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jamesclish
July 18th, 2009, 06:14 AM
Hi there

A few months ago, I posted this problem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7138024) regarding the Jaunty LiveCD's refusal to see my partitions.

I tried a few suggestions, but none worked...

I'm not exactly a linux buff so...you know...

Here's the output of sudo fdisk -l (I understand that's what you linux folk look at).


Usage: fdisk [-l] [-b SSZ] [-u] device
E.g.: fdisk /dev/hda (for the first IDE disk)
or: fdisk /dev/sdc (for the third SCSI disk)
or: fdisk /dev/eda (for the first PS/2 ESDI drive)
or: fdisk /dev/rd/c0d0 or: fdisk /dev/ida/c0d0 (for RAID devices)
...
jamesclish@james-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x08000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 19131 19458 2620416 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 11 1316 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1316 17856 132860920 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 17857 19458 12860673+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 19131 19458 2620416 dd Unknown
/dev/sda6 17857 19070 9751423+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 19071 19130 481918+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


Essentially, my problem is that the Jaunty LiveCD's partition manager won't recognise any partitions, and says "This computer has no operating systems on it." All it sees is one big, unpartitioned volume.

So, if anyone can make sense of my naive terminology, any suggestions would be great!

-James

merlinus
July 18th, 2009, 07:10 AM
To be honest, I am not surprised. If you look at your partition table, not only are they not in numerical order, but there are other strange things as well.

For example:

/dev/sda1 * 19131 19458 2620416 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda5 19131 19458 2620416 dd Unknown

These two partitions are occupying the same space. One is listed as fat32, the other as unknown.

Also, blocks 1-10 seem to be missing. Perhaps there is some sort of hidden partition?

At best this would confuse gparted.\

Did you try the live gparted disk?

jamesclish
July 18th, 2009, 08:20 AM
The only thing that might perhaps be interfering with the partitions is the small partition set aside by Dell for its "Media Direct" feature. (You hit a button on the laptop and it boots into a separate Dell Media Direct 'operating system' where you can view your media.)

Is gparted the partitioning tool on the Jaunty LiveCD? If so, that's the one I used.

I think I may have to just reformat completely, unless someone could suggest another idea.

-James

merlinus
July 18th, 2009, 08:23 AM
gparted live cd is a later version than the one on the ubuntu disk. It may show something different.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

jamesclish
July 18th, 2009, 11:53 AM
Just for the record, I can access the partitions from Vista's built in partitioning tool. It says all the partitions are there and intact.

presence1960
July 18th, 2009, 02:44 PM
I agree with merlin that your partition table looks troubling. If you want to try without formatting give the alternate text based installer a try. Get it here: alternate (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate)

merlinus
July 18th, 2009, 07:20 PM
Another possibility is to use testdisk to fix the partition table.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

g_tenny
July 18th, 2009, 08:15 PM
I have the same problem here too...
And TestDisk shows a "Space conflict" between two partitions and the LBA Extended partition overlaps 3 other partitions(i never formatted any partition as Ext'd LBA!)
This is the result of a "sudo fdisk -l" on my PC...

omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3ee33ee2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2475 19880406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 2477 4797 18643401 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 4798 4866 554211 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda3 4867 7299 19543041 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 7300 9729 19518943+ b W95 FAT32

/dev/sda2 2476 9729 58267755 f W95 Ext'd(LBA)

And I get the same "This computer has no operating systems on it" with just one big, unpartitioned volume... the same problem James faces...:(
-GTNy

RJARRRPCGP
July 18th, 2009, 08:20 PM
Hi there

A few months ago, I posted this problem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7138024) regarding the Jaunty LiveCD's refusal to see my partitions.

I tried a few suggestions, but none worked...

I'm not exactly a linux buff so...you know...

Here's the output of sudo fdisk -l (I understand that's what you linux folk look at).


Usage: fdisk [-l] [-b SSZ] [-u] device
E.g.: fdisk /dev/hda (for the first IDE disk)
or: fdisk /dev/sdc (for the third SCSI disk)
or: fdisk /dev/eda (for the first PS/2 ESDI drive)
or: fdisk /dev/rd/c0d0 or: fdisk /dev/ida/c0d0 (for RAID devices)
...
jamesclish@james-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x08000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 19131 19458 2620416 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 11 1316 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1316 17856 132860920 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 17857 19458 12860673+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 19131 19458 2620416 dd Unknown
/dev/sda6 17857 19070 9751423+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 19071 19130 481918+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


Essentially, my problem is that the Jaunty LiveCD's partition manager won't recognise any partitions, and says "This computer has no operating systems on it." All it sees is one big, unpartitioned volume.

So, if anyone can make sense of my naive terminology, any suggestions would be great!

-James

The partitions probably are corrupted. Sorry. :(

shicy
July 18th, 2009, 08:36 PM
i've heard that someone had similar problem as you and saved his partitions with Testdisk. I didn't try that program so i don't know how he did it, but you can try ;)

g_tenny
August 4th, 2009, 04:39 PM
Hi there

A few months ago, I posted this problem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7138024) regarding the Jaunty LiveCD's refusal to see my partitions.

I tried a few suggestions, but none worked...

I'm not exactly a linux buff so...you know...

Here's the output of sudo fdisk -l (I understand that's what you linux folk look at).


Usage: fdisk [-l] [-b SSZ] [-u] device
E.g.: fdisk /dev/hda (for the first IDE disk)
or: fdisk /dev/sdc (for the third SCSI disk)
or: fdisk /dev/eda (for the first PS/2 ESDI drive)
or: fdisk /dev/rd/c0d0 or: fdisk /dev/ida/c0d0 (for RAID devices)
...
jamesclish@james-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x08000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 19131 19458 2620416 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 11 1316 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1316 17856 132860920 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 17857 19458 12860673+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 19131 19458 2620416 dd Unknown
/dev/sda6 17857 19070 9751423+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 19071 19130 481918+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order


Essentially, my problem is that the Jaunty LiveCD's partition manager won't recognise any partitions, and says "This computer has no operating systems on it." All it sees is one big, unpartitioned volume.

So, if anyone can make sense of my naive terminology, any suggestions would be great!

-James

Hey James,
I had the same problem with my PC with 'mysterious' Ext'd LBA partitions and i was able to fix it.I just downloaded TestDisk(http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download) and told it to "Delete" my partition table and then "Analyse" my disk to get the correct partition table and then saved it.
But "DO NOT REBOOT" during the process even if it asks you to do so.
And, make yourself familiar with TestDisk before you try this out.
Hope this helps...