9.04 install bug (showstopper): please insert the disc labeled ubuntu 9.04

[ub40d]

I am upgrading this particular machine from 8.10 to 9.04 by wiping 8.10 completely and restarting, because I want to use full disc encryption (which I've already got working on other 8.10 machines and even one 9.04 alpha 6).

I am using the 9.04 alternate disc.

I do the partitioning, set up an encrypted volume, set up the logical volume manager inside that etc etc and that all works fine as usual.

After that it starts copying files into the root partition and soon it stops with a dialog that says:

------------------------------------------------------
[!!] Install the base system
Please insert the disc labeled: 'Ubuntu 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ -
Release i386 (20090420.1)' in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter.

Media change
<Go back> <Continue>
---------------------------------------------------------

As you can imagine since I'm posting here, that disc has been in the drive since the beginning of the installation and nobody touched it! It's of course still in there. But, if I press enter, the display just flickers and immediately gives me the same dialog box again. ESC does the same as enter. Neither "button" (go back or continue) has any other effect. I just can't get rid of this dialog and go forward, or even go back to before I did the partitioning. The installer is just stuck there.

Note that if I CTRL_ALT_F2 into another console and ls -l /cdrom , the output confirms that the CD is still there, contrary to what the dialog box claims!

I guess full volume encryption isn't the most frequently used installation option so this bug may have slipped during testing, but it does make it impossible to proceed. I don't know if it is related to full disk encryption and/or LVM but I guess if it happened on a "normal" installation then other people would have already encountered it.

Any suggestions welcome

[ub40d]

It's entirely repeatable.

I switched the machine off, repeated the installation and the same exact thing happened.

The place where it asks for the CD it already has and then can't get out of that situation is exactly at 76% of the "installing the base system" progress bar dialog box.

[Rbchound]

I had the same issue with both ubuntu and kubuntu 9.04. I am downloading the desktop version now. What gives? All my installs of earlier versions worked just fine.
I also tried to do a manual partition of a 120 gb drive but I couldn't find a selection for a /swap partition.

[ub40d]

I am upgrading this particular machine from 8.10 to 9.04 by wiping 8.10 completely and restarting, because I want to use full disc encryption (which I've already got working on other 8.10 machines and even one 9.04 alpha 6).

I am using the 9.04 alternate disc.


Another data point: on that machine, the same thing happens with the 8.10 alternate install disc! And on three other machines I have definitely used the 8.10 alt CD to successfully set up disk encryption and lvm using this procedure.

The machine where it fails is a tower unit with an ide cdrom and ide hdd. No idea if this matters.

The machines where installation succeeded (encrypted hdd under 8.10) had:

machine 1)
netbook with external usb cdrom and unknown (probably sata) hdd

machine 2)
minitower with internal cdrom (probably ide) and hdd (probably sata)

machine 3)
tower with sata cdrom and sata hdd


Unfortunately the machine where installation fails will not boot from an external usb cdrom (tried that too).

There must be something that makes it lose or remap the cdrom halfway through; but then, why does it still show up in the other console?

[ub40d]

Hmmm... now I've even taken out the hard disk from the machine where it wouldn't install, plugged it into another machine, redone the installation there, and I still get the same problem (at 76% it wants me to "insert the disc labeled 9.04" which is already in the drive). So it's not a problem only of the first machine.

[ub40d]

Solved it! Well, sort of, the bug is still there but I managed to work around it.

As I said, I had mounted the hd in yet another machine, but the installation still failed in the same way. Well, I added a SATA cdrom drive to that machine and installed from that (couldn't do it on the original machine because it wouldn't boot from SATA). Now the installation has gone beyond that point where it was always getting stuck, it has allowed me to create a user and it's proceeding with "select and install software".

So, there's definitely a bug in the installer, and the somewhat uncomfortable workaround is to install from something other than an IDE cdrom drive. A SATA drive and an external USB drive have worked for me, but neither could be used as a boot device in the original computer.

