the attempt to mount a filesystem with type ext4 failed

[Meshal-USA]

i have a problem when trying to install ubuntu.

my situation is that i have external hard drive, and i have a windows 7 on my internal hard drive.

when i try to install ubunutu i always get this error

the attempt to mount a filesystem with type ext4 in SCSI7 (0,0,0). partition #6 at / failed. you may resume partitioning from the partitioning menu

i also tried installing it with ext3 and ext2 but i also have the same problem

could you help me solving this?

[TheFu]

After you boot from the liveCD, run blkid and paste the output here.

[Meshal-USA]

/dev/sr0: LABEL="Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS amd64" TYPE="iso9660"

[Meshal-USA]

that's my laptop information:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-g6-1c57dx-Multiformat-Built-microphone/dp/B005WE5752

and i'll try to install it again while i'm on the liveCD and take screenshots

[TheFu]

My mistake.
We need to know about the other 2 hard drives and the partitions on them.

Did you go into the advanced setup, and create partitions for the OS, HOME and swap storage on the drive(s) that you want? When partitioning, it is usually best to use logical partitions. Those don't have the 4 max limitation that primary partitions have - almost any number of logical partitions can be used. Linux will boot from and see all of them no problem. Windows can use logical partitions too, but I'd only use them for data, not the OS.

There's a script that gathers all sorts of data about the hdds inside a system ... run that and post the output. ... where is that ... http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/
It is a great tool, especially when you are trying to do something outside the normal.

[Meshal-USA]

that's my laptop information:
http://www.amazon.com/HP-g6-1c57dx-Multiformat-Built-microphone/dp/B005WE5752

and i'll try to install it again while i'm on the liveCD and take screenshots


http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=223177&stc=1&d=1345944243


http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=223178&stc=1&d=1345944243

http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=223179&stc=1&d=1345944243

[Meshal-USA]

you can see the screenshots i took. all the partitions were logical except for the boot partition...

[Meshal-USA]

Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> No known boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/bcd /wubildr

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Windows 7: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /wubildr

sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb6: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb7: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 409,599 407,552 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 409,600 938,397,695 937,988,096 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 938,397,696 968,450,047 30,052,352 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4 968,450,048 976,771,119 8,321,072 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397166 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 2,048 503,807 501,760 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 505,854 488,396,799 487,890,946 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 505,856 4,409,343 3,903,488 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 4,411,392 23,941,119 19,529,728 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 23,943,168 488,396,799 464,453,632 83 Linux


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 20AAB6ACAAB67DBA ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 22EA25D1EA25A1D1 ntfs
/dev/sda3 24049F64049F382E ntfs Recovery
/dev/sda4 AC7D-193C vfat HP_TOOLS
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS amd64

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)


======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown MBR on /dev/sdb

00000000 55 53 42 43 5c 06 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 0a 2a |USBC\..........*|
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 dc |................|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000050 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000060 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000070 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000080 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000090 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000000f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000100 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000110 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000120 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000130 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000140 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000150 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000160 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000170 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000180 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000190 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 52 b6 0c 00 00 00 00 20 |........R...... |
000001c0 21 00 83 5b 3c 1f 00 08 00 00 00 a8 07 00 00 7c |!..[<..........||
000001d0 1c 1f 05 fe ff ff fe b7 07 00 02 a0 14 1d 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdc

[TheFu]

Ok, perfect. Much better than screen shots, IMHO. I can copy/paste text. Thanks!



Did you tell the installer that sdb1 will be /boot and set the "bootable" flag?
Did you tell the installer that sdb6 will be / ? (this might be /home)
Did you tell the installer that sdb7 will be /home ? (this might be / )

For each of these, you should tell them which file system you'd like too. EXT4 is probably the best choice for all. Then you need to tell the installer where to install grub, sda or sdb.

I am not an expert on grub, so take these ideas as just that, ideas, not directions. I haven't done this myself, so I do not know the best answer.
I'd be inclined to put grub on sdb first. You can always put grub on sda later.

Hopefully, someone else will explain whether installing grub to sda when some of the OSes are on an external HDD is a good idea. It seems dangerous to me. To boot off grub on SDB, tell the BIOS to do it or have a USB flash drive that can boot off either the 1st or 2nd disk. Something like YUMI can do this and having a portable save-your-butt flash drive with DBAN, gparted, and a rescue Linux distro doesn't hurt. A great use for those smaller 1G-2G flash drives.

