Description of problem: Installing Fedora 7 Test 3 to a USB flash media device, I chose to install Grub to /dev/sdc1 partition, and not /dev/sda using the extended bootloader configuration menu. After the installation I found it had roasted Grub on the workstation system already in place, LVM over /dev/sda3 and /dev/sdb1. (IDE DEVICES, Western Digital Caviar 40GB disks) Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): Fedora 7 Test 3 How reproducible: Install to a USB flash media device, choose /dev/{device}1 as installation area for Grub. Reboot, find already installed Grub on the system is roasted. Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Actual results: Expected results: Additional info: No additional information at this time.
You did this on the advanced bootloader screen and not via the drop down on the auto-partitioning screen, correct?
Correct. The installation was done using custom layout, nothing was chosen to be automatically done. Ext2 was chosen for the device's filesystem, and I absolutely made sure to uncheck the boxes for the other drives which were present, sda and sdb during the partitioning stages. This may or may not be related as far as the technical details are concerned, but I also notice this same behavior when using grub-install /dev/sda from a Fedora Core 6 system, where both WDC drives are hda and hdb, rather than sda and sdb. Immediately after fixing the roasted Grub issue on my workstation, I went to install Grub to the flash stick assuming that of course it wasn't installed to the flash stick but to the machine's primary IDE device, and in a bad way. When I did that from Fedora Core 6, it again roasted my workstation's Grub installation on hda. I can provide any information you need, surely this isn't a hardware related issue or anything that the hardware might contribute to this happenning, I've installed Grub to this very same flash stick in Fedora Core 5 and it did not roast the workstation's Grub. What I saw on the screen was GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB GRUB a million times, which leads me to believe that Grub was being installed to the workstation's main disk with the wrong geometry used, which of course could be that of the intended device the USB flash stick, or that it was simply corrupted somehow. In any case it was installed to the wrong deivce or had altered the existing Grub on an unintended device. rpm -qV grub doesn't show any files as changed, so I'm really unsure what to make of it without diving into the grub-install script or doing any other research into the issus. I know it isn't doing what it is supposed to do and so I've filed the bug. Ok that's all for now.
I can't seem to reproduce this in my testing. Is it possible for you to retest this with F7rc2 / rawhide?
requested by Jams Antill
Closing due to inactivity; please reopen if you have further information to add to this report