On 9/11/07, Mikael Rudberg <mikael.rudberg@gmail.com> wrote:Hi
Hello Mikael.
Im clutching at straws here, i just purchased an Zonbu (mini pc running Via C7/512 MB ram) and i'm trying to install Debian 4.0 on external USB drive. I've prepped an USB stick with the net install image. Boot's from it and installs debian fine from what i can see When i reboot i see that bios detects the USB-HD properly but instead of showing the kernel to boot it shows only the "Mininmal BASH like" version of grub and no selection box. I tried to reinstall this time manually making the partitions on the USB-HDsda1 /boot (ext2) 100 MB bootable sda2 / (ext3) 20 GB sda3 /swapSame issue again. tried it a couple of more times and once i got "Error 18" in GRUB I'm at a loss as what can be wrong. I tried to search the net but can't find information that help me out here. So if anyone have any suggestions or any experience installing Debian on "Zonbu" i would be really greatfulThanks Mikael
See "info grub trouble stage2"Another possible source of the problem is that the USB-key was connected when you installed Grub to the large external USB disk. Drive positions move as USB devices are added and removed from the computer.
So the USB-key was probably /dev/sda (hd0) during installation, and the USB drive was /dev/sdb (probably hd1). Perhaps somehow Grub got installed to the right drive, but it could be using the geometry for the other drive.
Getting Grub installed properly in a situation where the install environment is different from the run environment requires Grub-configuring skills that go for beyond mine. However, there might not be a solution.
Target Stores in America sells 25MB USB-keys for $5. Maybe you could use one as a kind of bootdisk. All it would probably need is for Grub to be installed to its MBR, but you would need both drives connected whenever you wanted to use the Debian installation on the external big disk.
Your 'netinstall' USB-key might already have the ability to let you boot into your Debian installation. The Debian Etch CD #1 has a function that allows me to boot a Debian installation. I can't remember where that function is located in the menus, but it's there.