15.04 dual boot install: blank "Installation Type" screen, then Ubiquity crash

[BigSnicker]

Hey all,

I've done a few Windows 8.1 UEFI dual boot installs with no issues whatsoever using 15.04, however this latest one seems to have issues accessing the hard drive.

Instead of the usual "Install alongside windows" and other installation options, the install process pauses for about 15 seconds, and then produces no partition options, as per the image below. If I press any of the partition options, like +/-/Change, it then crashes and produces the error log below.

I tried disabling SecureBoot, but nothing changed. Any other suggestions?

Various error logs appended below.


263165


263164263162263163

Results of sudo parted -l

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted -l
Model: ATA ST2000DM001-9YN1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 1074MB 1073MB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, diag
2 1074MB 1451MB 377MB fat32 EFI system partition boot, esp
3 1451MB 1585MB 134MB Microsoft reserved partition msftres
4 1585MB 1768GB 1766GB ntfs Basic data partition msftdata
7 1768GB 1946GB 178GB ext4
8 1946GB 1977GB 31.5GB linux-swap(v1)
5 1977GB 1978GB 367MB ntfs hidden, diag
6 1978GB 2000GB 22.2GB ntfs Basic data partition hidden, msftdata


Model: USB DISK 2.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 7744MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 4129kB 7744MB 7740MB primary fat32 boot, lba

[oldfred]

Please post screen shots as attachments, not inline. Not everyone has high speed Internet and it can bog down there system. Easy to add attachments with Advanced editor and paperclip icon.

Post this, to see it is also sees partition issues:

sudo parted -l

[BigSnicker]

Thanks for the input, changes made.

[oldfred]

That is not showing any partition issues.
Did you leave Windows fast start-up (always on hibernation) setting on?
Or after shrinking Windows with Windows own partition tools, did you reboot so it can run chkdsk and repair itself to its new size.
Linux tools do not mount and then cannot see NTFS partitions that are hibernated or need chkdsk.

Fast Startup off/hibernation
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html
http://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-enable-disable-fast-start-up-in-windows-8

(http://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-enable-disable-fast-start-up-in-windows-8)
Shows install with screen shots. Both BIOS purple accessibility screen & UEFI black grub menu screen
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
Also shows Windows 8 screens
http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/installing-ubuntu-on-a-pre-installed-windows-8-64-bit-system-uefi-supported
UEFI install,windows 8 with Something Else screen shots
http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/install-ubuntu-1404-alongside-windows.html
Linux on UEFI: A Quick Installation Guide
http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/
Something Else or manual Install
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/dual-boot-windows-8-ubuntu.html


(http://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-enable-disable-fast-start-up-in-windows-8)

[BigSnicker]

Both good guesses, since I still had Fastboot and Fast startup enabled and I didn't allow a chkdsk after using windows to reduce its partition size.... however I've now fixed those issues and still encounter exactly the same behaviour.

I should add that another strange part of this installation is getting the network connectivity working. It eventually works fine, but the installation process doesn't appear to detect the wireless hardware at the usual "Preparing to install" phase. Instead, I have to press "Continue" from that window without any internet connection and without being able to select "download while installing". Once I get to the empty partition screen I've screen captured below, the wireless hardware comes up, allowing me to connect. Not sure if this is related to the partition issue or not.

[oldfred]

Much better to use Wired Internet during install. There seem to be so many wireless drivers that not all are including in live installer. But most wired drivers are included.

I always have partitioned in advance and used Something Else to chose those partitions when installing. Do not force an install, but I thought the bug in earlier versions that totally erased entire hard drive when install just run has been fixed.
Good backups still required.

[BigSnicker]

Will attempt wired and see if that helps at all.

I did partition in advance and would love to try 'Something Else', but I never get that screen. I literally go from "Preparing for installation" to the blank "Installation Type" screen which is supposed to show the partitions.

Backups already done.

[oldfred]

Does gparted show any errors on partitions?
It will show an issue on the Microsoft reserved as it is unformatted. It is just space that Microsoft requires, but not formatted is required for that partition.

[BigSnicker]

Yeeesh, been trying everything on this and can't get this machine to install. Changed startup USBs, got a wired connection, have rebooted and chkdsk'd, UEFI disk scan... and it got worse!

Now I get the same installation failure, however it no longer correctly exits into Ubuntu after the install fails. In fact a straight "Try Ubuntu" launch will also not function correctly. It brings up the normal wallpaper, cursor and icons, however it gets stuck with the hard drive spinning and the menu bar at the top never getting populated.

In case this has anything to do with the slightly messy way I partitioned this machine, here's how it went:

*) Shrank Windows partition by 200 GB
*) Went straight to Ubuntu USB to install and saw this failure
*) Ran gparted to make my own partitions, saw and fixed 'error'
*) Failure continued, so rebooted into windows and ran chkdsk
etc.

I have run gparted without detecting errors, but haven't run it since the Ubuntu usb environment stopped working.

Any more suggestions?? All my other installs work fine, and this machine is pretty up-to-date.

[oldfred]

I installed to a new Dell recently. And it took all of 10 minutes to install to hard drive.

But I had partitioned in advance and it took 3 days to learn Windows 8, and do backups Dell, Windows and a full backup with Macrium. I had to go to store for more flash drives as it took 5DVDs, an 8GB flash and the full backup was 22GB or so or a 32GB flash.

But 15.04 installer saw Windows and just let me choose partitions I had created with gparted. I was a bit surprised how quick a newer had drive was. I have an SSD on main Desktop and it installs in about 10 min also, but I thought that was mostly SSD.

My gpt partitions were similar to yours, except I always use 25GB for / (root) and have data partition(s) for all my data. I was not planning on using Windows so I made it very small like 50GB on a 1TB drive.

What brand/model system?