Florian Philipp schrieb:
> On Sun, 6 Jul 2008 10:08:29 +0100
> Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>> Just in case, you may want to try this:
>>
>> # grub  <--Also use --no-floppy if it hangs probing a floppy drive
>> that doesn't exist-->
>> grub> root (hd2,0)  <--If your /boot drive is e.g. in /dev/hdd1)-->
>> grub> setup (hd0)  <--This will re-install GRUB in the MBR
>> grub> of /dev/hda--> quit
>>
>> If this does not help then I am not sure what else might fix it.
> 
> I thought I had already done this but just to make sure, I've done it
> again - no effect.
> 
> If there is really some kind to self-test going on, it's invisible to
> smartctl. A short self-test showed no errors, either.
> 
> I'll look out for firmware updates for that disk and will buy a small
> SD/MMC/CF-card for testing. Maybe I'll also ask the Grub-guys whether
> they have any ideas.
> 
> Thanks anyway! At least I know it's not just me who is confused by this
> behavior.

A small update: I moved grub to a floppy while keeping the kernel images 
on disk. This solved my problem. Grub's bootup is now only limited by 
floppy I/O-speed. I'll use a cheap CF-card as a more permanent replacement.