Ubuntu 8.10 installer - Problems with windows/linux partition recognition

[nimnull22]

Hi.

I have:
sudo fdisk -l (from Live CD)

/dev/sda1 * 1 54 204088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 55 31010 117013680 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 10336 14398 15358140 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 55 5473 20483788+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 5474 10335 18378328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 14399 14452 204088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 14453 19869 20476228+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 19870 20356 1840828+ 83 Linux Swap
/dev/sda10 20357 31010 40272088+ 83 Linux

I have Linux already installed and I have GRAB.

I want to install Ubuntu to the existing Linux partitions, But Ubuntu's installer does not see them. And it does not see any partition on my disk.
What to do?

Thank you.

[taurus]

Hi.

I have:
sudo fdisk -l (from Live CD)

/dev/sda1 * 1 54 204088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 55 31010 117013680 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 10336 14398 15358140 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 55 5473 20483788+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 5474 10335 18378328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 14399 14452 204088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 14453 19869 20476228+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 19870 20356 1840828+ 83 Linux Swap
/dev/sda10 20357 31010 40272088+ 83 Linux

I have Linux already installed and I have GRAB.

I want to install Ubuntu to the existing Linux partitions, But Ubuntu's installer does not see them. And it does not see any partition on my disk.
What to do?

Thank you.

You have three Linux partitions. What do you plan to mount them? You need one for / and I assume you would use another one for /home. What would you do with the third one?

At the partition screen, did you pick the Manual option and try to mount whichever partition you want to / and format that partition. Then, mount another one to whatever mount point you want and do the same for the third Linux (ext3) partition.

[nimnull22]

Ubuntu installer does NOT show anything on my HDD in Manual section. Nothing. For it I have empty disk.

[taurus]

What's the output of this command from a terminal (from LiveCD)?


df -h

[caljohnsmith]

sudo fdisk -l (from Live CD)

/dev/sda1 * 1 54 204088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 55 31010 117013680 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 10336 14398 15358140 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 55 5473 20483788+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 5474 10335 18378328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 14399 14452 204088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 14453 19869 20476228+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 19870 20356 1840828+ 83 Linux Swap
/dev/sda10 20357 31010 40272088+ 83 Linux

It looks like the problem is that your partition table is corrupt; primary partition sda3 is inside the bounds of your extended partition sda2, so sda3 should be a logical partition instead. If you would like some help fixing your partition table, please post the following:

sudo fdisk -lu
sudo sfdisk -d
And we can work from there if you want.

[nimnull22]

df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 755M 2.0M 753M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile
tmpfs 755M 2.0M 753M 1% /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile
tmpfs 755M 0 755M 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun 755M 108K 755M 1% /var/run
varlock 755M 0 755M 0% /var/lock
udev 755M 2.8M 752M 1% /dev
tmpfs 755M 104K 755M 1% /dev/shm
rootfs 755M 133M 622M 18% /
/dev/scd0 4.3G 4.3G 0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop0 1.5G 1.5G 0 100% /rofs
tmpfs 755M 28K 755M 1% /tmp


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
120 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31010 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb1ea208d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 408239 204088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 408240 234435599 117013680 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 78132600 108848879 15358140 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 408303 41375879 20483788+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 41375943 78132599 18378328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 108848943 109257119 204088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 109257183 150209639 20476228+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 150209703 153891359 1840828+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 153891423 234435599 40272088+ 83 Linux


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo sfdisk -d
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
# partition table of /dev/sda
unit: sectors

/dev/sda1 : start= 63, size= 408177, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/sda2 : start= 408240, size=234027360, Id= 5
/dev/sda3 : start= 78132600, size= 30716280, Id= 7
/dev/sda4 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sda5 : start= 408303, size= 40967577, Id= 7
/dev/sda6 : start= 41375943, size= 36756657, Id= 7
/dev/sda7 : start=108848943, size= 408177, Id=83
/dev/sda8 : start=109257183, size= 40952457, Id=83
/dev/sda9 : start=150209703, size= 3681657, Id=82
/dev/sda10: start=153891423, size= 80544177, Id=83

