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Neutrosider
September 5th, 2011, 10:16 PM
I'm trying to make a boot time comparison between about 18 operating systems (5 windows, everyting else linux)
i was able to manage all problems myself up to the point when i tried to install windows XP. i knew it would screw my mbr and my boot manager and the partition table, but thats no problem. Im able to fix them using testdisk and boot-repair. well i thought so. after the installation of windows 7 32bit and 64 bit and windows vista, this method worked and i could boot all the systems i installed so far. i then installed versions of oepnsuse and ubuntu. everything was fine up to that point. then i used gpartet to prepair a NTFS partition for windows XP (because the xp installer told me there were too many partitions, but gpartet did the job :D). well then the xp installer copied all the necessary files, and then rebooted. after the reboot it told me that the partition table is broken. so i repaired it using testdisk. i also reinstalled grub.

now im able to boot all the linux distros i installed so far, but the windows systems won't boot, the partition tools of the upcoming linux installers (like fedora and debian) are unable to detect the partitions and gparted shows the following:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/gparted.png
while fdisk shows the korrekt partitions:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/fdisk.png

what can i do?

btw:


sda1: NTFS space
sda2: Ubuntu 64 bit (writing from that one atm)
sda3: swap space
sda4: installed win 7 32 bit there, but its not sown as regular ntfs since xp try ( i think thas why its not booting any windows now)
sda5: Windows 7 64 bit, not booting since xp try
sda6: Windows Vista 32 bit, not booting since xp try
sda7: OpenSuse 32 Bit (not tested, but should boot)
sda8: OpenSuse 64 Bit (not tested, but should boot)
sda9: Ubuntu 32 Bit (not tested, but should boot)
sda10: Ubuntu 64 Bit (not tested, but should boot)
sda11: LinuxMint 32 Bit (not tested, but should boot)
sda12: LinuxMint 64 Bit (not tested, but shpuld boot)
sda13: intended to becom the windows XP Partition
sda14: i forgot what's there, some linux distro
sda15: some swap space that got there because of one wrong configured install, but this partition doestn't hurt anyone

YesWeCan
September 5th, 2011, 11:44 PM
You're mad! :p
Would you mind posting: sudo sfdisk -luS
It will show the partitions by sector.

Neutrosider
September 5th, 2011, 11:58 PM
here it is:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/f.png

i also get an error when i try to boot one of some of the installed linux. for example, two of the 4 ubuntus and linux mint are booting. i'll test opensuse now.

critin
September 6th, 2011, 03:40 AM
Wow! I envy you--wish I had a disk large enough to do that. lol
critin

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 07:22 AM
this disk has "only" 400 GB, but most of my linux partitions take only 5 GB.
i now got more strange problems. when i for example choose OpenSuse, it shows the boot-progress of OpenSuse (the scrolling text on the nice background) but then it suddenly shows the Ubuntu Boot-logo and boots ubuntu. as far as i tested, all the installations, wich btw worked perfectly before i tryed xp, wont boot properly except one of the 5 GB ubuntu and the LinuxMints. I now bootet an ubuntu i installed on my usb stick :P

well does someone know how to sovle all this? i even would reinstall most of the operating systems and do the boot-test video directly after the installation, but as i said i'm unable to intall new systems, because the intsallers won't recognize my partitions properly since the xp try, and i want to keep at least my main ubuntu and the big sda1 NTFS partition...

Hakunka-Matata
September 6th, 2011, 08:47 AM
The fdisk -l output shown in figure one has several partitions starting in the same sector and the previous partition ended in? But of course sfdisk -luS does not show the errors?

