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fifoo
January 27th, 2014, 10:43 PM
All,

I've been trying to install Ubuntu 13.10 on an HP Envy 6 with Win7 pre-installed without success. I've also tried Ubuntu 12.04, same behaviour.

I'm installing from a USB key. I can boot from the USB Key and start the installation process. The problem is when I come to the partition page (GRUB install page?) when I should be able to choose the partition where I want to install Ubuntu : here nothing is shown. "/dev/sda" is shown in the dropdown menu at the bottom but that's all and I cannot do anything.

I can launch Gparted in the Live session and there, all partitions are seen, no problem: I've created a 150GB free partition under Windows and I could format it in ext4 in Gparted.

I've read a lot of things about EFI and secure boot, etc... however this does not seem to apply to my PC (no such options in BIOS). So I'm a bit stuck....

Thanks in advance for your help!

L.

oldfred
January 28th, 2014, 01:01 AM
If using Something Else and do not have partitions you have to use + to add or if you created in advance with gparted, then use Change button to create / partition at the minimum.

Post this from your live installer's terminal.

sudo parted -l

fifoo
January 28th, 2014, 07:31 AM
Thanks for your reply.

I do not have the first screen as you posted (Installation Type). I directly get to the 2nd screen which is empty (as described in my first post). Also weird, is the fact that the disk name is not displayed next to "/dev/sda".

It looks like Ubuntu does not detect that Windows is installed on my laptop ?

I'll run the command as you asked when I get home.

oldfred
January 28th, 2014, 03:21 PM
It may be one of these type issues, hopefully parted info will narrow it down.

Boot Issues from live Installer not showing partitions
Do you have Windows hibernated? Or Windows 8 fastboot still on
Does NTFS need chkdsk? Even if it boots ok?
Was drive every part of RAID or RAID set in BIOS? or Intel SRT which uses RAID
SFS, Windows dynamic partitions or LDM on gpt drives
backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk
Left over gpt data Windows leaves backup gpt data when converting to MBR.
Most of reasons for installer not showing Windows, any partition type error
http://www.rodsbooks.com/missing-parts/index.html

fifoo
January 28th, 2014, 09:17 PM
Here is the result of 'sudo parted -l'

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 210MB 209MB primary ntfs boot
2 210MB 315GB 315GB primary ntfs
4 315GB 476GB 161GB primary ext4
3 476GB 500GB 23.8GB primary ntfs


Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZMPC032 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 8589MB 8588MB primary

fifoo
January 28th, 2014, 09:32 PM
And this is how it looks on the Windows front (image attached).

fifoo
January 28th, 2014, 09:38 PM
Do you have Windows hibernated? Or Windows 8 fastboot still on
No / I use Windows 7.


Does NTFS need chkdsk? Even if it boots ok?
I did a chkdsk, all was fine.


Was drive every part of RAID or RAID set in BIOS? or Intel SRT which uses RAID
No


SFS, Windows dynamic partitions or LDM on gpt drives
Sorry, I'm lost


backup GPT table is not at the end of the disk

Left over gpt data Windows leaves backup gpt data when converting to MBR.
How could I check that?

Thanks again for your help.

oldfred
January 28th, 2014, 09:42 PM
It is normal that Windows does not correctly see a Linux formatted partition.
Partitions look normal in parted list.

I might delete ext4 partition with gparted and create two logical partitions so you can have both / and swap. Or delete and leave unallocated and do an auto install. But do not use any auto install that does not offer side by side install with Windows. If the installer does not see Windows it will overwrite it.

fifoo
January 30th, 2014, 07:59 AM
Unfortunately, I tried what you suggested without success. I deleted the partition and create 2 new partitions in Gparted. But still the same behaviour in the installer: when displaying the partition window, no partition is displayed. My feeling is that is does see the partitions (Gparted does so there is no reason for the installer not to), but it cannot see Windows somehow (as I do not have the "install alongside Windows" window). Maybe it is the recovery partition that is confusing the installer...

I'm thinking about wiping the disk and installing Ubuntu then Windows.... But if you still have an idea, I'll take it! Thanks again.

fantab
January 30th, 2014, 12:17 PM
Unfortunately, I tried what you suggested without success. I deleted the partition and create 2 new partitions in Gparted.


