grub does nothing

[Thomas Beckett]

On 1/8/06, Thomas Beckett <thomas.beckett at gmail.com> wrote:
> > So it's a laptop ?
>
> No, this is a desktop
>
> > > Can anybody help? I have been trying to fix this for the last 10 hours!
> > > I think I want to cry :(
> > Please don't. A few questions and a few suggestions.
> > Suggestions : boot a live CD and try to see what's in it's belly.
> > /boot/grub/menu.lst (my favorite but possibly not the one that will fit)
> > and see what is written precisely in there.
>
> booted live cd and menu.lst is correct. It specifies root as on the
> right disk and the kernel root is correct on /dev/hdb1
>
> > Question : what was working fine on this machine preceedingly and for
> > how long ? is it the right hdd indicated in this configuration ? I see
> > root(hd1,0) which looks to me like a first partition on a secondary hdd.
> >
> see above
>
> > Do you have Grub on the first hdd Master Boot Record actually ?
> Grub is on the primary master boot record and works fine in booting windows.
>
> > Do you have the boot partition apart ? hem what else ? is it horrible if
> > you needed reinstalling Dapper, in the worse case ?
> I have reinstalled Dapper about 10 times now with different configurations
>
> I tried installing to a partition on the first disk - didnt fix it, same problem
> I tried reinstalling on the second disk - same problem
>
> These are two new Maxtor 40GB disks and havent had anything on them
> previously (except winXP which is still on a partition on the first
> one) so I thought I would try my old disks which have sucessfully ran
> everyting from Warty and Hoary to QNX, windows and Solaris. Again Grub
> didnt do anything after displaying the boot command-list and sat there
> blinking at me.
>
> I have now installed Breezy on the second new disk and it works fine,
> Grub hapily loads the kernel and boots the os.
>
> I will now try dist-upgrading to Dapper and see if when it upgrades
> Grub the same thing happens.
>
> I no longer wish to cry, but eating my own arm is looking increasingly apealing!
>
> Tom
>

Well I have now dist-upgraded the working Breezy to Dapper. If I
select the 2.6.15-11-386 entry then it does the same problem - grub
prints the command but the kernel doesnt load and it just sits there.
If i select the 2.6.12-9-386 option then it boots fine. It is
obviously not a har disk error or partition problem as the two kernel
images are in the same place... for some reason the latest kernel
simply wont load at all.

Anyone have an idea. I wanted to start testing Dapper but i didnt
think id find problem that close to the start ;)
If nobody knows if this is a known problem then I will file a bug. I
couldnt find a bug of this nature already submitted....

Tom