[Techtalk] Hangs at bootup - before grub loads

[binaryjane]

Hi,

The other day I finally got around to installing Win XP home on the
partition I left free when installing gentoo on my Dell Inspiron.

I have partitioned as follows (relevant?):
sda1 - boot
sda2 - windows
sda3 - swap
-- virtual partition:
sda5 - root
sda6 - storage

After completing the installation, grub didn't load, and the computer
booted straight into Windows. I used a gentoo minimal live CD in order
to reinstall grub, which works quite nicely about 30% of the time.

What generally happens is this:

I push the power button, and the lights for NUM_LOCK, CAPS_LOCK and
SCROLL_LOCK light up briefly, screen goes from dead-black to
live-black with a blinking cursor at the top left. Then it hangs, and
I push the power button to power down. Usually it takes about three
repetitions before the screen with a blinking cursor is quicly
replaced by the grub menu, and I can proceed to boot into any OS
without trouble.

Do any of you have any suggestions as to what might be going on?

Should I just try to re-install grub again, or is there some specific
de-bugging I can try first?

Kat