BTW, I am not a fan of running any OS off USB2. It is slow. Installing an OS off USB is fine. USB3 is much faster, but it has "queuing issues" that make it good for 1 or 2 tasks at a time, not an entire running OS. eSATA is fantastic for external drives. USB has always been flaky for me.

Anyway, I hope this makes sense. If you already did those suggestions - bootable, partition labels, then I'm stumped. Those settings are inside the advanced partitioning section of the installer.

[oldfred]

Was sdb ever part of a RAID set? RAID puts meta data on a drive and usually then gparted will not even work with it.

Even if raid not used BIOS may have set parameters, Also check BIOS settings
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
Run chkdsk on any NTFS partitions even if they currently work.

Your first screen showing mounts & formats with grub2's boot loader installed to sdb looks correct. I just do not use /boot and might make / a bit large like 25GB but that is not critical.

[Meshal-USA]

Ok, perfect. Much better than screen shots, IMHO. I can copy/paste text. Thanks!



Did you tell the installer that sdb1 will be /boot and set the "bootable" flag?
Did you tell the installer that sdb6 will be / ? (this might be /home)
Did you tell the installer that sdb7 will be /home ? (this might be / )

For each of these, you should tell them which file system you'd like too. EXT4 is probably the best choice for all. Then you need to tell the installer where to install grub, sda or sdb.

I am not an expert on grub, so take these ideas as just that, ideas, not directions. I haven't done this myself, so I do not know the best answer.
I'd be inclined to put grub on sdb first. You can always put grub on sda later.

Hopefully, someone else will explain whether installing grub to sda when some of the OSes are on an external HDD is a good idea. It seems dangerous to me. To boot off grub on SDB, tell the BIOS to do it or have a USB flash drive that can boot off either the 1st or 2nd disk. Something like YUMI can do this and having a portable save-your-butt flash drive with DBAN, gparted, and a rescue Linux distro doesn't hurt. A great use for those smaller 1G-2G flash drives.

BTW, I am not a fan of running any OS off USB2. It is slow. Installing an OS off USB is fine. USB3 is much faster, but it has "queuing issues" that make it good for 1 or 2 tasks at a time, not an entire running OS. eSATA is fantastic for external drives. USB has always been flaky for me.

Anyway, I hope this makes sense. If you already did those suggestions - bootable, partition labels, then I'm stumped. Those settings are inside the advanced partitioning section of the installer.




Did you tell the installer that sdb1 will be /boot and set the "bootable" flag?
Did you tell the installer that sdb6 will be / ? (this might be /home)
Did you tell the installer that sdb7 will be /home ? (this might be / )


yes i did all of that, you can see what exactly i did in the screenshots i took.


For each of these, you should tell them which file system you'd like too. EXT4 is probably the best choice for all. Then you need to tell the installer where to install grub, sda or sdb.

I am not an expert on grub, so take these ideas as just that, ideas, not directions. I haven't done this myself, so I do not know the best answer.
I'd be inclined to put grub on sdb first. You can always put grub on sda later.

i chose to put grub on sdb and i tried to put it in sda but when i did it i had a problem with windows MBR that required to use system repair from a CD to fix it.


BTW, I am not a fan of running any OS off USB2. It is slow. Installing an OS off USB is fine. USB3 is much faster, but it has "queuing issues" that make it good for 1 or 2 tasks at a time, not an entire running OS. eSATA is fantastic for external drives. USB has always been flaky for me.

i'm not a fan either, but i have no options. my internal hard drive has windows and i cannot install ubunutu alongside with it because of the system recovery partition and that windows is taking all the primary partitions. i tried wubi but it's very slow especially most of my work on ubuntu is on programming. if you have any way to dual boot ubuntu with windows please tell me i would really appreciate it.


Anyway, I hope this makes sense. If you already did those suggestions - bootable, partition labels, then I'm stumped. Those settings are inside the advanced partitioning section of the installer.

it does make sense. thanks for those ideas but i have tried them all before and non of them worked.

[Meshal-USA]

Was sdb ever part of a RAID set? RAID puts meta data on a drive and usually then gparted will not even work with it.

Even if raid not used BIOS may have set parameters, Also check BIOS settings
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
Run chkdsk on any NTFS partitions even if they currently work.

Your first screen showing mounts & formats with grub2's boot loader installed to sdb looks correct. I just do not use /boot and might make / a bit large like 25GB but that is not critical.


