Ubuntu 9.10 x64 alternate - can't install to Nvidia RAID 0

[smk666]

Hi! I have a little problem. I wanted to install Ubuntu 9.10 x64 to my desktop, side-by-side with existing windows 7 installation. Unfortunately, I have a RAID 0 setup based on two 500GB Seagate disks, and built in motherboard SATA controller (I have P5N-E-SLI, nForce 650 chipset). Alternate installer sees only the first 500GB disk in RAID, which is obviously empty and every boot to installer screws my RAID - BIOS says Error! instead of Healthy until i turn the PC on and off, reboot doesn't do the trick. I read, that alternate install version should install without a hitch on RAID disk... well, not for me :( My MB isn't that new, I bought it about 2 years ago, so my SATA controller should be supported...

[llawwehttam]

Hmm, are you using fake raid or a proper RAID card. Many on board raid adapters do NOT create a real raid.

Ubuntu have a howto here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FakeRaidHowto

[smk666]

Yeah, it is fake raid, and I've read this how-to, but installation from alternate isn't going as in there. Installer asks me if it should mount SATA RAID disks, when i choose yes, it shows only my first physical drive.

[Rody]

I have had the same problem... i finaly gave it up and will try again later.

[smk666]

Any luck troubleshooting this issue? I think I tried everything, yet I'm unable to convince installer that I have two 500GB SATA disks in RAID 0 instead of a single 500GB drive...
So far I tried:
9.10-amd64-desktop and 9.10-amd64_alternate both from USB stick and CD. USB bootable disk was made either under windows and under Ubuntu 9.10 on my netbook.

[thomasjj70]

I have the same issue with 9.10 several months ago upon its initial release, I recall there being a thread on this.. and it was a known bug in grub I think, I reinstalled 9.04 and it works fine... So much for bleeding edge.. If I find the link I will post it. I found your post because I was curious to see if they fixed this.

[thomasjj70]

OK, hopefully this helps:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1305811

[smk666]

But my problem isn't about grub. On the very beginning, partition manager sees only one disk. As I can't make 1TB backup and want to retain my win 7 installation, I didn't want to mess around with it...

[thomasjj70]

Sorry smk666, helps if I read a little closer.. Do you have older versions of ubuntu lying around, wondering if this is not the case, lets say in Jaunty 9.04?

[smk666]

Unfortunately, I don't have any by now, and downloading 700MB iso over GPRS isn't fun ;). I'll try to download older versions while at the university trough decent connection.

EDIT:
I tried 9.04 x64 with no luck...

[smk666]

10.04 newest Alpha desktop-amd64-alternate have the same issue...

[smk666]

I've installed fedora 12 amd64 with no problem, nor tweaking. However, i don't like this distro, so I'll try ubuntu 8.04 LTS, hope this will work...
As expected, 8.04 LTS alternate does'nt wor either. I think that the reason for this is lack of dmraid package, which is used by fedora.

[smk666]

Anyone can guide me how to for example incorporate fedora's way of handling RAID into installation of Ubuntu? I'm in grave need of sorting this out...
In the meantime I'll try debian net install image if it could discover RAID properly.

Debian have the same issue as ubuntu...

[smk666]

Wrapped up problem to a new tread:
http://newyork.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1418981