Problem solved (I think). After digging some more, I realized that after the install the only partition marked bootable was /dev/sda6 (Linux root). I used fdisk to make /dev/sda2 also bootable (the main Windows partition) and grub (and everything else) came up fine. I believe the original set up was using Debian installer defaults. Is this something I should report against the installer somehow?
On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 3:33 PM, Johnathan Ritzi <leivo...@gmail.com> wrote: > (posted this to a Linux forum, cross-posting here as recommended by the > install guide troubleshooting instructions) > > I recently purchased a new Lenovo Thinkpad T420i and am having problems > installing the latest version of Squeeze from CD. After receiving the > laptop, I started it up, configured Windows 7, and confirmed everything is > working correctly. Next I went through the Debian installer, which completed > successfully. I'll be dual-booting Windows 7 and Debian, so at the > partitioning stage I resized my NTFS partition, added a shared VFAT > partition, then used the "Guided" install to create my root and swap > partitions. My partition layout is: > > /dev/sda1 NTFS, primary (small, not sure what Windows uses this for) > /dev/sda2 NTFS, primary (the main Windows one I resized) > /dev/sda3 NTFS, primary (the Lenovo recovery partition at the end of the > drive) > /dev/sda4 extended > /dev/sda5 FAT32, logical (shared between Windows and Linux) > /dev/sda6 Linux, logical, bootable (Linux root) > /dev/sda7 Linux swap, logical > > During the boot loader phase, I chose the default (install grub to MBR). > After the installation completed successfully and I rebooted, I get: > > Intel Boot Agent > PXE-E61: media test failure > > which I see means the drive could not be booted. It then drops me back to a > Boot Menu where I can select which device to boot, and choosing my hard > drive goes to a black screen for a few seconds, then kicks me back to the > Boot Menu. > > I assumed something was wrong with grub, so I booted the CD into rescue > mode and chose to reinstall grub onto the Master Boot Record. But nothing > changed. Just to experiment, I went into fdisk, deleted all my new > partitions (leaving just the Windows ones), and tried rebooting, but the > same error happened. I then went through the Debian installer again, being > careful to set everything up correctly, but still, the device won't boot. > > I'm not even getting to the grub boot screen, so something is wrong even > before the point. Reinstalling grub to the Master Boot Record (grub-install > /dev/sda) isn't changing anything. How can I troubleshoot this? > > Thanks in advance.