Was sdb ever part of a RAID set?

no it wasn't, i took it out from my old laptop and now i'm using it as external hard drive


Even if raid not used BIOS may have set parameters, Also check BIOS settings
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
Run chkdsk on any NTFS partitions even if they currently work.

can i change sdb parameters from BIOS? if yes, can you tell me how? also could you tell me what parameters i should i use for ext4?


sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
Run chkdsk on any NTFS partitions even if they currently work.

ok i'll check that and post it here.

[oldfred]

sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sdb --not sda if external is sdb.

You have to run chkdsk from Windows on the Windows NTFS partitions.

What BIOS mode do you have drives set to. They should be AHCI, but if you have not installed AHCI drivers to Windows you should do that before changing. If setting is RAID or IDE it needs to be changes.

[Meshal-USA]

sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sdb --not sda if external is sdb.

You have to run chkdsk from Windows on the Windows NTFS partitions.

What BIOS mode do you have drives set to. They should be AHCI, but if you have not installed AHCI drivers to Windows you should do that before changing. If setting is RAID or IDE it needs to be changes.


sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sdb --not sda if external is sdb.

i ran that in the terminal and this is what i got:
no raid disks and with names: "/dev/sdb"


What BIOS mode do you have drives set to. They should be AHCI, but if you have not installed AHCI drivers to Windows you should do that before changing. If setting is RAID or IDE it needs to be changes

i really have no idea, how can i check BIOS mode?

[oldfred]

Boot into BIOS and find the settings for your hard drive.

My BIOS before I changed it to AHCI. I used IDE for compatibility with XP but now do not boot XP.

[Meshal-USA]

i don't have that option in my bios mode

[oldfred]

What is under system configuration? Some laptops do have limited settings but hard drive mode of some sort should be somewhere.

[Meshal-USA]

What is under system configuration? Some laptops do have limited settings but hard drive mode of some sort should be somewhere.

Language
Virtualization technology
fan always on
action keys mode
boot options

[oldfred]

Is boot options just the choices on which device to boot or are there settings there also?

What computer is this?

[Meshal-USA]

there are no other options, it's just a list of which devices to boot. it's hp pavilion g6 series, the i5 version.

here you can all the info on my laptop
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c03045098&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&lc=en&product=5193775

[oldfred]

Most i5 systems now are UEFI, it looks like yours it just BIOS and a very limited BIOS at that. Did you update to the newest BIOS?

[Meshal-USA]

yes i did, it was f.33 and i updated it yesterday to f.34 but it's still limited nothing changed

[oldfred]

I do not know if related to this, but you could try the alternative installer.

Just saw this from arpanaut's post in another thread.
There is a bug in ubiquity on the 12.04 iso that causes the installer to crash part way through on some hardware.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/996568
From liveCD before install.
sudo apt-get remove ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu
or (ubiquity-slideshow-lubuntu) (and ubiquity-slideshow-xubuntu)
The Alternate iso is another option as it is text based and also does not use the slideshow.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/alternative-download

If you have a local mirror that might be faster.

[Meshal-USA]

ok i'll try it and let you know. thank you so much for your help.

[Meshal-USA]

it worked!!! but now i have another problem

i think some drivers were not installed and also when i restarted it i got this error.

[oldfred]

Grub must not have fully installed correctly. That says the MBR has grub, but grub cannot find grub.cfg or some parts of grub.

Did you install to a large / (root) partition or high up on hard drive. Grub sometimes gets lost with some BIOS.

Try Boot-Repair to see what may be wrong.

Boot Repair -Also handles LVM, GPT, separate /boot and UEFI dual boot.:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
You can repair many boot issues with this or 'Create BootInfo' report (Other Options) & post the link it creates, so we can see your exact configuration an diagnose advanced problems.

and/or

Grub Rescue Prompt Megathread - drs305
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052
chroot & grub uninstall & reinstall -drs305
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1581099

Boot repair has an advance screen to help on a full chroot & grub reinstall.

[Meshal-USA]

i think the problem is that i installed grub on sdb, which i think now i should have installed it on sda. i'll try the boot repair and let you know what happens

[Meshal-USA]

http://paste.ubuntu.com/1171027/

[Meshal-USA]

i still have the same problem

[oldfred]

You are the second one I have seen with no UUIDs on several partitions. There must be a bug somewhere.

Partition table shows the sdb partitions, but the blkid only has a UUID for sdb5 swap.

