FreeBSD and BackTrack 5 Linux - Boot problem

[neilms]

I have installed FreeBSD 9.1 and BackTrack 5 Linux v3 on my netbook in different partitions of course. I installed FreeBSD first and it occupies the earliest sectors of the disc. After the install was completed, I re-booted and the system booted into Linux.

I don't understand why Linux booted automatically, when FreeBSD was the first system installed in any case. To choose Operating System to boot, I installed GAG. This has completely failed and it has totally wiped the boot area that previously booted Linux. Nothing boots now. All I get is 'GAG 3' - nothing more.

I cannot even start FreeBSD or Linux so as to install lilo. I am fed up as these systems both took a lot of time and trouble for me to even reach this stage. Any idea how to get lilo installed?

 

[wblock@]

Just to verify: FreeBSD was working and tested, then Linux was installed to the next partition?

At best, Linux only modified the MBR bootcode. That can be fixed with a FreeBSD live system like mfsBSD. Boot that and use boot0cfg(8) to install the FreeBSD tiny multi-boot loader in the MBR. This assumes Linux did not overwrite the FreeBSD slice.

Then there was GAG. Haven't ever really used that. It's the same situation: if it just overwrote the MBR bootcode, repair that. If it overwrote the FreeBSD or Linux slices, restore from backup.

 

[Beeblebrox]

for multi-boot systems, you should have a separate "boot loder partition". This thread describes how to setup a multi-boot system correctly, although it uses grub for the bootloader (native bootloader for Backtrack, btw). Even if you were to get your system to boot into FreeBSD or Backtrack you most likely have the HDD setup incorrectly.