new 6.1 install will not boot

[Perry Hutchison]

> > After a CD boot, is there a reasonably simple way to have
> > sysinstall reinstall just the kernel -- or the package
> > containing it -- without starting completely over?
> 
> Yeah, see what Derek wrote. Never done that, myself, or even
> heard of the kernel not getting installed.

What Derek wrote?  I haven't gotten that.

What I did (for the archives):
  Make note of root partition.  One way to find it is (at
    the OK prompt after the boot failure) "more /etc/fstab"
  Boot CD
  Get into Fixit mode
  Mount root partition on /mnt
  mkdir /mnt/boot/kernel
  cp /dist/boot/kernel/kernel /mnt/boot/kernel

Granted that's the install kernel, which may not be all that
great for general use, but it works well enough to get back to the
X-config trouble I was having before the disk died (which is likely
to become a new thread here -- xorgcfg is producing a blizzard of
unresolved symbol messages when trying to load drivers; the mouse
doesn't work; the keypad-based mouse emulator works after a fashion
but I can't figure how to tell it "ok, done"; ...).