How can I manually set a partition as my primary one in Debian 6.0?

Question

While installing Debian 6.0 I went with manual partitioning and apparently messed up. The OS only loads if I start the computer in recovery mode and fdisk output doesn't have primary partition. AFAIK - I must have at least 1 primary partition for PC to boot - right? Is there a way to convert a partition from extended to primary?

Currently my partition table looks like this:

   cme@cmehost:~$ sudo fdisk -c -l /dev/sda

    Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x00010629

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1216     9764864   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2            1216       60802   478618625    5  Extended
/dev/sda5   *        1216        6091    39158784   83  Linux
/dev/sda6            6092       60802   439458816   83  Linux

Here is my /boot/grub/grub.cfg file:

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73
insmod png
if background_image /usr/share/images/desktop-base/spacefun-grub.png; then
  set color_normal=light-gray/black
  set color_highlight=white/black
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73 ro  quiet
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd  /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd1,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=19b27164-6e7a-4d55-89be-9986c2a5fe73 ro single 
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd  /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

I checked /var/log/boot and it is empty. Are there some other files I should check? :)

UPDATE Well - I'm sort of beginning to believe that this might be some hardware issue. Since setup never even gets to grub menu. Anyway, I'll just nuke it and reinstall, no biggie. :)

UPDATE 2 - RESOLUTION

Ok - sorted! The problem as I found out was my honest belief that unetbootin was designed to allow us to install various OS'es from usb drives onto computers - which ...umm...was totally wrong. Unetbootin is a piece of software to create live usb drives so you can boot your PC from them.

So, I simply had to recreate my install thumb drive like this:

cat image.iso > /dev/sdb1
sync

or

dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdb1

And of course everything installed just fine and easily after that.

Sorry for confusion everyone. ;)

Answer 1

I strongly agree with Faheem.

This is kind of a "Why choose the easiest solution when one can do it the hard way?" case.

Seriously, put your CD, erase everything, let the installer choose or just use 2 partitions: / (Root) and Swap (2 times your RAM). Done. I like to put my /home in another partition to make backups and re-installations easier.