[Solved] Grub install hangs

[gdesilva]

I am trying to install pclos 2010 Gnome from livecd.

Everything goes well with the installation until grub install step (using the install wizard). I get to the grub install screen and it correctly lists the boot images etc and when I press next I get the grub installation message and then the wizard hangs - nothing happens and I am not presented with the option to add a user. If I force quit the wizard and reboot, I get the grub menu and when I select the boot image system hangs - no error messages.

During an earlier installation, I selected the text menu for grub instead of the graphical interface and was able to get the system going but on this time I have tried various options and have attempted about 6 installations but nothing has worked.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Old-Polack]

I am trying to install pclos 2010 Gnome from livecd.

Everything goes well with the installation until grub install step (using the install wizard). I get to the grub install screen and it correctly lists the boot images etc and when I press next I get the grub installation message and then the wizard hangs - nothing happens and I am not presented with the option to add a user. If I force quit the wizard and reboot, I get the grub menu and when I select the boot image system hangs - no error messages.

During an earlier installation, I selected the text menu for grub instead of the graphical interface and was able to get the system going but on this time I have tried various options and have attempted about 6 installations but nothing has worked.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Next time let the grub installation phase finish properly. Just because you don't see any action for a while does not mean the installation is hung. During this phase, grub is installed, files are written, and the initrd image specific for your machine is created; this takes a bit of time. User creation happens on first boot of the installed system, after setting the root password, not during the installation.

[gdesilva]

Thanks - I will give it a go. Probably I was a bit impatient but I did allow for about 5-10 minutes before quitting the wizard.

[gdesilva]

Strange it may sound but the problem was something to do with the hard disk. I replaced the original Seagate Barracuda (110GB) disk with another 40GB disk and then there was no problem with the grub install.

I did give it another try with the original disk and left the grub installation running for over 20 minutes but nothing happened. Checked the status using sys monitor and found that the Drake Install was in sleep state. Tried to nudge it with stop and resume without any success. By the way the original disk does not appear to be faulty and I was able to set partitions using Gparted without any difficulty.

[Old-Polack]

Strange it may sound but the problem was something to do with the hard disk. I replaced the original Seagate Barracuda (110GB) disk with another 40GB disk and then there was no problem with the grub install.

I did give it another try with the original disk and left the grub installation running for over 20 minutes but nothing happened. Checked the status using sys monitor and found that the Drake Install was in sleep state. Tried to nudge it with stop and resume without any success. By the way the original disk does not appear to be faulty and I was able to set partitions using Gparted without any difficulty.

I had a Maxtor drive like that. You could partition it and format it and store any amount of data on it reliably, but you couldn't install an operating system on it. It wouldn't accept the boot code in the MBR. I messed with it for about a week, then called Maxtor. I started to explain this oddity, and was cut off by the tech finishing the explanation. They got some bad parts from a sub contractor, who was paying for a recall. I gave my name and address, and a new drive was delivered about 8:30 the next morning, about 16 hours after the phone call. I was both shocked, and amazed, but well pleased by the speed with which the whole affair was handled.

[gdesilva]

Mine is a second hand one so there is no chance of getting replacement But as you said, it is very strange that one can partition and write etc but not be able to write the MBR - perhaps the location where MBR is written is corrupted? I too did more than six or seven installs before I decide to try out another hard disk...Anyway it is all good now.

Thanks for your suggestions.