Grub problem in debian installation?

[Alaric]

I've been thinking about starting a personal web server and thought that I might try it with linux first. I'm still a noobie in the linux world but decided to try it anyway. I downloaded all 14 of the large debian iso files from their site and burned them already. Trust me, this was no simple task ... Now, I'm trying to install to an old 96M ram 4 gig HDD 933mhz processor that was rotting in my basement for some time (as far as I know it still works fine under win98 ). After popping in the first CD, I got as far as installing the Grub loader and rebooting from my HDD. This is where I ran into problems. I got stuck at the "GRUB loading please wait" message . Does it normally take longer than 20 minutes to load for the first time? I'm going to leave it run for a few hours, but it's starting to seem like a lost cause... Ideas? Obvious solutions? Insults on my noobness?

[oz]

No, it shouldn't take 20 minutes to load the system with GRUB. In fact, it should only take a couple of minutes at most. I'm not sure how much of Debian you've installed, but I'm thinking that a 4 gig hard drive won't be big enough if you installed much more than just the base system itself.

Maybe someone with more experience in doing minimal Debian installs can provide further information.

[Alaric]

Well then crap... that sucks... Could the installation disc be attempting to write the partitions to the HDD, failing, and not realizing that there isn't enough space to install? I tried LILO and it gave me a bunch of 99's just after the L. Also, my Red Hat 6.2 boot disk can not load and ends in a kernal panic. I attempted a few full installs (including MS-FDisking all partitions first). Since Debian won't work, do you have any suggestions for a good minimmalist web server OS? At the moment I don't have any real scripts involved in my pages... they're all pretty basic. Thanks for the help...

[kfizzle]

actually?
i think debian sarge just desktop install takes only 1.5 gigs
its like 800 packages, it shows the number of packages and space it requires while it installs/unpacks everything at beginning...

you shouldnt have problem using 4 gig hard drive, just make sure you got at least 128 megs for swap or something

[kfizzle]

i could be wrong,
maybe its 1.5 gig worth of packages

i just cheked my debian taking up space, its like 3 gigs, and this is like a fresh install

so im not sure

you could always get something like:
damn small linux, or install slackware without kde or anything optional like docs etc
and just install fluxbox

slackware without kde takes about a gig i think, especially if you trim down on a lot of the stuff

[st0nk]

actually?
i think debian sarge just desktop install takes only 1.5 gigs
its like 800 packages, it shows the number of packages and space it requires while it installs/unpacks everything at beginning...

you shouldnt have problem using 4 gig hard drive, just make sure you got at least 128 megs for swap or something

Sarge runs just fine on my old Thinkpad 240 (300MHz), on a 4 gig partition - I did a network install, had the whole thing up and running in a matter of hours.

EDIT: Still got about a gig and a half to spare...and XP on a 2gig partition


You should probably establish if your HDD's dead or not, it might save you some headaches. Maybe download diagnostics for it from manufacturer's website and see if there's still any life in it?

[Alaric]

I ended up switching in the old drive which I thought was broken, I tried installing it on there as well, but it had the same problem... After that I decided it must be something to do with the BIOS so I played around in them for a while. I'm not quite sure what I did besides switching the HDD and CD drvies from their "normal" settings to auto (they appeared to be the same). I'm still not sure what I did but Debian boots now. Thanks for the ideas but in the end, I guess dumb luck can be just as good!

[Alaric]

Wow... Now it is doing the same thing AGAIN! I'm sure that I didn't change the BIOS as well! I've tried two different LILO loaders from different places and they (AND Grub) both come up with errors! I haven't hanged the bios at all, but I did put in a new PCI wireless network card. I've tried two computers, two HDD's, AND two linux installations (one that worked previously). Pretty much the only things that remained the same are that Linux won't boot, I'M the one trying it, and the keyboard. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!?!?! PLEASE help me!

P.S. I have a slightly better computer now. It's got a 266 processor, an 8 Gig HDD, and 128 of RAM.

[kfizzle]

ive had same probs recently as well actually:

i just setup my pc and linux and everything and made myself a new 386 kernel
everything was running fine and everything

then i added a 2nd kernel to my pc a 64cpu compiled kernel
and after i did a update-grub

and restarted my pc
grub kept giving me error like init/sbin not found kernel panic etc etc
i coudlnt figure out what was wrong

luckily i made myself a grub boot floppy for my linux partition
so i restarted the pc with my grub floppy and it booted perfectly fine with the 386 kernel

later on i found out that the files inside my /boot/grub folder where all hte file type stages are got corrupted
im not sure how, so i just recopied the stages files from my grub floppy, the whole /boot/grub folder on my floppy

restarted the pc and everything ran fine

update-grub'ed the pc again so i could reuse my 64 kernel
same thing, kernel panic, /init/sbin not found etc

i recopied my grub backup stages again
this time, i manually edited my menu.lst file and entered in the 64 kernel information

and voila im running fine with my 64 kernel (no its not 64bit, its just regular kernel with cpu setting on 64)
not a single prob yet, and i made backups of my /boot/grub stages or folder just in case my grub ever gets corrupted again, i could just use a livecd and load up the backup grub

you might try using a livecd, doing a chroot to your hard drive, and manually re-setup your grub settings and create new stage files

try doing a grub-install (hd0) first and if that doesnt work, try installing grub manually by running grub itself

here's a faq on howto setup grub on hard drives or floppies
http://geodsoft.com/howto/dualboot/grub.htm#install

[Alaric]

O.K., So now I need a live CD. Just one problem. Where do I get one? Is it the same thing as a businesscard CD that I downloaded with the install CD's? Also, command prompt linux is o.k., but I would much prefer having a GUI set up as well. My Xebian (XBox Debian) came with a GUI preloaded on bootup. Where do I get one and how do I install it once I do?