From: Mail@JoesLife.org   
      
   On Wed, 8 Mar 2023 15:29:43 -0000 (UTC), root wrote:   
      
   > Over the years I could not count the number of times that one of my   
   > machines which uses lilo has lost its boot sector. I use grub now in my   
   > main machine, but I have a number of machines for which I am responsible   
   > which still run lilo. Yesterday a friend's machine lost its boot sector   
   > and I want to tell how I solved the problem and ask if there was a   
   > better way.   
      
   > [snip]   
      
   I haven't used lilo in years.  I'm wondering if yours is a lilo issue.   
   Yes, Grub took a little getting used to, and it has an overhead of   
   complexity which sours it a little.  Yet it works well, and is a powerful   
   tool.   
      
   I can't say that I have ever "lost a boot sector".  I have occasionally   
   been unable to boot--maybe once or twice it happened by accidentally   
   damaging the boot sector.  Usually, however, any trouble that I had came   
   from the normal processes of installing and upgrading.  To deal with this   
   I studied.  I ran tests, searched the Internet for tips, and kept notes,   
   some of which go back sixteen years.  I manage alright now, but I'm still   
   not confident when it comes to fixing booting problems.   
      
   Generally, my problem solving involves the use of chroot, mkinitrd and   
   mkinitrd_command_generator.sh.  And, of course, it involves reading my   
   notes.   
      
   There is one more bit of wisdom I would like to pass along.  Perhaps you   
   have Slackware on a bootable flashdrive? I couldn't manage without such   
   flashdrives (I have several).  They are life savers when I have booting   
   trouble, and (true confession) my daily system *is* a bootable Slackware   
   flashdrive.   
      
   -Joe   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)