[Sussex] GRUB mystery

[Gavin Stevens]

I tried installing Debian Etch on the hard drive from my kiosk server
via my P3 machine as the kiosk server doesn't have a CDROM or floppy &
can't boot from USB.

I got DamnSmallLinux onto the kiosk server in this way & it worked fine.
Also, my P3 machine has Etch on its own hard drive & it installed &
works perfectly.

However, when attempting to install Etch onto the kiosk server's hard
drive, GRUB failed to install every time ("failed to install to
/target/" was the message if I recall). I tried clearing the hard drive
in every way available in the partitioner, but it did nothing to change
the result.

I may not be a "techie", but I've been using Linux for over five years
now & can get myself out of trouble most of the time these days, but
this has got me completely baffled - it seems to defy all logic &
reason. Also, I've installed all versions of Debian from 2.2r4 (Potato)
onwards & I've never had this happen before.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

TIA

Gavin.