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Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 05:44 AM
Ubuntu installer fails at "installation type" screen - no partitions are visible and none of the buttons are responsive. Device boot loader installation: displays /dev/sda. Clicking through with install now gets a "No root file system is defined" error message.

Try Ubuntu works fine - can browse the non-OS partitions, read data, use Firefox. No apparent issues.

Wubi sees the partitions - allows 2 to be selected , but I do not want to install using Wubi. 3 partitions, all primary, not dynamic. Third partition is 20 GB formatted ntfs and empty.

Dell Optiplex GX280, 1TB Samsung SATA with 3 primary partitions, XP on the first.

Help would be appreciated

TIA

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 05:54 AM
Boot Ubuntu live
And post result of


sudo fdisk -l

bluexrider
January 15th, 2012, 05:57 AM
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=wubi_logo.png

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 06:01 AM
but I do not want to install using Wubi
Is that correct?

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 06:13 AM
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l



Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 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: 0xaf275fd7



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 25173854 12586896 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda2 25173855 1911574349 943200247+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda3 1911574350 1953520064 20972857+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 06:15 AM
Is that correct?

yes it is. I want to install using the cd on reboot

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 06:23 AM
OK
Your HD has 3 Primary Windows Partitions

Do you know what is on each of those?

bluexrider
January 15th, 2012, 06:24 AM
yes it is. I want to install using the cd on reboot

missed the "do not" in the paragraph. my bad!

dual boot information contained in my signature

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 06:25 AM
Actually, if you open GParted in Ubuntu
Take a screenshot of the partitions and paste it here

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 06:25 AM
OK
Your HD has 3 Primary Windows Partitions

Do you know what is on each of those?

Sure. It would be nice if Ubuntu also knew. ;-)

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 06:33 AM
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 25173854 12586896 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda2 25173855 1911574349 943200247+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda3 1911574350 1953520064 20972857+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

So am I correct

sda1 is XP
sda2 is some kind of store/data partition
sda3 you said is 20GB and empty?

How much free space on sda2
You could install Ubuntu in the space of sda3 20GB but it's rather small really

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 07:14 AM
Actually, if you open GParted in Ubuntu
Take a screenshot of the partitions and paste it here

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=746501http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=746501

It does, however, offer nothing new in the way of information.

Maybe the issue is with Ubuntu install, not the configuration of the partitions - particularly if Wubi sees the information without issues.

ymmv

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 07:19 AM
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 25173854 12586896 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda2 25173855 1911574349 943200247+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda3 1911574350 1953520064 20972857+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFATSo am I correct

sda1 is XP
sda2 is some kind of store/data partition
sda3 you said is 20GB and empty?

How much free space on sda2
You could install Ubuntu in the space of sda3 20GB but it's rather small really

Why would you not be correct? I posted the data. Described it in the initial post.

Wubi asks for/suggests 19 gb. Why would Wubi be fine with 19 and you find it to be too small?

but I digress...

The Ubuntu installer fails. I would like to get it to work.

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 07:51 AM
The solution is simple
But unless you understand how to partition it manually, you are going to struggle.


But before you start the installer I would run GParted from the Live sesssion
Delete sda3
Decide if 20GB is enough for you to use Ubuntu. I'd say not really. But it would work.
So you could shrink some off sda2 Eg 100GB

That would give you 120GB free space to create
Extended to fill all that space
Then:
2GB swap Logical
20GB ext4 Logical for root
98GB ext Logical for /home

Once done. Start the installer and
You need to reject any partitioning suggestions by the installer and do 'something else'
And edit to use the partitions you just created.

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 08:45 AM
The solution is simple
But unless you understand how to partition it manually, you are going to struggle.


LOL. Let me try and understand this "simple" fix. The Ubuntu install CD fails because it cannot see the partitions on a pretty much generic XP box [even though Wubi does...] and you expect me to use *another* product to repartition the drive and then disregard the Ubuntu install partition suggestions?? What, then, is the point of the install disc??

Acronis, which essentially runs Linux code, has no difficulty seeing or resizing the drives in question [and created the 20 g for ubuntu... more than twice as much space as XP+ all installed software uses ]- and I doubt I would install Ubuntu if it needs 120 GB as opposed to XP which is perfectly happy on 12 GB.

