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I also had a network (wireless) up and running.
The first task was to copy the i586 folder from the dvd on my pc to the laptop, I used the /home directory as I would not be formatting this partition and I new where the directory was.
The hard part was to get the grub loader to find the necessary files to boot from the i586 directory.
This was accomplished in part by a useful utility on Mandriva's Webserver i.e.
http://qa.mandriva.com/hd_grub.cgi
A sample result from that site was :-
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title Mandrake Install
root (hd0,5)
kernel /i586/isolinux/alt0/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=128000 root=/dev/ram3 acpi=ht vga=788 automatic=method:disk,partition=hda5,directory=/home/i586
initrd /i586/isolinux/alt0/all.rdz
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A cut and paste into /boot/grub/menu.lst was all that was required.
The all important files needed to boot I have highlighted.
When this is added to grub you will of course have a new entry in the list at boot time. Simply select Mandrake Install to install.
A NOTE ABOUT PARTITIONS AND DRIVES.
The /home partition is usually designated as /dev/sda6 when listed via 'df' and when viewed in 'drakconf'. For some unknown reason grub associates (hd0,5) as /home, unfortunately the cgi script at the website gave me (hd0,4) as the partition. So a little editing put it right.
Should you put your /i586/ on another partition then you will need to work it out which one it is on. This is not too difficult when working with grub because if grub cannot find the files it will tell you so and give you the option to edit the lines until you get the correct one. Take note of what you put in your edit as the edits are not saved to disk.
Once you have successfully booted the correct entry you will be presented with a dialog requesting the partition where your /i586/ directory is. If you have used the /home partition, select /dev/sda6 and OK.
You will then see a dialog requesting the directory to use for the installation. Simply type in the boxi586. NOTE there is no forward slash before or after the entry.
If all has gone well so far you should be presented with the installation screen that you all know so well.
I have written this howto in the hope it maybe of help to someone. Please feel free to correct me on mistakes I have made. Enjoy.
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