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<DIV>Package: GRUB install/re-install in debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1
installation/rescue DVD</DIV>
<DIV>Version: 6.0.2.1</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Machine architecture:</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Motherboard: MSI-7108 848P Neo2-V (A very fine motherboard, available
new for about $25)</DIV>
<DIV>Processor: Intel Pentium 4, LGA 775
(Prescott), 3.0 GHz (A very fine processor, available new for about $50)</DIV>
<DIV>Floppy disk channel: One</DIV>
<DIV>Hard-disk channels: IDE 1 (Master and slave), IDE 2 (Master and slave),
SATA 1, SATA 2</DIV>
<DIV>BIOS designation for Hard-disk channels: Ch0 M, Ch0 S, Ch1 M, Ch1 S,
Ch2 M, Ch3 M</DIV>
<DIV>BIOS settings for boot device: Boot from hard disk, and channel
priority (which of the channels above are </DIV>
<DIV>
first, second, and third priority in</DIV>
<DIV>
looking up the Master Boot Record, </DIV>
<DIV>
that is to say, which is the boot disk?)</DIV>
<DIV>Hard-disk arrangement:</DIV>
<DIV>Ch0 M: Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3, mount
point: "/home"</DIV>
<DIV>Ch0 S: Maxtor 60 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3, mount
point: "/tmp"</DIV>
<DIV>Ch1 M: CD/DVD E-IDE optical drive</DIV>
<DIV>Ch1 S: none</DIV>
<DIV>Ch2 M: None</DIV>
<DIV>Ch3 M: Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard disk, 3 partitions, ext3,
swap, ext2, mount points: "/", swap, "/Old_files"</DIV>
<DIV>Boot device: Hard disk</DIV>
<DIV>Boot Priority: Ch3 M</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The system is loaded from the debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1, following the
Graphical Installation sequence. The installer noticed that the Debian
system is the only operating system on the machine and it offered the install
the</DIV>
<DIV>GRUB boot loader on the boot channel. It then installed the boot
loader on Ch0 M (IDE 1, Master Channel),</DIV>
<DIV>ignoring the BIOS setting for the boot channel priority. This is
the FIRST BUG, but it is not a disabling one. </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>So, I ended up with the root file system on Ch3 M ("/"), with boot record
on Ch0 M ("/home"), and the machine</DIV>
<DIV>booted nicely when I set the BIOS Boot Priority back to Ch 0 M.
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>This was all fine, but my joy only lasted for a day, literally.
The Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE hard disk, which</DIV>
<DIV>was seven years old, and under nearly continuous use on various old
machines during all that time, first halted the</DIV>
<DIV>system right after I exited a game I was looking at, then upon reboot,
started slamming the head-carrier arm to the</DIV>
<DIV>sides of the hard-disk enclosure, periodically, about once a second like a
clock, with a clanking noise, as if someone</DIV>
<DIV>was hitting a steel pot with a spoon. The motherboard, not getting a
disk ready signal, never authorized a boot</DIV>
<DIV>sequence, and the machine sat there, clanking away.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>I shut the machine down, and identified the hard disk that had gone bad by
sequentially unplugging their power</DIV>
<DIV>connector. I removed the now broken Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE
drive, and re-arranged the disks as follows:</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>New Hard-disk arrangement:</DIV>
<DIV>Ch0 M: Maxtor 60 GB GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3,
mount point: "/tmp"</DIV>
<DIV>Ch0 S: Maxtor 30 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext2, mount point:
"/Backup" [Another circa 2002, old disk]</DIV>
<DIV>Ch1 M: CD/DVD E-IDE optical drive</DIV>
<DIV>Ch1 S: none</DIV>
<DIV>Ch2 M: None</DIV>
<DIV>Ch3 M: Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard disk, 3 partitions, ext3, swap,
ext2, mount points: "/", swap, "/Old_files"</DIV>
<DIV>Boot device: Hard disk [Temporarily set to CDROM to boot the
debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1 for rescue operations]</DIV>
<DIV>Boot Priority: Ch3 M</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>I booted the system from the debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1, and chose the
rescue option. When it came to re-install</DIV>
<DIV>the GRUB boot loader, it first asked for a "/" file system on a disk.
I chose the actual Ch3 M, "/" point, and it found</DIV>
<DIV>the file system and offered to run a shell in it. I chose the shell
option and all the files were there when the shell ran.</DIV>
<DIV>I exited the shell and chose the re-install-the-boot-loader option.
It asked for a disk channel to install the boot loader,</DIV>
<DIV>and here I ran into the SECOND BUG, which was a disabling one.
No matter what I chose (/dev/hda, /dev/hda2,</DIV>
<DIV>/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, even /dev/fd0...), it failed to install or
re-install the GRUB boot loader. It would not even put</DIV>
<DIV>it on a floppy. It would not ask to install a GRUB boot loader unless
it could find a "/" file system on the disk, which is</DIV>
<DIV>contrary to what it has done, in the case of the "FIRST BUG",
mentioned above.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I had to re-install everything in the system from the beginning. I
did not lose any of my old files, due to the preserved</DIV>
<DIV>old partitions. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The two bugs mentioned above should be fixed, as they are obviously due to
some nearly trivial oversight, which has</DIV>
<DIV>never been noticed due to straight-loading of the operating
system into blank hard-disks which have never failed. </DIV>
<DIV>I almost missed it myself, even though I had no intentions of finding a
bug. I much prefer to use the rest of the system,</DIV>
<DIV>other than the bugs, and it IS a very finely written and packaged
software...</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">--</SPAN> Yekta<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"></FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=3>Yekta Gursel, Ph.
D.<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
size=3>Address:<BR><BR>5444 Baldwin Avenue<BR>Temple City<BR>California,
91780-2624<BR><BR>Phone: (626) 454-4029 <SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">E-mail: </FONT><A
href="mailto:yekta.gursel@att.net"><SPAN style="COLOR: #0066cc"><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman">yekta.gursel@att.net</FONT></SPAN></A></P>
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