Problems with attempting to install Fedora Core 3

[Ed K.]

>>> <snip>
>>
>> All true, but you can use the existing installation of grub to boot the
>> installation kernel and initial ramdisk. copy the kernel and initrd files
>> from the pxe directory to you boot directory and edit your grub.conf file
>> to something like:
>>
>> title FC3 install
>>         root (hd0,0)
>>         kernel /{kernel filename}
>>         initrd /{initrd filename}
>>
> I would interested to hear if the above grub solution works. Do we
> know whether grub had been installed in the MBR. I am interested in the
> fact that the machine can't boot from the CDROM even though the BIOS
> says it should. How does the BIOS know the difference between the CDROM
> to boot from and a hard disk. If the BIOS says it can boot from the
> CDROM it should be possible. I assume booting does not happen from
> any CDROM. I would look for a hardware person to fix this. I would
> bet something is wrong with the configuration of the machine.
>

Sure something is wrong with the configuration somewhere. But using grub 
to load the new installation media works too - if you have a working grub 
in the first place.

The next question is: could you run grub off a floppy and load a kernel on 
a cdrom? If that were the case, then I bet it would have been done by now.

Another solution is to use grub and load the installation meda from a 
server. have a look at my writeup at: http://www.hp.uab.edu/~ed/grub-net

ed