Did you try booting from sdb? I would like to know if the bug that is erasing UUIDs is part of Ubuntu and its install or if somehow Boot-Repair is somehow doing it.

Without UUIDs nothing will work.

You need to do this for all partitions on sdb except sdb5.

sudo tune2fs -U random /dev/sdaX
if you recreate a swap partition don't forget to update /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume with the new uuid
and we will have to edit fstab with new UUIDs.

Run this to see new UUIDs.
# To clear cache and get new view:
sudo blkid -c /dev/null -o list

These are your partitions:


Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 58,593,279 58,591,232 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 58,595,326 488,396,799 429,801,474 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 58,595,328 60,547,071 1,951,744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 60,549,120 128,907,263 68,358,144 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 128,909,312 488,396,799 359,487,488 83 Linux



Then you'll have to edit fstab:
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.backup
gksu gedit /etc/fstab

[Meshal-USA]

that's what i'm trying to boot to. sdb is the one that has ubuntu.

i ran what you gave me and this is what i got "i'm using liveCD right now":







ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -U random/dev/sdb1
tune2fs 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
Usage: tune2fs [-c max_mounts_count] [-e errors_behavior] [-g group]
[-i interval[d|m|w]] [-j] [-J journal_options] [-l]
[-m reserved_blocks_percent] [-o [^]mount_options[,...]] [-p mmp_update_interval]
[-r reserved_blocks_count] [-u user] [-C mount_count] [-L volume_label]
[-M last_mounted_dir] [-O [^]feature[,...]]
[-E extended-option[,...]] [-T last_check_time] [-U UUID]
[ -I new_inode_size ] device
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -U random/dev/sdb2
tune2fs 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
Usage: tune2fs [-c max_mounts_count] [-e errors_behavior] [-g group]
[-i interval[d|m|w]] [-j] [-J journal_options] [-l]
[-m reserved_blocks_percent] [-o [^]mount_options[,...]] [-p mmp_update_interval]
[-r reserved_blocks_count] [-u user] [-C mount_count] [-L volume_label]
[-M last_mounted_dir] [-O [^]feature[,...]]
[-E extended-option[,...]] [-T last_check_time] [-U UUID]
[ -I new_inode_size ] device
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -U random/dev/sdb6
tune2fs 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
Usage: tune2fs [-c max_mounts_count] [-e errors_behavior] [-g group]
[-i interval[d|m|w]] [-j] [-J journal_options] [-l]
[-m reserved_blocks_percent] [-o [^]mount_options[,...]] [-p mmp_update_interval]
[-r reserved_blocks_count] [-u user] [-C mount_count] [-L volume_label]
[-M last_mounted_dir] [-O [^]feature[,...]]
[-E extended-option[,...]] [-T last_check_time] [-U UUID]
[ -I new_inode_size ] device
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -U random/dev/sdb7
tune2fs 1.42 (29-Nov-2011)
Usage: tune2fs [-c max_mounts_count] [-e errors_behavior] [-g group]
[-i interval[d|m|w]] [-j] [-J journal_options] [-l]
[-m reserved_blocks_percent] [-o [^]mount_options[,...]] [-p mmp_update_interval]
[-r reserved_blocks_count] [-u user] [-C mount_count] [-L volume_label]
[-M last_mounted_dir] [-O [^]feature[,...]]
[-E extended-option[,...]] [-T last_check_time] [-U UUID]
[ -I new_inode_size ] device
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -c/dev/null -o list
device fs_type label mount point UUID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/loop0 squashfs /rofs
/dev/sda1 ntfs SYSTEM (not mounted) 20AAB6ACAAB67DBA
/dev/sda2 ntfs (not mounted) 22EA25D1EA25A1D1
/dev/sda3 ntfs Recovery (not mounted) 24049F64049F382E
/dev/sda4 vfat HP_TOOLS (not mounted) AC7D-193C
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS amd64 /cdrom
/dev/sdb5 swap <swap> 6de40c28-a5f7-4919-9cc7-f26ee9826bfc
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[oldfred]

Tunefs did not work on any of them, I do not know command well enough to know issue.

Just to see if it is a partition corruption issue of some sort, from liveCD:

#From liveCD so everything is unmounted,swap off if necessary, change example shown with partition sdb1 to your partition(s)
#e2fsck is used to check the ext2/ext3/ext4 family of file systems. -p trys fixes where response not required
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/sdb1
#if errors: -y auto answers yes for fixes needing response see man e2fsck
sudo e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sdb1

then see if sdb1 shows a UUID?

