Re: new Etch install fails to boot

[Douglas Allan Tutty <dtutty@porchlight.ca>]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2007 at 10:19:09PM -0400, Steve Kleene wrote:
> [I wrote that my fresh Etch install calls grub and then stops.]
> 

Here's a fresh start, just to verify that your machine will actually
boot properly.

1.	Connect your drives to /dev/hda and /dev/hdc, set the jumpers on
	both drives to master.  Alternatively, just remove hdc for now.

2.	Boot the installer and go to a shell.

3.	Clear the beginning of the drives, which includes the MBR:

	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=2 ;sync
	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdc bs=512 count=2 ;sync

4.	exit the shell and return to the installer.

5.	Run the install, just the base system (don't select any tasks).

6.	Partition the drives thus:

	hda1	/boot	32 MB
	hda2	swap	128 MB 
	hda3	/	remainder

	You don't need hdc for this.

7.	Install the grub onto hda (not hda1 or other partition).

8.	Try to reboot.  If it doesn't work, reboot the installer in
	rescue mode and tell it to install grub again in hda.

As for the grub-disk, if you mount it you should see a default menu.lst
file.   Therefore, when you boot it, you should get a menu on the
screen.  You may need to ensure that it got copied correctly.  Use dd to
make an image file of the floppy you created and then compare the md5sum
of both images.  They should be the same.

Good luck,

Doug.