Well, the hard drive was dead. I did manage to get some of the things I wanted off of it (even though I think I have backups everywhere) but I will have to do my configuration over again.
Which is fine by me. My gentoo image was a little old, and I was having trouble updating packages without conflicts and dependencies that would be tricky to untangle, so I’m using a new overlay and starting from that.
I’m also taking the time to install u-boot, which allows me to boot straight into a 2.6 kernel, instead of booting a 2.4 kernel in the firmware and then chaining a 2.6. Should be fun.
I’m using an old 80GB hard drive I have for now–my 400 GB is off to Seagate for a factory refurbished replacement. I didn’t take the amazing offer where for $100 they’d upgrade me to a refurbished 500GB hard drive.
It’s boring yet fun work, watching it all get put together again.