loadlin/initrd

[mlee at microlink.net]

So I got a new machine at work, shrank the FAT32 partition
and installed Linux on hda2 thru hda4.  I didn't touch the
master boot record and have been booting from floppy with
no problems.  Now I need help setting up loadlin.

My first attempt at a batch file to call loadlin was based
on an example from the loadlin documentation:

-----
rem  Sample DOS batch file to boot Linux.

rem  First, ensure any unwritten disk buffers are flushed:
smartdrv /C

rem  Start the LOADLIN process:
c:loadlinloadlin.exe vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro vga=3
-----

This seemed to work fine, but then I noticed that my PCI
ethernet card wasn't functional.  So I read more of the
loadlin docs and tried this:

-----
rem  Sample DOS batch file to boot Linux.

rem  First, ensure any unwritten disk buffers are flushed:
smartdrv /C

rem  Start the LOADLIN process:
c:loadlinloadlin.exe vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro initrd=initrd
----

Where `vmlinuz' was vmlinuz-2.2.12-20 and `initrd' was
initrd.img copied over from my /boot directory to c:loadlin
on the FAT32 partition.

This gave the same results.  I don't really understand the
role of initrd in the boot process, so if someone could help
me out I'd be much obliged.  BTW, I'm running Redhat 6.1 with
the stock kernel and initrd image.  If necessary, I'll post
the bootup messages showing the PCI driver failing.

Thanks,
Matt