Have you tried running fsck &/or e2fsck on each partition?

sudo e2fsck /dev/sda1 (for example) try the -c option.


das@1110-b1:~$ sudo e2fsck /dev/sda1
[sudo] password for das:
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
9.10: clean, 378305/2564096 files, 9028711/10239421 blocks
das@1110-b1:~$ sudo fsck /dev/sda1
fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
9.10: clean, 378305/2564096 files, 9028711/10239421 blocks
das@1110-b1:~$ man e3fsck
No manual entry for e3fsck
das@1110-b1:~$ man e2fsck
das@1110-b1:~$ sudo fsck -c /dev/sda1
fsck from util-linux 2.19.1
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): done
9.10: Updating bad block inode.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

9.10: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
9.10: 378305/2564096 files (1.9% non-contiguous), 9028711/10239421 blocks
das@1110-b1:~$ ^C

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 10:29 AM
ok, tried this on all my partitions. then i tried booting my main ubuntu, and i worked :)
then i tried to boot OpenSuse, but as before it showed the OpenSuse boot screen, then the ubuntu boot logo and it bootet one of the 5 GB ubuntu
then i tried my main ubuntu again, but this time it didn't work. it shows me the following error:

mountall: Disconnected from Plymouth

then i tried fsck -c /dev/sda2 again, but i get the same error...

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 03:00 PM
The fdisk -l output shown in figure one has several partitions starting in the same sector and the previous partition ended in? But of course sfdisk -luS does not show the errors?
fdisk -l shows the partition boundaries in cylinders. There are 16065 sectors per cyclinder so the resolution is not good. That's why I asked for the sector display.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 03:04 PM
ok, tried this on all my partitions. then i tried booting my main ubuntu, and i worked :)
You are in some sort of boot-loader Hell. :P

When in doubt, simplify! Have you got a spare USB stick of 4GB lying around? If so, install Ubuntu to it and use it as your boot device. This way when you install new OS's or delete them your boot-loader will not be affected. This will also avoid the tedious conflicts with Windows when Grub breaks the MBR on your main disk. When you install a new linux OS try not to install Grub at all and if forced (Ubuntu's desktop installer forces it!) then install somewhere benign like the root partition.

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 03:13 PM
i have a 16 GB USB stick with ubuntu and all the programms i need installed here. a real life-saver :)

when nothing works im used to use it to fix everything^^
the bootloader doesn't seem to be the problem, but the partition table. i think so because i CAN boot my main ubuntu (after fixing the bootloader using boot-repair), wich is on sda2, but neither gparted, nor any os installer is able to recognize my partitons. only fdsk -l, the drive manager, boot-repair and testdisk are recognizing my partitions correctly

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 03:27 PM
Your partition table looks ok to me according to sfdisk.
What about Disk Utility, does it see your partitions?

Can you repost the output of sfdisk -luS but copy&paste rather than a photo, that way I can copy the numbers into a spreadsheet to check them?

Also, your GParted photo shows a red "!". What is the warning? (click the symbol)

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 03:56 PM
i think with disk utility you mean whats called Laufwerksverwaltung at my german ubuntu. it IS able to recognize the partitions.

the ! in gparted is no button, but when i doubleclick it, its the same as i would try to make a new partition. i get an error message saying.

Partitionen ausserhalb der festplatte sind nicht möglichin english:

partitions outside the hard drive are not possiblealthough you only need sda, i'll give you the full output. it includes sdb (a 250 GB Hard drive with one NTFS partition) and sdc (my 16 GB usb stick with an Ubuntu OS and the Ubuntu CD on it):

heiko@PC-Heiko:~$ sudo sfdisk -luS
[sudo] password for heiko:

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 420167672 420165625 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 420169728 515311615 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 515313664 519503855 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 519503859 781433729 261929871 f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/sda5 519505920 561448959 41943040 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 561451008 592908287 31457280 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 592910336 605489151 12578816 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 605491200 615976959 10485760 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 615983104 625981439 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 625983488 635981823 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 635983872 645982207 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 645984256 655982591 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 655984640 666470399 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 682088448 777230335 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 777232384 781422575 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris

Festplatte /dev/sdb: 30401 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 488375999 488375937 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdb3 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdb4 0 - 0 0 Leer

Festplatte /dev/sdc: 15680 Zylinder, 64 Köpfe, 32 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sdc1 15540222 32112639 16572418 5 Erweiterte
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,85,13)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc2 2048 15538175 15536128 83 Linux
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1,0,1) gefunden (0,32,33)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,52,45)
/dev/sdc3 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdc4 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdc5 15540224 17614847 2074624 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,85,15)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc6 19152896 32112639 12959744 b W95 FAT32
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc7 * 17616896 19150847 1533952 b W95 FAT32
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)


btw, there are 2 partitions, then an extended partition including about 11 logical partitions and after that extendet there is one ntfs partition.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 04:19 PM
Now I see. :)

sda4 is the extended partition. It's end sector is 781433729 but the total sectors on disk are 400088457216/512 = 781422768.

