Hi,

> Well, option is better than nothing..  Maybe someone could explain why the
> current install system doesn't write the boot program in the boot blocks

Well, while the actual reason we took out the installation of the mbr code
into the mbr block is different, the main reason for not doing it is that
you would overwrite any code some user might have deliberately installed
in those boot blocks (like e.g. a boot selector like os-bs).  Note that
the mbr code _is_ installed if the installation system doesn't find any
valid code in there.  That's the reason why wiping the first sector (yes,
that'd be enough) works for you.

> (or WHAT is it that goes wrong - the only way to make things work seems to
> be to wipe the disk clean and THEN do the install)?

Your problem is that you have a non-standard mbr code installed in the
first sector of the disk.  (I never looked at what code Linux actually
installs in there, but it's obvious that that's the origin for your
problems).  Nevertheless, since there is some valid code in there, the
install system decides to better not overwrite it.  So you loose :-(.

Offering an option to the user to overwrite the mbr code probably does
make the most sense here.  Especially, since our new mbr code is capable
of booting from partitions beyond the 8GB limit that other's mbr code has.
Most likely, Frank's reworked sysinst code will do this when he is
finished, and this will be included in 1.4.

Hope it helps.

Ciao,
Wolfgang
-- 
ws@TooLs.DE     (Wolfgang Solfrank, TooLs GmbH) 	+49-228-985800