Hope this helps the next guy and also that this gets picked up by the maintainers so that the installer gets fixed.

[ravi_buz]

Hey i also have this error \I have ubuntu 9.04 , and i inserted the kubuntu alternative 9.04 cd and typed sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
but at theMedia change: please insert the disc labeled
'Kubuntu 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ - Release i386 (20090420.1)'
in the drive '/cdrom/' and press enter

end it ask me to insert the
, What should i do


Can u explain ur solution in an simple manner i am a newbee here

[eleite]

I'm having this exact same problem.

What's funny is that I decided to use the alternate disc because I was having a cd-rom/cd errno 5 problem with the regular (non-alternate) iso image.

Obviously, there has got to be a correlation here. Something in the installer is bugging out certain cd-roms and it's completely halting the installation process.

With the alternate cd, i completely LOSS power to my cd-rom when the OP's error came up. I actually went inside, unplugged the 4pronged power adapter to my cd-rom and then i plugged it back in. Power returned, but the installer would no longer recognize the cd in the cd-rom.

What the heck is going on here?

[eleite]

Anyone else having this problem? I've tried using the alternate cd but i get the same errno 5.

[ub40d]

Can u explain ur solution in an simple manner i am a newbee here

If you can, borrow an external USB CD-ROM drive and reinstall from that. It did work for me from one of those.

[Wreckloose]

The first time I used the alternate CD I was in the middle of installing all the packages when I canceled because I'd read about the home directory encryption that was supposed to be in the LiveCD. After cancelling the LiveCD installation in the middle when I read that that the home directory encryption had been taken out, the alternate would no longer work. I found that installing from the LiveCD, then wiping the free space with zeros did the trick and I no longer get the insert disk error now. So wiping the whole drive with zeros may help. YMMV.

[TheOldFellow]

I have this same error trying to do an AMD64 install in another partition to my existing Jaunty i386 (which was ubgraded from Intrepid. I had the same problem with Intrepid, and gave up trying to get an AMD64 version.

It looks to me as if there is a point in the install when the CDROM driver gets stuffed and the installer can no longer see the disk. Same diagnostics as everyone else.

I think this is a bug that only gets activated on some hardware, mine is:
4xPhenom
4Gb
SATA Harddrive
IDE Sony CDROM(master) IDE Drive(slave, but not used)

Does everyone with this prob have a SATA harddrive and IDE CDROM?

R.

[kmclaugh]

I have the same issue and I've tried both SATA and IDE cdrom drives. My setup is as follows:

3 Sata HDD's:

Two RAID's I've labeled as #0 and #1, both formatted to ext3.

/dev/sda1 - /boot
/dev/sda2 - / (as raid0 - #0)
/dev/sda3 - swap (as raid0 - #1)
/dev/sda4 - unmounted

/dev/sdb1 - / (as raid0 - #0)
/dev/sdb2 - swap (as raid0 - #1)

/dev/sdc1 - unmounted


I've failed with the disc, which i burned at 1x using imageburn on an NEC drive. I verified it with imageburn and I verified the md5sum against the published value.

So in my more recent experiment, after the cdrom is mounted in the installer, i ALT+CTRL+F2, unmount /cdrom. I mount /dev/sdc1 which is ext3 and has the installer iso. I use mount /foo/bar.iso /cdrom -o loop.

It friggin worked!!


Random question: Are all the others here that have had problems doing anything with RAID? I saw some mention of LVM. Might this be the common denominator?

[marin.r]

Thanks for the tip, kmclaugh, it worked :)
I was also trying to install with RAID setup, ubuntu 9.04 alternate x64.
Also, this must have something to do with the fact that at 77% of "Installing the base system" mdadm is loaded. And as mdadm is only present in the alternate CD, it fits right in the picture.
It is really strange that such a bug can be around for so long and so few people encounter it... is nobody using raid, or nobody using raid uses ubuntu :)
My previous 8.10 setup with raid was a breeze.

