using the snapshot boot blocks seemed to fix that kernel booting issue.
Thanks to everyone who replied. Now I'll do a clean reinstall of the
snapshot and see what problems will be next :-)
(probably the fact that it'll be difficult to configure the machine without
a working vi)

--=20
Georg Schwarz                             schwarz@physik.tu-berlin.de
Institut f=FCr Theoretische Physik    Tel. +49 30 314-24254, FAX -21130
Technische Universit=E4t Berlin          http://home.pages.de/~schwarz/
Sekr. PN 7-1, Hardenbergstr. 36, D-10623 Berlin            IRC: kuroi