$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 210MB 209MB primary ntfs boot
2 210MB 315GB 315GB primary ntfs
4 315GB 476GB 161GB primary ext4
3 476GB 500GB 23.8GB primary ntfs

Did you create an EXTENDED Partition? Or did you just deleted and created two new partitions instead?

Post the output of:

sudo fdisk -l
sudo parted -l

oldfred
January 30th, 2014, 03:33 PM
Usually best to have Windows installed first.

Normally the parted info would show any gpt or RAID type issues. Repost as per fantab's request.

What mode is BIOS settings for drives in. Is it in AHCI not IDE nor RAID?

mastablasta
January 30th, 2014, 03:33 PM
My feeling is that is does see the partitions (Gparted does so there is no reason for the installer not to), but it cannot see Windows somehow (as I do not have the "install alongside Windows" window). .

you get the "install alongside Windows" if you leave unformated disk space. so just delete partition and try if this option show up as available.
if you preformat the parittions then you need to go manual.

make sure you have only 3 primary partitions occupied before doing the install procedure.

fifoo
January 30th, 2014, 08:07 PM
Yes, I created an extended partition.

Here it is:


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 210MB 209MB primary ntfs boot
2 210MB 315GB 315GB primary ntfs
4 315GB 476GB 161GB extended
5 315GB 462GB 147GB logical ext2
6 462GB 476GB 14.3GB logical ext2
3 476GB 500GB 23.8GB primary ntfs


Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZMPC032 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 8589MB 8588MB primary




ubuntu@ubuntu:/home$ sudo fdisk -l

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 / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8dfc4234

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 409599 203776 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 409600 615716863 307653632 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 930289664 976762879 23236608 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4 615716864 930289663 157286400 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 615718912 902438911 143360000 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 902440960 930289663 13924352 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32017047552 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62533296 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: 0x24784b91

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 16775167 8386560 84 OS/2 hidden C: drive

fifoo
January 30th, 2014, 08:13 PM
Attached is the printscreen of the empty window. And if I click '+', I've got a crash of ubiquity...

oldfred
January 30th, 2014, 08:59 PM
Is this an Ultrabook?
That uses RAID as part of the Intel SRT.

Intel Smart Response Technology
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/chpsts/imsm
Some general info in post #3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2071242

fifoo
February 1st, 2014, 06:47 PM
Yes this is an Ultrabook. I've just discovered what it was all about (see below).

I finally decided to wipe the disk off to install Ubuntu on a clean disk. Unfortunately, I still add the same behaviour: I could delete and create as many partitions as I wanted in Gparted, but still impossible to install Ubuntu until... I used the "Write partition table" menu in Gparted. Finally, the Ubuntu installation could succeed.

About Ultrabook now. You're right about RAID. When I rebooted, some special Intel BIOS page asked me if I wanted to perform some setup. When I entered the menu, it was indeed question of RAID: correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the main disk and the 32GB SDD are mounted in a RAID array. What I did was to remove the SSD from the RAID array.

Naively, I thought I could use the SSD to install Windows on it but I could not (Windows can format it, but cannot do whatever it needs to during installation). From googling around, I'm not sure it is possible to do that as the disk is used for caching internally by the system and cannot be used as a normal disk. I haven't investigated further so again, correct me if I'm wrong.

Finally I will install Windows in VirtualBox, that suits my needs.

Thanks for your help.

oldfred
February 1st, 2014, 10:21 PM
Windows requires fast booting. So vendors add a small SSD to be just for cache to speed booting.

Intel Smart Response Technology
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/chpsts/imsm
Some general info in post #3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2071242


Some info on re-instating details in post #9 Dell 14z
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2070491
Ubuntu on hard drive, re-enable SRT post #19 details
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2129157

Disable the RAID, it was using the Intel rapid management thingy and telling it to disable the acceleration or the use of the SSD. If you have a different system, just disable the RAID system then install Ubuntu. Once installed you can then re-enable it.
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sdb

You will need to use the dmraid command prior to running the Ubuntu Installer so that it will be able to see the partitions on the drive because otherwise with the raid metadata in place it will see the drive as part of a raid set and ignore its partitions.

fifoo
February 4th, 2014, 10:28 AM
Thanks for the very precise info. I'm sure it would have worked for me. Marking at SOLVED.