[Meshal-USA]

result of running the code:

/dev/sdb1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

230 inodes used (0.01%)
0 non-contiguous files (0.0%)
0 non-contiguous directories (0.0%)
# of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 0/0/0
Extent depth histogram: 221
165127 blocks used (2.25%)
0 bad blocks
1 large file

217 regular files
4 directories
0 character device files
0 block device files
0 fifos
0 links
0 symbolic links (0 fast symbolic links)
0 sockets
--------
221 files










Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos1)/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/bcd /wubildr

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Windows 7: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /wubildr

sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb6: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb7: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 409,599 407,552 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 409,600 938,397,695 937,988,096 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 938,397,696 968,450,047 30,052,352 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4 968,450,048 976,771,119 8,321,072 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397166 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 58,593,279 58,591,232 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 58,595,326 488,396,799 429,801,474 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 58,595,328 60,547,071 1,951,744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 60,549,120 128,907,263 68,358,144 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 128,909,312 488,396,799 359,487,488 83 Linux


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 20AAB6ACAAB67DBA ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 22EA25D1EA25A1D1 ntfs
/dev/sda3 24049F64049F382E ntfs Recovery
/dev/sda4 AC7D-193C vfat HP_TOOLS
/dev/sdb5 6de40c28-a5f7-4919-9cc7-f26ee9826bfc swap
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS amd64

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)


======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sdb2

00000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 |.........<......|
00000010 0c 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f1 f3 |.<.........?....|
00000020 f6 fc f8 3f 00 00 00 f0 7c fc bc 3c 3c 3c 3c f0 |...?....|..<<<<.|
00000030 00 00 00 03 0f ff 0f 0f 0f 0f 0f ff 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 00 03 |...........?....|
00000050 0f 3c f0 ff 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 f0 f0 |.<..............|
00000060 00 00 00 3f f0 00 00 0f 00 00 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 |...?.......?....|
00000070 f0 f0 f0 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 |..............<.|
00000080 ff 00 00 03 00 00 00 f0 f0 f0 f0 f0 fc f0 f0 fc |................|
00000090 00 00 00 ff f0 f0 f0 ff 00 00 f0 3f 00 00 00 f0 |...........?....|
000000a0 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 0f 3c f0 f0 ff |............<...|
000000b0 f0 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 |...?............|
000000c0 00 00 00 ff f0 f0 00 00 03 0f 0f 0f 00 00 00 fc |................|
000000d0 3c 3c 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f0 3f |<<<........?...?|
000000e0 f0 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 |...?............|
000000f0 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f0 3f 03 03 0f 3f 00 00 00 c0 |...?...?...?....|
00000100 f0 f0 f0 f0 c0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0f 0f 00 |................|
00000110 00 0f 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 c0 00 00 c0 c0 00 |................|
00000120 00 00 00 00 00 0f 0f 00 00 0f 0f 03 0f 00 00 00 |................|
00000130 00 c0 c0 00 00 c0 c0 c0 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 |..............<.|
00000140 3c 0f 03 00 00 00 00 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 c0 f0 |<...............|
00000150 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f 00 3f 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |......?.?.......|
00000160 00 00 fc 00 fc 00 00 00 00 00 00 3c 0f 03 00 00 |...........<....|
00000170 00 03 0f 3c 00 00 00 00 00 c0 f0 3c f0 c0 00 00 |...<.......<....|
00000180 00 00 00 3f f0 00 03 0f 0f 00 0f 0f 00 00 00 c0 |...?............|
00000190 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f3 f3 |...........?....|
000001a0 f3 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 f0 3c 3c fc 1c fc 00 00 f0 |...?....<<......|
000001b0 00 00 00 0f 3f f0 f0 f0 ff f0 f0 f0 00 00 00 fe |....?...........|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 00 c8 1d 00 00 fe |................|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 7b cf 1d 00 87 10 13 04 00 00 |......{.........|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdc

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt

[Meshal-USA]

Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos1)/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/bcd /wubildr

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Windows 7: FAT32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /wubildr

sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb6: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb7: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 409,599 407,552 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 409,600 938,397,695 937,988,096 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 938,397,696 968,450,047 30,052,352 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4 968,450,048 976,771,119 8,321,072 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059348992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397166 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 58,593,279 58,591,232 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 58,595,326 488,396,799 429,801,474 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 58,595,328 60,547,071 1,951,744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 60,549,120 128,907,263 68,358,144 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 128,909,312 488,396,799 359,487,488 83 Linux


