partition table fixing.

[hammedhaaret]

Hi.
I'm trying to install jaunty and have run into the problem that ubuntu can't recognize my partitions. It sees it all as unallocated space.

I know there are several threads about the same problem, (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1138158)
but I can't seem to understand what the solution is.
apparently my partition table needs fixing and I don't know how to do that.
I have tried TestDisk but that's a little over my head.


Here's output of fdisk -lu and sfdisk -d

omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 Gb, 80026361856 byte
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, i alt 156301488 sektorer
Units = sektorer of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcc9bcc9b

Enhed Opstart Start **** Blokke Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 33382943 16691440+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse. *
/dev/sda2 33383070 156296384 61456657+ 5 Udvidet
Partition 2 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse. *
/dev/sda3 153308358 156296384 1494013+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 3 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse. *
/dev/sda5 33383196 47841569 7229187 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 47841633 153308294 52733331 83 Linux

* Partition 1/2/3 doesn't end on cylinder border


# partitionstabel for /dev/sda
unit: sectors

/dev/sda1 : start= 63, size= 33382881, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/sda2 : start= 33383070, size=122913315, Id= 5
/dev/sda3 : start=153308358, size= 2988027, Id=82
/dev/sda4 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sda5 : start= 33383196, size= 14458374, Id=83
/dev/sda6 : start= 47841633, size=105466662, Id=83


any help is welcome

[sgosnell]

Boot from the install CD, choose to try without changing your system, and when you get the desktop, run the partition manager (gparted). Delete all the partitions, add a new primary partition, and format it. Then exit gparted, and try the install.

[meierfra.]

To fix your partition table, download the attached file "PT.txt" to your Desktop and open a terminal. Rewrite your partition table via




sudo sfdisk -f --no-reread -O ~/Desktop/OldPT.save /dev/sda < ~/Desktop/PT.txt



Just as a precaution, post the output of that command. Also copy the file
OldPT.save to a save place outside your hard drive (Flashdrive, online
storage,email account,...)

[hammedhaaret]

Here is the output:

Disk /dev/sda: 9729 cylindre, 255 hoveder, 63 sektorer/spor
Gammel situation:
Enheder = cylindre á 8225280 byte, blokke á 1024 byte, tæller fra 0

Enhed Opst Start **** #cyldr. #blokke Id System
/dev/sda1 * 0+ 2077- 2078- 16691440+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
****: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,15,63)
/dev/sda2 2078 9728 7651 61456657+ 5 Udvidet
start: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,2,1)
****: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,14,63)
/dev/sda3 9543+ 9728 186- 1494013+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
start: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,10,1)
****: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,14,63)
/dev/sda4 0 - 0 0 0 Tom
/dev/sda5 2078+ 2977 900- 7229187 83 Linux
start: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,4,1)
****: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,13,63)
/dev/sda6 2978+ 9542 6565- 52733331 83 Linux
start: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,15,1)
****: (c,h,s) forventede (1023,254,63) fandt (1023,8,63)
Ny situation:
Enheder = sektorer á 512 byte, tæller fra 0

Enhed Opstart Start **** #sektorer Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 33382943 33382881 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 33383070 156296384 122913315 5 Udvidet
/dev/sda3 0 - 0 0 Tom
/dev/sda4 0 - 0 0 Tom
/dev/sda5 33383196 47841569 14458374 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 47841633 153308294 105466662 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 153308358 156296384 2988027 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Advarsel: partition 1 slutter ikke på en cylindergrænse
Skrivning af ny partitionstabel lykkedes

Genindlæser partitionstabel ...
BLKRRPART: Device or resource busy
Kommandoen for genindlæsning af partitionstabellen mislykkedes
Genstart dit system nu, før du formatterer med mkfs

Hvis du oprettede eller ændrede en DOS-partition, f.eks. /dev/xxx7, så brug
dd(1) til at nulstille de første 512 byte:
'dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/xxx7 bs=512 count=1' (se fdisk(8))


saving the OldPT.txt.

Any idea of what happened to the PT?

thanks a lot for the help.

[meierfra.]

The output looks fine. Before you reboot you should reinstall grub:


sudo grub

and at the "grub>" prompt


find /boot/grub/stage2
find /grub/stage2

One of these commands should return "(hd0,4)" or "(hd0,5)"


root (hd0,4) (use whatever you got from the find command)
setup
quit


Reboot, and you should be all set.



Any idea of what happened to the PT?
Usually this happens if you use two different partitioning tools. Different partitioning tools use slightly different rules for the partition table, and that can lead to confusion. Sometimes its enough to install Ubuntu and reinstall XP.