I just installed on a Lenovo S205 (1) Ubuntu 10.10, (2) Debian testing
(Wheezy), and (3) Debian stable (Squeeze). The Debian systems
utilized netinst images, and the Ubuntu system downloaded updates
during the installation. The single hard drive has a separate /boot
partition (primary). At the end of each installation, I specified
that Grub be installed to the MBR.
Prior to installation, I used GParted Live 0.9.1-1 to partition the
drive, as follows:
sda1 primary ext3 boot
sda2 extended
sda5 logical ext3 Debian stable
sda6 logical ext3 Debian testing
sda7 logical ext3 Ubuntu
sda5 logical ext3 swap
But upon rebooting, none of the systems boot; instead, the display
alternates between a screen with the text "GRUB loading." and the
Lenovo power-up screen.
Inasmuch as the Lenovo-supplied drive is 750Gbyte, I suspect that it
is of the new "Advanced Format" variety, with 4096-byte sectors
instead of 512-byte sectors. Accordingly, I again used GParted Live
to partition the drive, this time using the "align to 1Mi" option.
(The first time, I was careful to use the "align to cylinders"
option.) But the situation is unchanged -- none of the systems boot.
I found a WD FAQ
(http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/565...)
which warned of the need not to place the first partition of a boot
drive at sector 0, "as there needs to be space for the boot code."
The FAQ recommended the new Window$ practice of placing the first
partition at sector 2048. Also, the FAQ states that "extended
partitions will need a gap between their start point and the first
logical partition contained within them."
So:
(1) Should I partition the drive again?
(2) If so, should I use GParted Live 0.9.1-1?
(3) How do I instruct GParted (or fdisk or cfdisk) to leave a gap
between the extended partition (#2) and the following logical
partition (#5)?
It occurred to me that a possible alternative might be to boot from a
SD device (the S205 has a built-in SD slot). But, apart from
re-installation of at least one of the Linux systems, this alternative
necessitates that I find (and learn to use) a Grub-2 recovery CD. But
then, that necessitates converting the recovery CD into a bootable
flash stick, because the S205 has no optical drive. (Or perhaps I
should purchase a USB optical drive for this specific application?)
RLH
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