installing on a Gateway computer, "no bootable device"

tvar · n00b Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

I'm trying to install Gentoo on a Gateway 7200XL I have. It's a Pentium 4 system with a gig of ram. I've installed Gentoo successfully before on a system I built, so I've got some experience doing this. However, I can't get it to work on this darn machine.

I'm using the minimalist disc, and have gone through the entire installation process outlined in the manual. I am using (or trying to use, I should say) Grub. Grub says that it installed successfully on my MBR, but when I restart I get "No bootable device" error.

Anyone have any idea why this might be happening? I know my description is kind of vague, but the entire installation process went without a hitch so I'm pretty much clueless here. Is there something built in to Gateways that would prevent me from installing Linux? Or is there some way I can inspect my MBR and make sure it's actually being written (or that I have write permissions)? Should I use fdisk to re-format my MBR (I haven't done that in a long time, I'd have to figure out how to do that again)? Would there be any point in trying LILO instead? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

jmbsvicetto · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:45 am Post subject:

Hi.

Please boot with your live-cd and post the output of fdisk -l and the contents of /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf.
As a first thought, I would confirm if you have set the boot flag on any partition of the disk. Did you install GRUB into the MBR of the first disk?
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mdeininger · Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:58 am Post subject:

are you sure you installed grub into the right MBR on the right disk and you're booting from that roght disk? remember, usb disks, card readers, ipods and usb sticks count into that too.
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tvar · n00b Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

Thanks guys. jmbsvicetto hit the nail on the head, I forgot to make my boot partition bootable! Gah... So now it can boot up. It's not 100% yet though, during the boot sequence I get some kind of ACPI messages and the machine hangs. I may have to make sure I compiled my kernel with the right stuff. Maybe I'll have to post another question in a couple days once I've looked into this.

Thanks again!