[ILUG] cant install bootloader

[kevin lyda]

Peter Flynn burst across the net:
>   alt-f2 will get you a shell 
>Ah, but at what point...like, anywhere, any time during the install,
>even when it's ripping open packages? Or only at pauses for prompts?

once the second stage install starts, it's always there (multitasking
rules).  obviously the reason for that is that the second stage install
contains the binary for the shell...  btw, the second stage install
starts when the cd is found (or ftp, nfs, hd, or http site is accessed).

>But mine is the otherwise fairly stable 5.2 which I have installed
>in lots of places very happily without bootloader problems. I would
>doubt very much if it was a loop.o or insmod problem in 5.2, esp
>as I had 5.2 running on this machine before the disk upgrade. 

i had a similar problem with 4.2.  check the output in the alt-f3
console.

>So it would appear. I can see why, given the market they want to go
>for, but I think it is a big mistake if a install dies, not to be
>really explicit ("Your hard disk doesn't have enough space to put the
>files on, go buy a bigger one" or "Your boot sector is unwritable, I'm
>getting a return code 0x123456 at offset F00:BAA when I try to create
>the bootloader")

it does - in one of the other virtual consoles.  80x25 isn't a lot of
space...

>Thanks for the info...although how access to a shell is going to help
>if the bootloader is failing because of BIOS problems is beyond me
>until I give it a poke. If I want to force a manual bootload and
>actually watch it fail with all errors displayed, does anyone know
>what the install script actually does at that point?

a) the source to the install process is on the cd.  (i think the misc
directory)
b) watch result codes on the othe vc's.
c) us ps auxww to see what's running at the moment.

kevin