Re: new Etch install fails to boot

On Sun, Jul 29, 2007 at 11:00:30PM -0400:
> [I wrote that my fresh Etch install calls grub and then stops.]

I've tried the remaining suggestions without luck and am now royally confused.

1. I installed the grub-disk package and ran the following: dd if=grub-0.97-i486-pc.ext2fs of=/dev/fd0 bs=1024 conv=sync; sync There were no errors. I could mount the floppy and read the files. I set the BIOS to boot off the floppy. The system touched the floppy but failed to boot off it. I tried this with the box I'm working on and one that is successfully running Etch. I repeated the test with a second floppy, which also didn't boot.
2. I tried repeatedly to install grub from the CD in rescue mode. The install seemed to succeed. I poked around with a rescue shell and confirmed that files had been installed in /boot/grub. However, booting the machine still gave the usual message from the dead, i.e.:

     Verifying DMI Pool Data ..........
     GRUB Loading stage1.5.
     Read

3. I reformatted the partitions, reinstalled the base system, and tried to

   install lilo. This came up:

     LILO installation target:
       /dev/hdf: Master Boot Record
       /dev/hde1: new Debian partition
       Other choice (Advanced)

   Note that the first one is for hdf, which is the second drive. I have no    idea why. Anyway, I tried all of these, include Other with /dev/hde and    /dev/hde1. In all cases, I got "lilo-installer failed with error code 1".    Console 4 showed the following:

     Setting up lilo (22.6.1-9.3)
     mount: /dev/hde1 already mounted or /boot busy
     dpkg: error processing lilo (--configure)
     subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 32

   Still, I verified that /etc/lilo.conf was there, and there were no grub    files anywhere under /target (including under /boot). I finished the    installation anyway, and found it totally bizarre when a reboot produced    the same output as before, including "GRUB Loading stage1.5". It's as if    this string lives on the MBR and I'm unable to overwrite it.

Practically all I can think of now is trying to install Windows and see if that's even possible. That's pretty desperate.

In case it's relevant, here's how fdisk showed the filesys in rescue mode:

     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
  /dev/hde1   *           1          12       96358+  83  Linux
  /dev/hde2            4819        5005     1502077+   5  Extended
  /dev/hde3              12        4818    38604195   83  Linux
  /dev/hde5            4819        5005     1502046   82  Linux swap / Solaris

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I do appreciate all of your suggestions and am sorry this is going on so long.

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