The last sector in the extended partition is beyond the last available sector on the disk.

I was suspicious of sda4 because it is labelled "W95 Erw. (LBA)" which I have not seen before. I'm sure it usually says Ext. Also, in your OP you wrote:
"sda4: installed win 7 32 bit there, but its not sown as regular ntfs since xp try ( i think thas why its not booting any windows now)".
So what did you do - did you try to install to the extended partition?


You can try fixing the extended partition "size" in the MBR partition table and see what happens. To do this, first copy the PT into a file:
sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda > PT.txt
Then edit the file and change the size of sda4 from 261929871 to 261918717 sectors.
This should make the last sector of the ext'd 781422575 which is also the last sector of sda15.
Then copy it back into the MBR
sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"

Then see if GParted is happier.

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 04:36 PM
oh, not ext4 isn't windows, but ext3. and according to the image ill show you, the extendetd partition is NOT the last partition. please check if you're realy sure about the extended partition size:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/Bildschirmfoto-2.png
i labled the unlabled partitions with gimp.

i forgot to label the last thing where the picture sais free space. this is windows 7 32 bit

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 04:53 PM
oh, not ext4 isn't windows, but ext3. and according to the image ill show you, the extendetd partition is NOT the last partition. please check if you're realy sure about the extended partition size:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/Bildschirmfoto-2.png
i labled the unlabled partitions with gimp.

i forgot to label the last thing where the picture sais free space. this is windows 7 32 bit
This is what the partition tables are reporting. The red number is bigger than the blue number. Partition 4 is the last primary partition and so it must end between the end of the last logical partition (sda15) and the end of the disk.



part # start end size gap size GB
1 NTFS 2048 420167672 420165625 2048 215.1
2 Ubuntu 420169728 515311615 95141888 2056 48.7
3 swap 515313664 519503855 4190192 2049 2.1
4 ext'd 519503859 781433729 261929871 4 134.1

5 Vista 519505920 561448959 41943040 2061 21.5
6 SuSE 561451008 592908287 31457280 2049 16.1
7 SuSE 592910336 605489151 12578816 2049 6.4
8 Ubuntu 605491200 615976959 10485760 2049 5.4
9 Ubuntu 615983104 625981439 9998336 6145 5.1
10 Ubuntu 625983488 635981823 9998336 2049 5.1
11 Mint 635983872 645982207 9998336 2049 5.1
12 Mint 645984256 655982591 9998336 2049 5.1
13 NTFS 655984640 666470399 10485760 2049 5.4
14 linux? 682088448 777230335 95141888 15618049 48.7
15 swap 777232384 781422575 4190192 2049 2.1

last sector on disk: 781422767

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 05:13 PM
well, thets the output of sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"
Überprüfe, dass niemand diese Festplatte zur Zeit benutzt …
OK

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Alte Aufteilung:
Einheit = Zylinder von 8225280 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Zyl. #Blöcke Id System
/dev/sda1 * 0+ 26154- 26155- 210082812+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 26154+ 32076- 5923- 47570944 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 32076+ 32337- 261- 2095096 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 32337+ 48641 16305- 130964935+ f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/sda5 32337+ 34948- 2611- 20971520 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 34948+ 36906- 1959- 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 36906+ 37689- 783- 6289408 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 37690+ 38342- 653- 5242880 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 38343+ 38965- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 38965+ 39588- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 39588+ 40210- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 40210+ 40833- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 40833+ 41485- 653- 5242880 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 42458+ 48380- 5923- 47570944 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 48380+ 48641- 261- 2095096 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Warnung: gegebene Größe (488375937) überschreitet maximal erlaubte Größe (1985)

sfdisk: ungültige Eingabe
why are there all these + and - that hasn't been there before? here's a bit of translation:

