> I give their md5sums below so you can check we are using the same > files.
Thanks. Well, the iso file simply wasn't present. Now I have this. root@joule:/mnt# md5sum !$ md5sum {d*,i*,v*} f327723426dc90a4daaf1609595d8306 debian-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso d3f41e1b683fa87cca189f8595b80a7c initrd.gz b30966bc534a606bb8dafab40e106ca9 vmlinuz > $ md5sum *iso > f327723426dc90a4daaf1609595d8306 debian-10.6.0-i386-netinst.iso > $ md5sum * > d3f41e1b683fa87cca189f8595b80a7c initrd.gz > b30966bc534a606bb8dafab40e106ca9 vmlinuz Files match but the search still failed. > I suggest to check the installer log just after the search fails. > The method of doing that is here: > https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch06s03.en.html#di-miscellaneous http://easthope.ca/FailedBootVrtConsole4.jpg Apologies for the snapshot but it serves the purpose. To me, the most relevant notes are "missing firmware" and "devices found: ''". An old magnetic HDD should be detected by a driver without fancy firmware. That leaves "devices found: ''" while files are in (hd0,msdos7). Does the search algorithm work for an extended part? Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning#Extended_partition Depending on replies, I might try the files in (hd1,1). Thx, ... P. -- Tel: +1 604 670 0140 Bcc: peter at easthope. ca