I think the part people are routinely missing is the fact that he used the alternate install CD, not the standard desktop install; when installing via the alternate install, the process installs the OS files first, and then later asks where you want to install GRUB rather than how the desktop CD just sets everything up first, asks for partitioning info, and then just assumes GRUB will go where it wants it to go. Did you use the alternate install disc?

Either way, thanks for the extra info and glad to hear you got it up and running!