Überprüfe, dass niemand diese Festplatte zur Zeit benutzt …
OK

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Alte Aufteilung:
Einheit = Zylinder von 8225280 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0 [...] Warnung: gegebene Größe (488375937) überschreitet maximal erlaubte Größe (1985)
in english:
check if the hard drive is in use at the moment...
OK

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Heads, 63 Sektores/Spur
Warning: extended Partition does not start at an Zylindergrenze(doesn't know the english equivalent to Zylingergrenze)
DOS and Linux will interpret the content in different ways.
old seperation:
Unit = Zylinder by 8225280 Bytes, blocks by 1024 Bytes, counting from 0 [...] Warning: given size(488375937) exceeds the maximum allowed size (1985)

Sadly gpartet isn't happier yet

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:14 PM
BTW XP won't install to a logical partition as far as I know. I'm not sure any Windows OS will. So it is usual to keep primary partitions spare for Windows installs and make all your linux stuff logical.

In your case, I'd suggest using partitions 1 to 3 for W7, Vista and XP OSs. Partition 4 cannot be used because it is the logical partition container. Then install all linux to logical partitions.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:15 PM
Would you mind using sfdisk -luS?

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 05:18 PM
here it is:

heiko@PC-Heiko:~$ sudo sfdisk -luS
[sudo] password for heiko:

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 420167672 420165625 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 420169728 515311615 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 515313664 519503855 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 519503859 781433729 261929871 f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/sda5 519505920 561448959 41943040 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 561451008 592908287 31457280 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 592910336 605489151 12578816 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 605491200 615976959 10485760 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 615983104 625981439 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 625983488 635981823 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 635983872 645982207 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 645984256 655982591 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 655984640 666470399 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 682088448 777230335 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 777232384 781422575 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris

Festplatte /dev/sdb: 30401 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 488375999 488375937 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdb3 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdb4 0 - 0 0 Leer

Festplatte /dev/sdc: 15680 Zylinder, 64 Köpfe, 32 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sdc1 15540222 32112639 16572418 5 Erweiterte
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,85,13)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc2 2048 15538175 15536128 83 Linux
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1,0,1) gefunden (0,32,33)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,52,45)
/dev/sdc3 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdc4 0 - 0 0 Leer
/dev/sdc5 15540224 17614847 2074624 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (967,85,15)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc6 19152896 32112639 12959744 b W95 FAT32
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
/dev/sdc7 * 17616896 19150847 1533952 b W95 FAT32
Anfang: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
Ende: (c,h,s) erwartet (1023,63,32) gefunden (1023,254,63)
it seems it had no effect at all. i think sda4 istn't the only partition with wrong size, may that be?

btw, windows 7 32 bit and vista 32 bit worked perfectly on the logical partitions until i tried XP

edit: at the end it also sais

sfdisk: ungültige Eingabe

wich means sfdisk: invalid input

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:20 PM
please post PT.txt

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 05:22 PM
thats the edited PT.txt. as you said i changed the size of sda4. should i just try it again?

# partition table of /dev/sda
unit: sectors

/dev/sda1 : start= 2048, size=420165625, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/sda2 : start=420169728, size= 95141888, Id=83
/dev/sda3 : start=515313664, size= 4190192, Id=82
/dev/sda4 : start=519503859, size=261918717, Id= f
/dev/sda5 : start=519505920, size= 41943040, Id= 7
/dev/sda6 : start=561451008, size= 31457280, Id= 7
/dev/sda7 : start=592910336, size= 12578816, Id=83
/dev/sda8 : start=605491200, size= 10485760, Id=83
/dev/sda9 : start=615983104, size= 9998336, Id=83
/dev/sda10: start=625983488, size= 9998336, Id=83
/dev/sda11: start=635983872, size= 9998336, Id=83
/dev/sda12: start=645984256, size= 9998336, Id=83
/dev/sda13: start=655984640, size= 10485760, Id= 7
/dev/sda14: start=682088448, size= 95141888, Id=83
/dev/sda15: start=777232384, size= 4190192, Id=82
# partition table of /dev/sdb
unit: sectors

