Pro after FE3)

[Ciaran Johnston]

Paul Jakma wrote:

> On Wed, 27 Apr 2005, Ciaran Johnston wrote:
>
>> That's what I thought. I created one of those X86Boot partitions as 
>> well during the install, and am multi-booting with a MDK10.1 lilo 
>> install. I got lilo to boot into the Solaris X86Boot partition on 
>> /dev/hdd1 (the main Solaris partition being on /dev/hdd2) and from 
>> there I managed to boot Solaris - to the point where a message 
>> similar to "Something went wrong, trying to kill init" appeared over 
>> and over. My experience thus far in life has taught me that trying to 
>> kill init is usually a bad thing. It doesn't get very far through the 
>> startup, so I'm thinking it is having a problem with /dev/hdd2.
>
>
> Did you create the partition with the Solaris installer? Should be 
> fine.. Even with a Linux installer it should mostly be fine (though, 
> Solaris is pickier about partitions lining up on sector boundaries - 
> which gets you into the realm of how different OSes derive disk 
> geometry).
>
> The fact that it seems to have booted Solaris suggests all of that was 
> ok though. I dont know what would cause that message.


I went with grub, and a reinstall of Solaris. It got a good bit further 
this time, but the second part of the install (after the first reboot) 
core dumped. I rebooted and got a command prompt, and then located the 
script for the second part of the install. It runs a java app, and 
running the script again caused a core dump. So did running "java 
-version". Wierd.

I did create the partitions with the Solaris install. I wonder if the 
disk could be at fault - it's an old disk I pulled off the shelf for the 
purpose, and it could be losing it's way. There were no noticeable 
problems with the first part of the install though, the install log 
showed no problems ... but I am getting different errors each time I 
reinstall, so far.

I'll probably clear out some space on one of the other drives and retry 
- I'm keen to get a look at Solaris 10.

> Well, at least any issues with Solaris almost certainly will be 
> limited to Solaris. It won't stomp on other partitions.. (it will 
> possibly stomp on your MBR though - i cant remember if it gives you 
> the option to not install an MBR). So a Grub boot floppy is useful. 
> The X86boot partition can definitely be chain-loaded via grub, unless 
> my memory has gone completely to pot.

Nope, your memory is correct. So, for that matter, can lilo as far as I 
can tell. Not so sure about a plain Solaris partition though - it didn't 
work for me.

Solaris did overwrite the MBR - but only on /dev/hdd - not /dev/hda. So 
I was able to boot directly off /dev/hda via the bios, and chainload 
/dev/hdd1 via grub.

Cheers,
Ciaran.