[Per Olav]

I also encountered this problem, without RAID.

I configured a encrypted partition, then LVM on top of that, and two logical volumes, root and swap. /boot is ofcourse unencrypted.

I tried what kmclaugh said, mounted a memory stick with the iso file, and then mounted the iso file (-o loop) into /cdrom, but it did not work. The only difference was that my usb stick was FAT32 formatted.

Well, I have to try another approach to this. The Debian installer does this without any hassle.

[kmclaugh]

I tried what kmclaugh said, mounted a memory stick with the iso file, and then mounted the iso file (-o loop) into /cdrom, but it did not work. The only difference was that my usb stick was FAT32 formatted.


I assume you verified the md5sum of your iso. I also assume you unmounted /cdrom, before mounting the iso file.

That's strange that you had no luck when mounting the iso. I don't think FAT32 would matter.

Did you mount before the error message first popped up? That might make a difference. I didn't wait to get the error, I mounted the ISO before "installing base" began.

[Per Olav]

I assume you verified the md5sum of your iso. I also assume you unmounted /cdrom, before mounting the iso file.

Yes, I did



Did you mount before the error message first popped up? That might make a difference. I didn't wait to get the error, I mounted the ISO before "installing base" began.

That might be it. I did not try this before the error appeared, only after.

[kmclaugh]

That might be it. I did not try this before the error appeared, only after.

Give it a shot. If it works, it could reveal more information on the source of the bug.

[synace]

So in my more recent experiment, after the cdrom is mounted in the installer, i ALT+CTRL+F2, unmount /cdrom. I mount /dev/sdc1 which is ext3 and has the installer iso. I use mount /foo/bar.iso /cdrom -o loop.

It friggin worked!!

same issue here w/ alternate install disc & linux soft raid (md). i put the iso on a FAT32 usb drive, at the install step to define partitions, i was able to mount the usb drive and re-mount the /cdrom via the iso file.

install went THROUGH the 77% this time.

thanks!

[gepman]

Greetings all, this is my first post :)
I had the same problems using the alternate installation disk

using ubuntu-9.04-alternate-amd64 with NEC DVD drive(IDE) install on maxtor sata hdd

My solution:
plug your sata hdd that you want to install on SATA 2 port on your mother board and not SATA 1

I hope this will work for some of you.

[chemist109]

Had this same problem on two completely different machines. On an older machine, I had two cdrom units and had to run the installer from the secondary one since it failed on the primary. (IDE CDROM and IDE HDD).

The newer machine (A Dell Optiplex 745) has SATA CDROM and hard disks. I ended up installing from an external USB CDROM on that machine.

Does anyone know if a bug has been filed?

[Gaius_Maximus]

I'm getting the same error. I installed 8.04 on my Asus Eee 1000 last year, then just let the upgrades happen. Now, when I try to install programs, I get the 'please insert' message.

[tullers]

I have witnessed this issue on both ubuntu-server 8.10 and 9.10. Intrigued by gapmans response (which didnt work for me) I looked for another hardware solution.
I was using IDE CD drive, but SATA HD. My fix was to replace the SATA HD with an IDE HD.

[opt1k]

I have the same problem with a NEC DVD_RW ND-36550a 1.05 drive on ubuntu 9.10 alternate install. i verified the cd and reburned 3x last time @ 1x. every time I get the same error. Im also noticing sense code rear errors. Verified md5 of cd and did verify cd from install menu.... this is apparently some sort of hardware control bug that has been present for a while now

I have the same issue and I've tried both SATA and IDE cdrom drives. My setup is as follows:

3 Sata HDD's:

Two RAID's I've labeled as #0 and #1, both formatted to ext3.

