Partitioning Error

[new to ubuntoo]

Hey i'm trying to install ubuntu 12.04.2 desktop i386 on a toshiba NB250, which currently has no OS, from a USB drive. I can get up to the point where the installer is creating partitions when i get the error (paraphrasing) "failed to created swap in partition 5 (0,0,0) sdb"
wondering if anyone has had a similar issue and/or knows of a fix, it would be greatly appreciated.

[r.stiltskin]

That doesn't give much information to go on.

Here's an idea. Instead of trying to install immediately, when you boot from the USB choose "try ubuntu". After it boots up you can run gparted to try to set up your hard disk partitions. If it doesn't work at least it should give more information about the problem.

[new to ubuntoo]

thanks

[oldfred]

gparted is a app on the live installer. But it is not installed by default in your install as you cannot really use it on the same partition(s) you are working from.

GParted partitioning software - Full tutorial
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html
Screenshots of using gparted
http://www.howtoforge.com/partitioning_with_gparted
Partitioning basics with some info on /data, older but still good bodhi.zazen
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...data+partition

[new to ubuntoo]

can you give me a quick rundown of the best setup of partitions please? i'm running the machine really only for the sake of getting to know linux, working on learning python and web applications.

[new to ubuntoo]

the installer may have been trying to partition the flash drive i was booting from.
then when i open gparted i have 3 partitions. /dev/sdb1 is 148/150 GB and is ext4
then there is /dev/sdb2 for 1012 MB it's extended
and then inside /dev/sdb2 is sdb5, the linux-swap at 1012 MB

[r.stiltskin]

In that case, and assuming that Ubuntu will be the only OS on your hard disk, maybe your best (and easiest) approach will be to just try using the installer again and let it set up the entire disk however it wants. But this time make sure that you select the right disk to be partitioned. You should be able to tell by the size that the partitioner shows.

[new to ubuntoo]

try using the installer again and let it set up the entire disk however it wants

I've tried that a few times, but i'll make sure to select the 150 GB drive and not the 1.9 GB drive

[r.stiltskin]

the installer may have been trying to partition the flash drive i was booting from.
then when i open gparted i have 3 partitions. /dev/sdb1 is 148/150 GB and is ext4
then there is /dev/sdb2 for 1012 MB it's extended
and then inside /dev/sdb2 is sdb5, the linux-swap at 1012 MB

I didn't see your edited info when I wrote my last post. The partitions that you listed there seem perfectly sensible (assuming you have only 1 gb ram), and it seems to have created a swap partition in sdb5 so it's not clear what the installer was complaining about. You could try to install again keeping the current partitions as-is, with the root file system mounted at sdb1 and swap on sdb5.

If that doesn't work, use gparted to delete all the partitions & then recreate them in the same sizes as before: sdb1 as primary (ext4), sdb2 as extended, and sdb5 logical (swap) in sdb2.

[new to ubuntoo]

i'm stumped. after reading through that guide oldfred directed me to i thought those partitions made sense as well. anyways i'm going to try again tomorrow and can hopefully get it sorted.