GRUB Problems with Dell Optiplex GX1

[backyard]

I'm having problems installing GRUB on my Dell
Optiplex GX1 pentium3 500 BIOS A10. I'm setting this
server up for a friend and not having GRUB isn't the
biggest deal; I just wanted to have a nice
inappropriate boot image when they turn it on... 

It will boot from a floppy, but installing it to the
hard drive seems to corrupt the root filesystem. It
claims to install fine and during boot will load
grub_stage1.5 from the disk, but instead of loading
stage2 it begins to boot the system, but the console
font has become completely corrupted, and I'm not
certain if anything else has. It will boot, and
appears to function but the font is messed up.

Has anyone else had issues with the particular Dell
and GRUB? I've never had problems with GRUB before
this machine. I'm at a loss, any help would be
appreciated. It would be nice to get GRUB on this
thing, but if I can't oh well.

-brian