Bug#248800: installer beta 4 installation report (mbr damaged, grub misdetection, cannot boot from rescue disk)
Package: installation-reports
Debian-installer-version: http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/beta4/sarge-i386-netinst.iso
uname -a: unable to boot installed system. installer: Linux (none) 2.4.25-1-386 #2 (date) i686 unknown
Date: 2004-05-12
Method: boot and install off cd.
Machine: Sony PCG-GR270P
Processor: "Intel Pentium III Mobile CPU 1000MHz stepping 01"
Memory: 256MB
Root Device: IDE, hda3
Root Size/partition table:
hda1 - primary - 4.1 GB - ntfs (XP media center, marked as bootable before install)
hda2 - primary - ~256 MB - swap
hda3 - primary - ~6 GB - reiserfs (root)
Output of lspci:
(I'll post another installation report with the data, once I can cut and paste)
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O]
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [E]
Create file systems: [O]
Mount partitions: [O]
Install base system: [O]
Install boot loader: [E]
Reboot: [E]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Comments/Problems:
Partitioning -- Not really an error, but I found it difficult to "discover"
how to create a swap partition. It would be easier to find if the actions
available were all shown in a list.
Install boot loader and reboot:
Grub came up by default. Due to the detection issue with NTFS (listed in the errata)
it didn't see my XP partition. I told it not to clobber the MBR. It asked for an
alternate place to put the boot loader, and I tried to install it to /dev/hda3.
This failed and I saw several error messages. I tried to continue, but was unable to
boot off the rescue disk (linux root=/dev/hda3). I don't know if this was due to my
unfamiliarity with devfs or if it represents a real issue. (regardless, a less
experienced user will not have a great time with it either)
As an added bonus, it looks like the MBR was stomped. XP won't boot off the HD any more.
I'll attempt to repair the MBR with the XP rescue disk.
Wishlist:
I have never tried multibooting with XP and linux before. This is probably a very
common scenario, so it would be a very good thing for it to be automatically configured
(or at least automatically detected with good HOWTO instructions).
I'll file another report when I manage to get to stage2.
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