This section will discuss in more detail the specic role LILO plays when booting an x86 system. For
a detailed look at the overall boot process, see Section 3.2.
LILO loads itself into memory almost identically to GRUB, except it is only a two stage loader.
1. The Stage 1 or primary boot loader is read into memory by the BIOS from the MBR2. The
primary boot loader exists on less than 512 bytes of disk space within the MBR. The only thing
it does is load the Stage 2 boot loader and pass to it disk geometry information.
2. The Stage 2 or secondary boot loader is read into memory. The secondary boot loader displays
the Red Hat Linux initial screen. This screen allows you to select which operating system or
Linux kernel to boot.
3. The Stage 2 boot loader reads the operating system or kernel and initrd into memory. Once LILO determines which operating system to start, it loads it into memory and hands control of the machine to that operating system.
Once the Stage 2 boot loader is in memory, LILO displays the initial Red Hat Linux screen with the different operating systems or kernels it has been congured to boot. If you only have Red Hat Linux installed and have not changed anything in LILO's conguration le, you will see only linux as an option. If you install SMP kernel support, you will see linux-up as an option. If you have set up LILO
to boot other operating systems as well, this screen is your chance to select what operating system will boot. Use your arrow keys to highlight the operating system and press If you would like to have a command prompt to enter a command to LILO, press [Ctrl]-[X]. LILO
displays a LILO: prompt on the screen and waits for input from the user.