/dev/sda1 - /boot
/dev/sda2 - / (as raid0 - #0)
/dev/sda3 - swap (as raid0 - #1)
/dev/sda4 - unmounted

/dev/sdb1 - / (as raid0 - #0)
/dev/sdb2 - swap (as raid0 - #1)

/dev/sdc1 - unmounted


I've failed with the disc, which i burned at 1x using imageburn on an NEC drive. I verified it with imageburn and I verified the md5sum against the published value.

So in my more recent experiment, after the cdrom is mounted in the installer, i ALT+CTRL+F2, unmount /cdrom. I mount /dev/sdc1 which is ext3 and has the installer iso. I use mount /foo/bar.iso /cdrom -o loop.

It friggin worked!!


Random question: Are all the others here that have had problems doing anything with RAID? I saw some mention of LVM. Might this be the common denominator?

[jpritikin73]

I hit the bug installing 9.10 (karmic) on a Intel desktop. I was not using RAID, but I was installing to LVM. I worked around the problem by umounting the CD and mounting an identical volume on USB key in the same place.

I am not sure about the history of the machine I am working on. The gigabyte motherboard has an option to boot from USB, but it actually doesn't work. It only boots from CDROM and hard drives. Maybe flaky?

[dfluff]

Same happening for me on 9.10 alt install CD. The loop-mount of the ISO file off of a USB fob is *NOT* fixing the problem for me :(

My set-up:
IDE CD-ROM driver
2x SATA HDD's
sda1 - RAID1 md0 ext2 for /boot
sda2 - unusued (will become WinXP)
sda3 - swap
sda5 - RAID1 md1 ext4 for /
sda6 - unusued (will be RAID1 data)

sdb is identical.

As I say, I've put the ISO on to a usb kep and loop-mounted it at /cdrom/ in place of the disc (and confirmed it's there), but the Media Change dialogue will not clear.

My initial attempts at install included trying to set up md2 (sda6/sdb6) as a crypt-disk, but that failed when it detected my swap wasn't encrypted, and trying to encrypt the swap just didn't do anything. Wondering if this hiccup had caused the problem I started from scratch without touching any ot the crypt-disk stuff, but it still failed in the same way.

I don't have a SATA CD-ROM handy, so I'm completely stuck at the moment.

How has this install show-stopper remained since 8.10?

--Dave

UPDATE: Finally got it installed using a bootable USB drive.
This https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debian-installer/+bug/360460 ..suggests it's a problem with certain DVD drives. For the record, mine is a SONY DVD-RW AW-G170A.

[mightypile]

Adding more data to the pile...

I am attempting to install Ubuntu 9.10 32-bit server to an old AthlonXP box with IDE DVD+RW and IDE 200GB HDD. I selected the default LVM on whole disk option my second attempt. I selected the whole disk option without LVM on my first attempt. The results are the same. I get to 76% and the CDROM dies. I can't even eject the disk by physically pressing the eject button on the drive. I even removed the floppy and the second IDE drive between the first and second attempts so that IDE0 is a single primary HDD and IDE1 is a single primary DVD+RW drive.

After I returned to the computer, powered it down, powered it back up, the HDD (which was verifiably functional before) is making crazy noises and is not recognized by the BIOS. It's hot to the touch, but is in an open case with plenty of air.

I tried an old IDE CDROM (no DVD/no write) and a different IDE hard drive (160GB this time), same cables and locations. This time it installed without an issue.

It seems to be related to specific hardware. I'm assuming that whatever happened killed my HDD, but it's possible the HDD died coincidentally instead.

I hope this sheds some light on things.

[icephoenix]

I had the same problem, USB didn't fix it for me.

What I did to work around it is this:

Start installation from CD as normal, then when it hits the point when it asks you for the first time to make a selection(say enter host name), switch to console and mount USB drive int /cdrom
That helped me circumvent that frigging dialog... hope it works for you too.