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 20AAB6ACAAB67DBA ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sda2 22EA25D1EA25A1D1 ntfs
/dev/sda3 24049F64049F382E ntfs Recovery
/dev/sda4 AC7D-193C vfat HP_TOOLS
/dev/sdb5 6de40c28-a5f7-4919-9cc7-f26ee9826bfc swap
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS amd64

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)


======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sdb2

00000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 |.........<......|
00000010 0c 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f1 f3 |.<.........?....|
00000020 f6 fc f8 3f 00 00 00 f0 7c fc bc 3c 3c 3c 3c f0 |...?....|..<<<<.|
00000030 00 00 00 03 0f ff 0f 0f 0f 0f 0f ff 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 f0 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 00 03 |...........?....|
00000050 0f 3c f0 ff 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 f0 f0 |.<..............|
00000060 00 00 00 3f f0 00 00 0f 00 00 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 |...?.......?....|
00000070 f0 f0 f0 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 |..............<.|
00000080 ff 00 00 03 00 00 00 f0 f0 f0 f0 f0 fc f0 f0 fc |................|
00000090 00 00 00 ff f0 f0 f0 ff 00 00 f0 3f 00 00 00 f0 |...........?....|
000000a0 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 0f 3c f0 f0 ff |............<...|
000000b0 f0 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 |...?............|
000000c0 00 00 00 ff f0 f0 00 00 03 0f 0f 0f 00 00 00 fc |................|
000000d0 3c 3c 3c f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f0 3f |<<<........?...?|
000000e0 f0 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 f0 f0 f0 c0 |...?............|
000000f0 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f0 3f 03 03 0f 3f 00 00 00 c0 |...?...?...?....|
00000100 f0 f0 f0 f0 c0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0f 0f 00 |................|
00000110 00 0f 0f 00 00 00 00 00 00 c0 c0 00 00 c0 c0 00 |................|
00000120 00 00 00 00 00 0f 0f 00 00 0f 0f 03 0f 00 00 00 |................|
00000130 00 c0 c0 00 00 c0 c0 c0 00 00 00 00 03 0f 3c f0 |..............<.|
00000140 3c 0f 03 00 00 00 00 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 c0 f0 |<...............|
00000150 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f 00 3f 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |......?.?.......|
00000160 00 00 fc 00 fc 00 00 00 00 00 00 3c 0f 03 00 00 |...........<....|
00000170 00 03 0f 3c 00 00 00 00 00 c0 f0 3c f0 c0 00 00 |...<.......<....|
00000180 00 00 00 3f f0 00 03 0f 0f 00 0f 0f 00 00 00 c0 |...?............|
00000190 f0 f0 c0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f f0 f0 f3 f3 |...........?....|
000001a0 f3 f0 f0 3f 00 00 00 f0 3c 3c fc 1c fc 00 00 f0 |...?....<<......|
000001b0 00 00 00 0f 3f f0 f0 f0 ff f0 f0 f0 00 00 00 fe |....?...........|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 00 c8 1d 00 00 fe |................|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 7b cf 1d 00 87 10 13 04 00 00 |......{.........|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

