HD Install :: 'missing operaing system' error on boot

ok, have a nice 189 or so people who viewed my usb boot problem, so while I wait for a reply, here is another. I am using several little ebox's (no cd's, etc) for dsl. In the past I would boot off a dsl-stick, hd-install, then overwrite with an image created with partimage. Worked great but someone took the dsl-install USB stick which is why I have that other post.

So I can still boot off the system-restore CD, so tried that. I fdisked the local HD, then restored the image to the local embed disk (hda1). When I boot, I get 'missing operating system'. I can boot off the system restore, mount the drive and everything is there. I am just stuck on numerous things (like why if I restore the image do I get that). Something gets installed on a hd-install to enable it to boot. I don't know enough on the linux side to see where the hangup is.

I used the howto on pendrive to blank/rewrite the MBR on that local disk, still the same 'missing operating system' error.

So a simple recap. Cloned drive has ALL the info needed, but just can't boot. What command(s) are issued to make a linux partition boot to get to the grub which is already setup since it's imaged from a working bunch!

Thanks

original here.