Same happening for me on 9.10 alt install CD. The loop-mount of the ISO file off of a USB fob is *NOT* fixing the problem for me :(

My set-up:
IDE CD-ROM driver
2x SATA HDD's
sda1 - RAID1 md0 ext2 for /boot
sda2 - unusued (will become WinXP)
sda3 - swap
sda5 - RAID1 md1 ext4 for /
sda6 - unusued (will be RAID1 data)

sdb is identical.

As I say, I've put the ISO on to a usb kep and loop-mounted it at /cdrom/ in place of the disc (and confirmed it's there), but the Media Change dialogue will not clear.

My initial attempts at install included trying to set up md2 (sda6/sdb6) as a crypt-disk, but that failed when it detected my swap wasn't encrypted, and trying to encrypt the swap just didn't do anything. Wondering if this hiccup had caused the problem I started from scratch without touching any ot the crypt-disk stuff, but it still failed in the same way.

I don't have a SATA CD-ROM handy, so I'm completely stuck at the moment.

How has this install show-stopper remained since 8.10?

--Dave

UPDATE: Finally got it installed using a bootable USB drive.
This https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/debian-installer/+bug/360460 ..suggests it's a problem with certain DVD drives. For the record, mine is a SONY DVD-RW AW-G170A.

[hfthomp]

Start installation from CD as normal, then when it hits the point when it asks you for the first time to make a selection(say enter host name), switch to console and mount USB drive int /cdrom
That helped me circumvent that frigging dialog... hope it works for you too.

I'm pretty new to Ubuntu here, and I'm getting this same error. When you say, switch to console, how exactly do you do that? Thanks.

[kmclaugh]

ALT + CTRL + F#,
F7 gives you graphics. F2-F6 non-graphical terminals.

Hope that helps!

[dmcdaniel]

This is still an issue with 9.10. I had this issue with the following set-up:

Hardware Raid 1
2 SATA 2 Hard Drives 320GB
1 IDE Hard Drive 20x R/W

The work around that I did was just place the Sata from Sata Port 1 to Sata Port 2. That did not work so I placed it in Sata Port 3 and that seemed to work. Not sure why that was an issue.

[metronomme]

Well, so it's done. I've finally installed Ubuntu 9.10 AMD64 on my Thinkpad R61 and I'm more than happy -even if I had problems at the beggining- :)
My computer came with an HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4082N DVD-RW recorder (I think it's from LG? Or Samsung? No idea...)

And, precisely, it took me some troubles regarding this weird message you're talking about.. In my worry, I came to this site and saw I wasn't the only one experiencing the problem, but it didn't help me to solve it!!! (indeed, it seems to be quite a hazardous bug, right?)

Well, after reading this post (in a friend's computer), I came back to my house, entered the BIOS of my IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad R61, and remerbered that I had stablished the speed of my DVD drive in "Silent"... (In windows it makes so much noise! And also, it worked better with Audio-CDs...).
So, I just changed it to "Normal" (or something like that, I don't remerber and I didn't come back to check) and it worked great!!!!


So, to finish, it would seem to be a problem with the drive speed, right??

Maybe those who are experiencing this trouble have the ability to change the rotation speed of the drive through the BIOS? Or maybe it's just about RECORDING speed of the disc??
Just guessing.

But for me, it worked when I changed the speed restriction set in the BIOS settings...



I hope that helps someone else!!!!!!



Cheers


Martin

[SaphireFalcon]

I've been installing 11.04 and encountered the same problem after f*cking up my first install by udating grub without grub-update command. (but that is another story)

Many of the solutions found included mounting the cdrom to a folder (my case: /media/cdrom), but that folder was locked.
Now I've solved this problem by rebooting and while partitioning going into the terminal alt+F2 and making a symbolic link to the folder, like this:

/cdrom > /media/cdrom
ls /media/cdrom
This should then give the contents of the cdrom. In my case it gave an error about permissions, which you can omit.

[oldos2er]

Closed, necromancy.