Victor Odhner wrote:
> I have some angles to pursue, but I thought I'd
> toss this out in case anybody sees an obvious
> problem.
> 
> I did my CentOS 4.0 install last night but the
> boot hangs after this message:
> 
>   Warning: Unable to open an initial console.
> 
> After that message it displays two lines about
> unregistering SELinux hooks (I have SELinux
> disabled due to my multi-boot setup), then becomes
> unresponsive and I have to press my reset button
> to proceed.
> 
> Although CentOS installed for grub (which I want
> to switch to shortly), I'm currently booting with
> lilo.  I told the install to put the bootloader
> at /dev/hdc1, just so it would give me a full
> boot setup.  My /dev/hda1 is Windows XP, and hda7
> has System Rescue CD which I use for hacking the
> others.  That's where lilo is installed.
> 
> Since the initial part of the boot seems to be good,
> I am guessing the .EL suffix on the image did not
> stop lilo from loading it.  Here's my lilo.conf:
> 
> lba32
> boot = /dev/hda
> map = /boot/.map
> prompt
> install = /boot/boot-menu.b
> # VESA console with size 1280x1024x16:
> vga = 794  (I also tried 773, but not normal)
> other = /dev/hda1
>     label = win
>     table = /dev/hda
> image = /boot/vmlinuz1
>     root = /dev/hda7
>     label = SysRescueCD
>     read-only
> image = /hdc1/vmlinuz-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL  << is EL significant?
>     root = /dev/hdc2
>     label = CentOS-4.0
>     read-only
> image = /hdb3/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7
>     root = /dev/hdb3
>     label = Mepis2.6.7
>     read-only

Yeah, EL is significant, but only in that it's part of the file name. ;)

> 
> Here's an ls of /hdc1:
> 
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  712690 Feb 20 01:18 
> /hdc1/System.map-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   48181 Feb 20 01:18 /hdc1/config-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL
> drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    1024 May 19  2005 /hdc1/grub
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  396725 May 19 05:47 
> /hdc1/initrd-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL.img
> drwx------  2 root root   12288 May 18 22:42 /hdc1/lost+found
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   10213 Feb 26 17:39 /hdc1/message
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   10213 Feb 26 17:39 /hdc1/message.ja
> -rw-r--r--  1 root root 1433883 Feb 20 01:18 /hdc1/vmlinuz-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL
> 
> I have not yet examined my CentOS grub config for
> clues.  But I am guessing that my problem is in
> the CentOS installation, not in the boot loader.

I think the problem is that your loader isn't specifying the initrd 
image file (CentOS needs that). You should have a line like:
initrd = /hdc1/initrd-2.6.9-5.0.3.EL.img
after the image line for EL.

> 
> Final questions:
> 
> Should there be a log somewhere on disk that will show
> this part of the boot?  I poked around and found none.

Not that I know of, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Hmmm, a boot 
loader log.... How would it access the HDD to *write* a log? I think 
that boot loaders are pretty much strictly read-only, probably for a 
good reason.

> The CentOS /etc/fstab is in terms of labels, not
> device names.  Where can I view what partition is
> associated with var, for example?  It should be
> hdc7, but I can't see anything to confirm that.

df or parted (depending on if it's mounted or not)

> Thanks,
> 
> Vic

P.S. Good move migrating to grub.

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-- 
-Eric 'shubes'
"There is no such thing as the People;
  it is a collectivist myth.
  There are only individual citizens
  with individual wills
  and individual purposes."
-William E. Simon (1927-2000),
     Secretary of the Treasury (1974-1977)
  "A Time For Truth" (1978), pg. 237

 
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