I would hasten to point out that the Ubuntu install disk suggests 4.4 gig - a far cry from 120

The Ubuntu 11.10 install CD evidently does not work. If I wanted to struggle, I would be posting to a Fedora forum.

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 09:36 AM
I'm trying to assist you, but it wasn't clear to me what you wanted exactly.

Linux users would not typically install to a small space. The 120 GB suggestion was not out of the ordinary given your available space.
But sure, you can install to 20GB no problem.

I can only assume some BIOS setting to accommodate XP in AHCI might be causing your issue.
I do know some years ago I had to set the mobo to something in order to install XP for someone, but it's so long ago..... XP is so yesterday.
Maybe someone else has an idea.

IIRC: The setting was Compatibility Mode
But I could be wrong.
And just to add, in my case. It didn't make any difference to Linux what the setting was. So I may be barking up entirely the wrong tree.

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 10:42 AM
I'm trying to assist you, but it wasn't clear to me what you wanted exactly.

I appreciate the assistance - I wanted the CD install to work.

XP sees the partitions.
Acronis Disk Director sees and created the partitions.
Wubi sees the partitions.
sudo fdisk -l via the 11.10 install CD sees the partitions.
GParted Live sees the partitions.
the 11.10 install CD does *NOT* see the partitions

conclusion - Ubuntu 11.10 install cd is not ready for prime time.

ymmv

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 02:08 PM
Are you going via the Partitioner for advanced users here
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Ubuntu/ubuntu_11.10_go_advanced_partit.png

You should arrive at something like this
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Ubuntu/Ubuntu%2010.10%20Install/4.partitions-config.png

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 03:33 PM
Are you going via the Partitioner for advanced users here
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Ubuntu/ubuntu_11.10_go_advanced_partit.png

You should arrive at something like this
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Ubuntu/Ubuntu%2010.10%20Install/4.partitions-config.png


hate to be repetitive, but going 'via the Partitioner for advanced users' gets

"Ubuntu installer fails at "installation type" screen - "

In other words, the first link above never displays, and the second link

"no partitions are visible and none of the buttons are responsive. Device boot loader installation: displays /dev/sda. Clicking through with install now gets a "No root file system is defined" error message."

is not viable - aka never arrives.

there are NO illustrative partitions to ignore,
the are NO partitions to double click,
and Ubuntu has NO idea where to install grub2
as it only displays /dev/sda - there is NO device visible to the installer

The installer does not work

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 04:34 PM
OK
Did you verify the media is OK
Try it in a different machine too, see if it behaves differently

darkod
January 15th, 2012, 04:37 PM
The installer in the manual partitioning section doesn't show any disk, or it shows the disk but no partitions on it?

Usually no disk is shown when you have used the disk in raid earlier and left raid meta data on it. The installer ignores it thinking it might be part of raid array.

No partitions are shown when there is an error ro corruption in the partition table. There are types of errors that windows ignores but linux not. It doesn't list partition because with the errors it doesn't know what is correct.

Also, if sda3 is you destination for installing, linux doesn't install on ntfs partitions. Because of this never prepare partition for linux in windows. Leave the space as unpartitioned (unallocated).

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 06:06 PM
The installer in the manual partitioning section doesn't show any disk, or it shows the disk but no partitions on it?

Installer does not show any disk in any way, shape or form.

As I mentioned before, the live CD sees and is able to read and write to the same "invisible" disk and it sees the empty partition.

First attempt at install was with the 20 gig unpartitioned. Same result in any event.

The raid metadata may in fact be the realistic culprit as the disk was earlier part of a fakeraid configuration on a Promise Fasttrack raid controller. *Fedora* warns on these types of issues - "Disk contains BIOS metadata, but is not part of any recognized BIOS RAID sets.” - I therefore presume Ubuntu does not.

Suggestions for eliminating that as a possible source of the issue?

TIA

darkod
January 15th, 2012, 06:10 PM
Run live mode again, and in terminal do:
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda

Confirm the removal of the meta data. That's it.

After that you can open Gparted while still in live mode, and delete sda3 to make it unpartitioned space. Then reboot with the cd and start the install.

Or you can reboot immediately and delete sda3 in the manual partitioning step, if you plan to install this way. If you plan to install with any of the auto methods, you have to delete sda3 before.

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 06:16 PM
Run live mode again, and in terminal do:
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda

Will do that and let you know how it works out.

