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View Full Version : Ubuntu Netbook installation problem after two failed installation attempts



rebelsoul
September 28th, 2010, 12:53 PM
Hello,

I am newbie to Ubuntu, i was trying to install ubuntu on my EEE PC 1005HA. I used Ubuntu netbook and followed every procedure and in the end managed to run a dual boot system (Wind xp and Ubuntu). While working on ubuntu i allowed updates, after updates and reboot when i tried to logged in to the system, it gave me Unknown device Grub Rescue message. I tried to run EEE PC recovery mode, but it was not working. So after spending many hours and trying to solve the problem. i did another installation on one of the other partitioned through live cd. While doing that i selected option Where Ubuntu and other OS could work together. That installation was successful and i was able to log on two Ubuntus and one win xp. However, tempted by my curiosity i tried to revert the whole system back by EE PC recovery tool, which was working at that time. The end result of all this step was that my whole system crashed again, as grub is corrupted and this time error message is Unknown file system. I tried to follow the solution provided on this forum but no avail and now my system after getting boot from live cd become busy after few minutes. I could see a huge number of my partitions which is impossible as i have only 160 GB and there are almost 60 partition of 34 GB each :mad:
Here is a result after fdisk.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu
Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
They will be deleted if you save this partition table.

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0261f0b7

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 81160201 40580069+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 81162238 302230844 110534303+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3 302230845 312480314 5124735 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda4 312480315 312576704 48195 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda5 151123518 188512263 18694373 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 224845741 291837868 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda8 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda10 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda12 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda16 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda17 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda18 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda19 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda20 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda21 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda22 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda23 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda24 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda25 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda26 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda27 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda28 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda29 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda30 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda31 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda32 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda33 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda34 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda35 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda36 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda37 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda38 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda39 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda40 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda41 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda42 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda43 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda44 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda45 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda46 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda47 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda48 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda49 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda50 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda51 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda52 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda53 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda54 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda55 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda56 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda57 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda58 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux
/dev/sda59 148154431 225539472 38692521 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda60 81162240 148154367 33496064 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 1031 MB, 1031798784 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 3936 cylinders, total 2015232 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf49f8b33

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 32 2015231 1007600 b W95 FAT32


Kindly help me to restore my system to it previous state and restore Grub.

mikewhatever
September 29th, 2010, 10:39 PM
This is very odd. I think something, Gparted or the EEE recovery tool must have corrupted the partition table with numerous entries. There aren't really 60 partitions on the hdd, as every partition starting from sda7 has the same starting and ending sectors. Is there an external recovery media provided by Asus (not the recovery partition)?

rebelsoul
September 29th, 2010, 10:55 PM
thank you for replying. Yes, the system came with a recovery disk however i don't have an external dvd rom to run the recovery software. So, right now i have to fix everything from live cd ;).

23dornot23d
September 29th, 2010, 11:35 PM
Have a look at Testdisk 6.11 .... just analyze your disk first and make a backup ....

But do not do any changes .....

Analyze - Intel/Pc - Quit - Quit .... take a screenshot or record the data it gives back .... takes a while ...

examining the drive ..........

This is just to see what it can find ...... you do not need to commit to anything here ....

But it has saved my drive before ....... somehow seems to have gone into a loop and done the same thing
over and over ......

Get as much info about the drive structure as you can before comitting to anything ..... unless there is nothing
of importance on the drive ...... or you have a backup .........

Last thing is ... Can you get or borrow a USB DVD device ..... to restore your system .....

Testdisk may get the disk back to normal .....

Just by deleting all the extra partitions using TESTDISK ..... 9 though to 60 ,,, may work at restoring the normal structure.

but thats your choice ....... see if you can back anything/everything up first - if you do not already have a backup ......

mikewhatever
September 29th, 2010, 11:38 PM
Does the live cd work? If it does, you might be able to repair the partition table with testdisk. Install it with
sudo apt-get install testdisk

then run with

sudo testdisk

testdisk howto (http://www.howtoforge.com/data_recovery_with_testdisk)

rebelsoul
September 30th, 2010, 11:23 AM
Thank you guys for replying. I have tried to run testdisk and it worked up to some extent afterwards my system stop responding :(. In my opinion
1)My system can not process from live cd because of corrupt partition table.
2) Asus EEE Pc are not designed to run ubuntu (i hope that's not the case).

@23dornot23d, unfortunately i don't have a USB dvd drive, i am trying to get hold of it, so lets see.

Now the problem is that how i could run complete testdisk without making system busy :) ?
Any suggestions..
Thank you guys for helping me and teaching me something new. Btw, this ubuntu problem has led me to a new learning process :)

mikewhatever
September 30th, 2010, 02:15 PM
1)My system can not process from live cd because of corrupt partition table.

Quite possible, although live cds don't need partition tables to work. For example, Ubuntu would load from a live cd even if there is no hdd inside the computer.


2) Asus EEE Pc are not designed to run ubuntu (i hope that's not the case).

That is true. Asus doesn't make computers for Linux, as well as other big vendors, HP, Lenovo, Acer, etc. Dell is the only international vendor that sells computers with Linux, but you might have a hard time finding and buying one.
Despite the above, many EEE pcs have been reported to work well with Ubuntu and other distros, in fact, some distros are specially tailored for eee pcs.

I really hope there is a way to clean up this mess, and that someone here knows how. As the very last resort, you could try using the Boot and Nuke CD (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/).

23dornot23d
September 30th, 2010, 07:33 PM
What was the output of testdisk .... did you get any information from it ?

The CD should boot ok .... unless its corrupt .... can you use another Ubuntu CD

Worth trying another liveCD ...... you should test with the liveCD

If the LiveCD works ok then there should be very few issues ......

I have never seen the problem you have had on this forum before with

multiple partitions being created ........ so it may just be a bad CD you have .... burnt,

Hope this helps in some way .....

rebelsoul
October 2nd, 2010, 10:15 AM
Update: System has recovered!!!:P
Thank you guys for helping me out. I used Gparted instead of Ubuntu and followed mixture of steps provided at the following link and my common sense.

http://www.howtoforge.com/data_recovery_with_testdisk

Although, currently i have two instances of Ubuntu and one xp running on my machine. However, this was the exact state before my system went down.

P.S: Thank you guys for helping me!! Have a awesome weekend!!!