[nylug-talk] grub help needed

[Henning Follmann]

Chris Knadle wrote:
> On Sunday 05 August 2007, Henning Follmann wrote:
>> Hello,
>> I have a little problem with grub.
> 
>    I have trouble with it on occasion in this respect too.
> 
>> I installed a debian system with debootstrap from a running debian.
>> The existing system is on /dev/hda and the new system is on a SATA at
>> /dev/sda
>>
>> So I use debootstrap to install the initial system and chroot into the
>> /dev/sda1 filesystem to finish the rest of the installation.
>> basically I followed the instructions at:
>> http://www.debuntu.org/2006/05/14/51-how-to-installing-debian-etch-from-a-r
>> unning-debian-based-system
>>
>>
>> The final step would be making the drive bootable by installing the grub
>> bootloader into the mbr of the /dev/sda (grub-install /dev/sda).
>>
>> But grub complains that it cannot recognize the drive as a BIOS device.
>> That's true because this computer does not support booting from SATA,
>> but how can I get the bootloader active, so I can put the drive into the
>> target machine for bootup?
> 
>    Okay, I see.  You want to install Grub now even though it's on a 
> non-bootable device, otherwise when you put it into the target system it 
> won't be bootable.  What makes the most sense, oddly, is to install Grub 
> after the drive is in the other system, and to boot the system up by using a 
> Grub boot CD or a Grub floppy.  Install either the package 'grub-disk' 
> or 'grub-rescue-pc' and then burn a CD from the image 
> in /usr/lib/grub-[rescue|disk]/grub*.iso.  [The 'grub-disk' package has been 
> renamed to 'grub-rescue-pc' and the directory has been renamed now as well in 
> Debian Sid, which is why I'm not sure what you'll find on Ubuntu.]
> 
>    You'll need to fiddle with the Grub command line to boot the new system, 
> but once it's up Grub will be a lot easier to install from there.
> 
>    -- Chris
> 


Well I thought of that, but the reason why I use debootstrap on a other 
system is ,_TATAAAA_, the target system has neither, no cd, no floppy 
nada, zip, zilch. Otherwise I would install it on the target.

The target by the way would see the SATA as bootdevice.

Henning