This guide is for Gentoo, but should be generic enough to apply to all Linux distributions and Grub configurations for Compaq Smart Array RAID controllers.

I’ll assume that the machine is installed, and at the point of either configuring Grub or installing it.

Install Grub

emerge -av grub

Edit the Grub Configuration (/boot/grub/grub.conf)

Example (boot partition is partition 5):

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,4)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r8
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /boot/bzImage-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ida!c0d0p7

The kicker I noticed in this file for the Compaq Smart Array Controllers is the ! between the first subdirectory on the device, and the actual device name.

Edit the Grub Device Map (/boot/grub/device.map)

Example (Compaq Smart Arrays might be ida or cciss for the subdirectory):

(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/ida/c0d0

If you don’t have a floppy remove the fd0 line.

Installing Grub to the MBR

1. Enter the grub command line interface:

   /sbin/grub --batch --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map --config-file=/boot/grub/grub.conf --no-floppy
   

2. Then inside the prompt set the device (again boot partition is partition 5):

   grub> device (hd0) /dev/ida/c0d0
   grub> root (hd0,4)
   grub> setup (hd0)
   grub> quit
   

Finishing Grub Install

The Grub installation should be complete at this point, and the only thing left to do is reboot the machine.