GRUB/Install Problem

[Georgie-o]

I tried to install both 2.0 and Bea on a harddrive by itself (erase entire drive) and after four tries I keep getting the same error. When it says to restart and end the Live session and then reboots, it gets an "Error 18" when it first says "loading GRUB". Is this a poblem with the distro, or me?

Thanks
Georgio-o

[Fragadelic]

What kind of drive are you trying to install it on? PATA or SATA

Where are you letting it install grub to? MBR(hd0) or Partition (hd0,0,etc)

[Fragadelic]

Also, what motherboard and bios revision is it?

How big is the drive?

Error 18 means it is larger than the bios supports typically.

[Georgie-o]

It's just a plain IDE (?, I know it's not a SATA). Yes, I think that it is installing grub in hd0. That's what it says in the summary right before installing. Should I change that to something else? If so, what and where? It's a DELL, P3 Optiplex (Micro ATX?), 40G hard drive. I'm certain it should support that size as I just had Ubuntu 6.06 with a 250G in the computer and it worked fine.
Thanks

[Fragadelic]

Is the bios set to automatically recognize the drive? If it is, try setting it manually and then reinstall Mint.

[Georgie-o]

That did it. I did not even have to reinstall. I had messed around with the jumpers and the BIOS with this new drive I installed because I couldn't get it to "see" it. When I put it back to "auto", poof, it worked. Your the man, thanks for the help.

Georgie-o

[Fragadelic]

Glad you got it working.

Linux itself is more versatile than many motherboard bios' and grub/lilo which is why it let you partition and install but grub/lilo require the bios to properly report it.