Re: unbootable system after fresh 4.0r5 installation

[Chris Davies <chris-usenet@roaima.co.uk>]

Jukka Salmi <j+debian@2008.salmi.ch> wrote:
> Hmm, is sda this "Virtual Floppy"?  What's this?  And what's a "Virtual
> CDROM"?

The Virtual CD and Floppy are controlled via the Remote Access Controller
(DRAC). The DELL Remote Access Console (DRAC) allows a suitably privileged
user to view and interact with the console remotely from "outside" the OS
- i.e. including access to BIOS setup and/or the BIOS boot process. The
Virtual CD provides a mechanism for that remote user to install an OS
from a remote image.

As a specific example, I'm based in the UK but relatively recently
installed a DELL 2950 physically located in Germany. I connected a
(Debian) install image on my local (Debian) laptop to that server's
Virtual CD drive, and proceeded to install from it.

Hope that helps,
Chris