/dev/sdb1 : start= 63, size=488375937, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/sdb2 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sdb3 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sdb4 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
# partition table of /dev/sdc
unit: sectors

/dev/sdc1 : start= 15540222, size= 16572418, Id= 5
/dev/sdc2 : start= 2048, size= 15536128, Id=83
/dev/sdc3 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sdc4 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0
/dev/sdc5 : start= 15540224, size= 2074624, Id=82
/dev/sdc6 : start= 19152896, size= 12959744, Id= b
/dev/sdc7 : start= 17616896, size= 1533952, Id= b, bootable

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:28 PM
Sorry - I made a mistake. I forgot the drive name so it made a PT.txt for all the drives. The command should be
sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sda > PT.txt

Then edit PT.txt to change the size of sda4 and then
sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"

Hakunka-Matata
September 6th, 2011, 05:28 PM
Now I see. :)

sda4 is the extended partition. It's end sector is 781433729 but the total sectors on disk are 400088457216/512 = 781422768.

The last sector in the extended partition is beyond the last available sector on the disk.

I was suspicious of sda4 because it is labelled "W95 Erw. (LBA)" which I have not seen before. I'm sure it usually says Ext. Also, in your OP you wrote:
"sda4: installed win 7 32 bit there, but its not sown as regular ntfs since xp try ( i think thas why its not booting any windows now)".
So what did you do - did you try to install to the extended partition?


You can try fixing the extended partition "size" in the MBR partition table and see what happens. To do this, first copy the PT into a file:
sudo sfdisk -d > PT.txt
Then edit the file and change the size of sda4 from 261929871 to 261918717 sectors.
This should make the last sector of the ext'd 781422575 which is also the last sector of sda15.
Then copy it back into the MBR
sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"

Then see if GParted is happier.

@YesWeCan:
Erw. probably stands for Erweitert which translates to "extended" in Englisch.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:30 PM
@YesWeCan:
Erw. probably stands for Erweitert which translates to "extended" in Englisch.
Of course! Well spotted. :)

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:33 PM
btw, windows 7 32 bit and vista 32 bit worked perfectly on the logical partitions until i tried XP
So you were able to install Vista and W7 to logical partitions? Is that right?
Interesting. I am sure someone told me Windows had to be installed to primary partitions. Perhaps it is only XP.

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 05:38 PM
ok, i'm at a live ubuntu atm. tried this, and it gives me a different output. it says:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo sh -c "cat PT.txt | sfdisk /dev/sda"
Überprüfe, dass niemand diese Festplatte zur Zeit benutzt …
OK

Festplatte /dev/sda: 48641 Zylinder, 255 Köpfe, 63 Sektoren/Spur
Warnung: erweiterte Partition beginnt nicht an einer Zylindergrenze
DOS und Linux werden den Inhalt unterschiedlich interpretieren.
Alte Aufteilung:
Einheit = Zylinder von 8225280 Bytes, Blöcke von 1024 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Zyl. #Blöcke Id System
/dev/sda1 * 0+ 26154- 26155- 210082812+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 26154+ 32076- 5923- 47570944 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 32076+ 32337- 261- 2095096 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 32337+ 48641 16305- 130964935+ f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/sda5 32337+ 34948- 2611- 20971520 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 34948+ 36906- 1959- 15728640 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 36906+ 37689- 783- 6289408 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 37690+ 38342- 653- 5242880 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 38343+ 38965- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 38965+ 39588- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 39588+ 40210- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 40210+ 40833- 623- 4999168 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 40833+ 41485- 653- 5242880 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 42458+ 48380- 5923- 47570944 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 48380+ 48641- 261- 2095096 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Neue Aufteilung:
Einheit = Sektoren von 512 Bytes, Zählung beginnt bei 0