Unknown BootLoader on sdb7

00000000 55 53 42 43 97 2e 01 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 0a 2a |USBC...........*|
00000010 00 07 af 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 d3 |................|
00000020 33 cc 3c 59 db 9e 74 04 cb 7f a1 eb df 1c fb cf |3.<Y..t.........|
00000030 ff fb 90 64 d7 00 04 8b 5f d5 d3 0f 5b 6a 33 61 |...d...._...[j3a|
00000040 7a ba 61 88 26 11 dd 8d 56 cc 61 6d a8 d1 86 6a |z.a.&...V.am...j|
00000050 dd 84 98 98 c0 23 b1 47 65 65 17 1e 41 8e ea d0 |.....#.Gee..A...|
00000060 82 aa cd 4e eb 17 57 a0 c3 c9 57 4b 00 00 00 00 |...N..W...WK....|
00000070 d0 38 74 4e 00 00 da 1c 0c a2 e2 4a a2 42 e8 46 |.8tN.......J.B.F|
00000080 04 00 ec c4 7e 8c 4f d5 f7 b1 cf 42 50 e7 41 f6 |....~.O....BP.A.|
00000090 5a 4e 7c d1 74 20 9b a9 33 b9 28 a7 79 e4 54 60 |ZN|.t ..3.(.y.T`|
000000a0 e5 f3 e0 0f d0 00 00 0b 41 72 a8 c3 7d 9c 81 f9 |........Ar..}...|
000000b0 22 f8 50 18 9d ef 64 04 4b b0 dd b6 7e bd ff 44 |".P...d.K...~..D|
000000c0 c9 7e 8f bf f6 bd dc 86 24 e4 22 9e 42 1d 18 f5 |.~......$.".B...|
000000d0 3b 7a 7a b9 15 f2 26 4d 3f ef f3 bf ab a7 ff 3a |;zz...&M?......:|
000000e0 11 18 f5 39 33 b9 18 f6 3b b6 ca e8 b3 b6 cf 55 |...93...;......U|
000000f0 20 d2 5d 8e 82 f5 43 ee 10 00 00 02 db 91 29 4c | .]...C.......)L|
00000100 b1 0c 01 5c 7a 0c e3 04 86 c4 b6 ea 96 9b 7a 4f |...\z.........zO|
00000110 1f ee 74 cd 00 00 00 00 03 ed 4b 21 00 00 00 00 |..t.......K!....|
00000120 c9 c1 9c 8d e5 be fb 20 ce f3 a9 da ca 73 6f 18 |....... .....so.|
00000130 9d d1 65 b1 96 8a 73 29 2e 73 14 89 fc e8 6a 9c |..e...s).s....j.|
00000140 79 6c c2 00 a2 2c c5 20 da ce 82 e5 5e df fb 2a |yl...,. ....^..*|
00000150 ee ec ec 44 54 52 1a d5 5a 95 55 e9 a2 1a d7 35 |...DTR..Z.U....5|
00000160 4e a8 a4 26 a7 72 b0 e3 33 a1 df a8 42 00 00 00 |N..&.r..3...B...|
00000170 09 12 01 37 00 00 10 f4 9a 8e 2d e9 5c 4e cd f0 |...7......-.\N..|
00000180 04 00 01 ae bf fc ff 97 ff fe 45 28 de cd bb ed |..........E(....|
00000190 eb 7a ee b4 ff ff ff ff ff fe ff 69 2a ea c4 52 |.z.........i*..R|
000001a0 dd 12 e8 64 26 b9 4a 54 77 62 cc 43 1d 00 e1 a5 |...d&.JTwb.C....|
000001b0 e8 f5 ef a7 92 95 b6 08 00 14 9b 64 ba 92 ef 48 |...........d...H|
000001c0 50 0a 81 cb 02 1e 5d 33 6a 49 30 b8 71 ef 8d 17 |P.....]3jI0.q...|
000001d0 fa ff fb 90 64 d1 80 03 b1 64 57 d3 0b 2b 60 53 |....d....dW..+`S|
000001e0 4c 7a f9 3c a2 6d 0e 8d 93 63 a7 ac ad 81 25 30 |Lz.<.m...c....%0|
000001f0 6c 74 f0 95 b1 51 a7 9b fe 11 d7 c1 17 3d 8c 0a |lt...Q.......=..|
00000200


========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdc

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt

[Meshal-USA]

do you think a previews version of ubnutu might work? because i'm thinking to uninstall it and install 11.10

[Meshal-USA]

ok i'll try installing 10.4 and see, it might work

[Meshal-USA]

i finally been able to install ubuntu... this replay for anyone having the same problem i have

the problem i've got is that i couldn't install ubuntu alongside windows because windows is using all the four partitions. so i thought i should use my external hard drive and install ubuntu on it and dual boot it with windows. but then every time i install ubuntu i experienced a filesystem error, i tried the text version and it was installed but for some reason the grub was always deleted. i even tried fedora but i also had the same error after installing it.

how to install ubuntu:
this is the only way i could install ubuntu. first you will have to change one of the partitions to logical partition. you should install "partition wizard home version" to be able to change it. i changed C: partition to logical because my HP laptop does not boot windows from C: so it wasn't necessary to make it primary. if your C: is bootable, you have to delete one of the partitions or try to make one of them logical "you should search for which one is least necessary for your windows system". then resize your C: partition so that you make space for ubuntu. then use the ubuntu CD and make three logical partitions, "swap", "/", and "/home" and ubuntu will be install alongside windows.