[NTLUG:Discuss] strange problem

[fredstevens at yahoo.com]

I powered this box (PIII, 256M, 200G hdd) off then, after a day, 
powered it back on and opensuse 10.3 would no longer boot.
It would boot using an install disk, so I figured that grub was hosed
but I could not fix it. I then put in an old drive but the 10.3 install 
would not even see it.

I changed the IDE cable, swapped IDE ports (using BIOS to re-detect
hard drives) and nothing. 

HOWEVER, I could install Win98 (it's all I had) and Suse 9.1 on that second
drive, just NOT 10.3, which gives an error that no disks were found.

This is weird. What broke?

Fred