[caljohnsmith]

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
120 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31010 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb1ea208d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 408239 204088+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 408240 234435599 117013680 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 78132600 108848879 15358140 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 408303 41375879 20483788+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 41375943 78132599 18378328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 108848943 109257119 204088+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 109257183 150209639 20476228+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 150209703 153891359 1840828+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 153891423 234435599 40272088+ 83 Linux

In order to fix your partition table, we will need to make sda3 a logical partition, but as you can see highlighted in red above, the sda3 partition starts at the sector right after the sda6 partition. We will first need to shrink your sda6 partition by 63 sectors in order to allow room for the EBR (Extended Boot Record) that needs to go before the sda3 partition in order to make it a logical partition. Although doing a resize of only 63 sectors is really low risk, it would still be a good idea to have your important data on sda6 backed up. Once you've done that, how about doing the following:

sudo umount /dev/sda6
sudo ntfsresize --size 18819376128 /dev/sda6
The first umount command is to make sure sda6 is not mounted, so it is OK if it says that sda6 is not mounted. Once the resize is done (it should go really fast), please post the output of the above commands, and we can go from there.

[BigCityCat]

I had this issue and someone suggested to use the ubuntu alternate install dvd. It has a more powerful partition manager, and it worked for me. Unfortunately you will have to download the alternate install dvd.

[nimnull22]

To: Caljohnsmith

Thank you for your help.

But, sda6 and sda3 - windows partitions, and they have information inside.

And anyway, I want to install linux, not to reinstall windows.
What is the problem for linux to install itself to the already prepared partitions sda7, sda8, sda9, sda10.

Can you explain me this first, please.

Thank you.

[caljohnsmith]

To: Caljohnsmith

Thank you for your help.

But, sda6 and sda3 - windows partitions, and they have information inside.

And anyway, I want to install linux, not to reinstall windows.
What is the problem for linux to install itself to the already prepared partitions sda7, sda8, sda9, sda10.

Can you explain me this first, please.

Thank you.
I tried to explain that your HDD's partition table is unfortunately corrupt, and that's why the Ubuntu installer does not see your partitions. Even if you were able to install Ubuntu to your existing partitions, most likely you would have all kinds of problems with Grub, because Grub is extremely sensitive to partition table problems. I think it is inevitable that you will run into more problems until you correct your partition table, but it's up to you if you don't want to do anything. I think it's worth mentioning that I've helped quite a few people fix their partition tables in situations just like yours, so I'm only trying to help. If you would like an example, just a few days ago I helped someone with almost the exact same type of partition table problem as you:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6620587

Anyway, I will fully respect whatever you decide to do, because like I said, I'm only trying to help. :)

[nimnull22]

To: Caljohnsmith

I really appreciate your help, thank you very much.

But I already have GRAB and it already booting me to win and to "some linux". And everything works good. Except for the fact that I want just to change "some linux" to ubuntu.
Win booting from sda5, and I don't know what GRAB will say if we change sda3 to logical partition. I need win for internet, because "some linux" can not go there.
The problem - is GRAB. I dont want it to says, that it can't find windows.

Thank you.

[caljohnsmith]

I don't know what else to say, because I think it is inevitable you will run into problems at some point because your partition table definitely needs fixing. I know you may still be skeptical whether your partition table really needs fixing, so how about doing:

sudo parted /dev/sda print
That command will normally show all the partitions on your sda drive, but if there is any problem with the partition table, it will return an error instead. If we do the steps I'm recommending to fix your partition table, it will take just a few extra steps to get Windows booting again after making it a logical partition, but I'm familiar with how to do that and have helped many others do it. I should mention I have to leave now and won't be around for another 10 hours or so until the morning, so we can pick up then if you want. It's entirely up to you.