TYVM

carl4926
January 15th, 2012, 06:16 PM
I think you need to completely wipe the HD

In a terminal use

sudo fdisk -lto identify the HD ID

So if we want to wipe sda


dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda
It takes a long time


Others may have better ideas
or maybe




mdadm --zero-superblock <disk/partition>

darkod
January 15th, 2012, 06:24 PM
I think you need to completely wipe the HD

In a terminal use

sudo fdisk -lto identify the HD ID

So if we want to wipe sda


dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdaIt takes a long time


Others may have better ideas
or maybe




mdadm --zero-superblock <disk/partition>

Hold on with wiping disks mate. :)

And the mdadm command is for software raid arrays, not for fakeraid/hardware raid.

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 07:54 PM
Run live mode again, and in terminal do:
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda

Confirm the removal of the meta data. That's it.

Worked as advertised - install currently in progress.

Seems that those creating the install system [in subsequent versions] could offer to clear the meta data when it exists - is suspect this might be a fairly common issue.

As a Linux newbie, had to learn a little about the partition configuration [seems that could also be handled by offers from the installer] - but overall, not a steep learning curve.

Install complete - 11.10 up and running via grub. Really slick - I am impressed.

Thank You Darkod!

darkod
January 15th, 2012, 08:16 PM
Worked as advertised - install currently in progress.

Seems that those creating the install system [in subsequent versions] could offer to clear the meta data when it exists - is suspect this might be a fairly common issue.

As a Linux newbie, had to learn a little about the partition configuration [seems that could also be handled by offers from the installer] - but overall, not a steep learning curve.

Install complete - 11.10 up and running via grub. Really slick - I am impressed.

Thank You Darkod!

It's not that simple. I don't want to be rude, but first of all you should have taken the time to properly delete the array before removing the disks. I think most people just remove the disks, format and that's it. But formatting doesn't destroy the meta data.
I guess it depends on the raid configuration and the chipset, but entering into the raid configuration and deleting the array should delete the meta data, at least it should. I believe most people don't take time deleting the raid first, they simply remove the disks and think, that's it, done.

If the installer simply offers you to delete the meta data, imagine this: You are running a raid array with all your data on it. You start installing ubuntu, it says to remove some meta data (which you maybe even don't know what it is), you say YES because that is what the installer told you to do, and voila, you lose al your data!!!

Anyway, glad you sorted it out. Hope you enjoy it now. :)

Tranas
January 15th, 2012, 09:20 PM
It's not that simple. I don't want to be rude, but first of all you should have taken the time to properly delete the array before removing the disks. I think most people just remove the disks, format and that's it. But formatting doesn't destroy the meta data.

Nothing rude about your comment. Simple fact is, anyone who has dealt with Promise arrays realizes that "deleting the array" is a far more byzantine procedure [read: unintended data destruction] than the description implies. Simply put, there is the right way, the wrong way and the Promise way. As a practical matter, XP does not really care if the metadata is deleted, so the issue does not present itself until you deal with Linux. Since Linux cares, and the fix in Linux is simple, seems easier to deal with it within Linux.

[/QUOTE]I guess it depends on the raid configuration and the chipset, but entering into the raid configuration and deleting the array should delete the meta data, at least it should. I believe most people don't take time deleting the raid first, they simply remove the disks and think, that's it, done.[/QUOTE]

Point taken, however not all raid hardware or configurations are equal.

[/QUOTE]If the installer simply offers you to delete the meta data, imagine this: You are running a raid array with all your data on it. You start installing ubuntu, it says to remove some meta data (which you maybe even don't know what it is), you say YES because that is what the installer told you to do, and voila, you lose al your data!!![/QUOTE]

Which is why the Fedora option seems quite reasonable - "Disk contains BIOS metadata, but is not part of any recognized BIOS RAID sets.” [insert *option* to delete with appropriate warnings]

It is up to *you* to decide how to deal with the possible existence of a raid configuration or lack thereof.

If you want to compare theoretical possibilities for data destruction, look no further than the partition configuration menu in Ubuntu install - now that, voila, can destroy just as much data just as easily. No warnings there either.

Programming an option to delete metada [or informing the user and then kicking out of the install without hanging] when there is no RAID set, hardly seems like difficult coding.

Would have saved me a day of debug.

YMMV