Gerät boot. Anfang Ende #Sektoren Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 420167672 420165625 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 420169728 515311615 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 515313664 519503855 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 519503859 781422575 261918717 f W95 Erw. (LBA)
/dev/sda5 519505920 561448959 41943040 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 561451008 592908287 31457280 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 592910336 605489151 12578816 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 605491200 615976959 10485760 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 615983104 625981439 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 625983488 635981823 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 635983872 645982207 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 645984256 655982591 9998336 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 655984640 666470399 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda14 682088448 777230335 95141888 83 Linux
/dev/sda15 777232384 781422575 4190192 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Warnung: Partition 1 endet nicht an einer Zylindergrenze

sfdisk: Mir gefallen diese Partitionen nicht – nichts geändert.
(Wenn Sie das wirklich wollen, benutzen Sie die Option --force.)
now again a bit translation of whats new:

Warnung: Partition 1 endet nicht an einer Zylindergrenze

sfdisk: Mir gefallen diese Partitionen nicht – nichts geändert.
(Wenn Sie das wirklich wollen, benutzen Sie die Option --force.)in english:

warning: Partition 1 is not ending at an Zylindergrenze (as before i don't the translation of that word)

sfdisk: i don't like these partitions – nothing changed.
(if you really want it, use the option --force.)

EDIT:
yep, 7 and vista worked at logical partitions for me

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:46 PM
Zylindergrenze = cylinder boundary

I think sfdisk is just being cautious. The cylinder boundary is not important. The new PT it shows looks ok to me.

There is always a risk of data loss when messing with partitions, of course. So if there is anything vital on this disk you should back it up before doing anything further. Just to be on the safe side.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 05:48 PM
yep, 7 and vista worked at logical partitions for me
It must only be possible if Windows installs a primary "system" partition for its boot-loader, or if one already exists. Because the normal MBR code will only boot a primary partition (the one with boot flag set).

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 05:52 PM
yay, gpartet is actually recognizing my partitions again, altough not 100% right. will try to boot some linux partitions and report the result :)

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 06:16 PM
ok. gparted detects my partitions, thats good. i think installing new operating systems SHOULD now work. i can also boot linux mint now. the other systems are still unbootable ^^

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 06:21 PM
It may be time to run http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/
and post RESULTS.txt

Hakunka-Matata
September 6th, 2011, 06:37 PM
W95 Ext'd (LBA), often appears in partition tables, is that a bad sign.


And in Linux systems it appears as "/dev/sda4 140004+ 238474 98471- 100833281 5 Extended".

IS then the W95 Ext'd (LBA) a bad sign in itself? What partitioner(s) labels the Extended partition (W95 Ext'd (LBA)?

it's one of those "I wonder if xxx" because so often posters with partition table problems, show the W95 style label???

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 06:44 PM
thats a long file :) so here it is:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/RESULTS.txt

@Hakunka-Matata: Im german, your post is confusing me a bit, but if i got you right you want to know what the extended partition is labled. well you should be able to see yourself :) as you know i already psoted some partition configurations, and the extended partition is /dev/sda4

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 06:47 PM
W95 Ext'd (LBA), often appears in partition tables, is that a bad sign.


And in Linux systems it appears as "/dev/sda4 140004+ 238474 98471- 100833281 5 Extended".

IS then the W95 Ext'd (LBA) a bad sign in itself? What partitioner(s) labels the Extended partition (W95 Ext'd (LBA)?

it's one of those "I wonder if xxx" because so often posters with partition table problems, show the W95 style label???
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_boot_record

The partition type of an extended partition is 0x05 (CHS addressing) or 0x0F (LBA addressing).[3] Linux supports the concept of a second extended partition chain with type 0x85 — this type is hidden (unknown) for other operating systems supporting only one chain.[4]
I think the question is why does linux use type 5 when it should be using F?

Hakunka-Matata
September 6th, 2011, 06:54 PM
Entschuldigen Sie mich, bitte schön. Ich will nicht, Ihre Arbeit zu unterbrechen.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 07:06 PM
thats a long file :) so here it is:
http://zload.file4u.net/ax/nichtaxdateien/RESULTS.txt

@Hakunka-Matata: Im german, your post is confusing me a bit, but if i got you right you want to know what the extended partition is labled. well you should be able to see yourself :) as you know i already psoted some partition configurations, and the extended partition is /dev/sda4
Ok. You have some problems due to duplicated partition UUIDs:

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 12B48119B4810109 ntfs
/dev/sda10 da1cfbba-3825-4475-b90d-eebabf6e1f1b ext4 Ubuntu 64 Bit
/dev/sda11 a69a7f3b-1d57-42eb-b5bc-19e6e4334052 ext4 LinuxMint 32 Bit
/dev/sda12 d849006a-3a47-4dce-99fe-939af1fb0089 ext4 LinuxMint 64 Bit
/dev/sda13 E04C4F954C4F64FE ntfs
/dev/sda14 84c74611-da1a-46cc-ac73-1e07c5ad75bf ext4
/dev/sda15 35ceab21-4917-4293-a5e5-9c2137028acf swap
/dev/sda2 84c74611-da1a-46cc-ac73-1e07c5ad75bf ext4
/dev/sda3 35ceab21-4917-4293-a5e5-9c2137028acf swap
/dev/sda5 417C9C2629B0C3C1 ntfs 7 64bit
/dev/sda6 38D90E303CEAD81A ntfs vista 32bit
/dev/sda7 c1c0e884-a66d-414b-a55d-9b33dec7b6b5 ext4 OPENSuse 32 Bit
/dev/sda8 75996ef3-5c43-434c-95e5-dc2b70f6f924 ext4 OPENSuse 64 Bit
/dev/sda9 a6a860b0-638c-4fbb-8130-844c84e257a0 ext4 Ubuntu 32 Bit
/dev/sdb1 EA94106F9410410D ntfs
/dev/sdc2 67d43861-efac-4df9-888e-a6e41924083e ext4
/dev/sdc5 cc5b01fe-95e1-451c-91f7-f1aaf36c8ef2 swap
/dev/sdc6 A6D9-2768 vfat
/dev/sdc7 cddd07aa-35db-40a7-b2d8-c75b6ccd4f6d ext4

You must have copied/cloned these partitions. They must not have the same UUIDs or Grub and the linux mounter will get confused.

To change the UUID of a linux partition (not Windows),
sudo tune2fs -U random /dev/sdxy

But you need to then change the UUID references in the fstab and the grub.cfg files of the associated OSs.

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 07:13 PM
remeber the picture where i wrote "dont remember where this comes from, looks like another ubuntu"?

these were sda14 and 15. sda 2 and 3 are my original main ubuntu, and sda 14 & 5 are looking like a copy of sda 2 & 3. so 14 & 15 have no right to exist, i have no idea why they exist anyway.

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 07:27 PM
14 & 15 are the same size and type as 2 & 3 and their fstab files are identical so they are very likely exact clones! How did you do this? ;) :P

You might want to keep the clones and delete the 2 & 3 so you free up two primary partitions for Windows installations. Why not change the UUIDs of 2 & 3 and then boot sda (into Ubuntu in sda9) and run
sudo update-grub
to make sure Ubuntu sda14 is in the menu, then reboot into sda14 and check everything looks ok before deleting sda2 and sda3.

You also need to do a lot of "weeding" to get rid of all these swap partition references. As you know, you only need one swap partition on the disk that all linux OSs can share.


=============================== sda14/etc/fstab: ===============================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=84c74611-da1a-46cc-ac73-1e07c5ad75bf / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=35ceab21-4917-4293-a5e5-9c2137028acf none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=45756b58-c6d4-465c-9119-95d35f76bf49 none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=857459d3-a442-48d0-a2a4-c346ec1dcf5d none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 07:34 PM
hmm..
as my partition table works since we fixed the size of the extended partition, and since i have to reinstall most of the systems anyway (luckily my main ubuntu works just fine) i wil delete sda4-sda15 and install one system after another. After every installation i will make the boot test video and delete the system after that. i think im on the safe side doing that^^

at least i learned some things by trying to install 18 operating systems :)

thx for your help, i will take a shower now :)

YesWeCan
September 6th, 2011, 07:45 PM
You're welcome. Hey, you are the OS King!
Don't forget to mark this as solved in Thread Tools when you are ready.

Neutrosider
September 6th, 2011, 08:27 PM
ok, is marked as solved :)

ill post the video with the boot time comparison in a couple of days, when im done :)