8.04 installer doesn't recognize other partitions

[Drone4four]

Clicking the ubiquity install icon, I easily get passed the keyboard and time zone selection. At step 4 of 7,
Prepare disk space
How do you want to partition the disk? There are 2 options:

1. Guided: use the entire disk
2. Manual

Since I don't want to erase my WindowsXP part, my Slamd64 part, 2GBs swap space and my 320MB boot part (in case I want to install Gentoo in the future), I choose option 2. Manual. At the next screen, the "Prepare partitions selection," all I see is:
/dev/sda When I click on it, the only option available is: New partition table. If I click it, I get this:



You have selected an entire device to partition. If you proceed with creating a new partition table on the device, then all current partitions will be removed.

Note that you will be able to undo this operation later if you wish.

Why must this be the only option available to me? I don't want to wipe out my old partitions. If this installation program was working properly, I have a hunch that it should show all of my sda partitions, in which case the edit option would be available.

What's the name of the graphical installation program? (I forget)

This is particularly frustrating for me because since I reformatted WindowsXP 2 days ago, Grub was wiped out, along with access to Slamd64 and 7.10 Gutsy. I haven't been able to fix Grub to recognize Gutsy and Slamd64 after trying many different approaches documented well in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351&page=33

[Drone4four]

bump

[drsox1899]

You didn't say whether you had any spare space on your disc.

One way to make this work is to create a new partition with e.g. Partition Magic, and then let U8.04 "find it" and install into it.

I installed U8.04 onto an old laptop that already had another Linux distro on it. In total there are 4 partitions - Swap, AnotherLinuxDistro, U 8.04 and Spare.

):P

[Drone4four]

Fascinating - Partition Magic 8.05 prompts me explaining that it detects an error on the hard disc and asks to fix it. I decline and then when the partitioner screen finally loads, all I see is one disk, not 5 or 6!! So I reload Partition Magic but this time, when asked to fix the error, I click yes. It prompts many more times to fix more errors. I eventually stop fixing the errors and the partitioner screen still shows one block - yikes. I safely boot back into windows. This explains why I was having so much trouble with Grub in the forum thread I mentioned earlier. I wonder if I should reformat everything -- maybe this is my only option. I hope its not my only option because I have more valuable data than can fit on a few 4.7 GB DVDs. I'll load gparted on the Ubuntu LiveCD and see what that says first.

What other ways can I analyze and investigate my hard disk?

[lephisto]

I had exactly the same effect (only sda showing, and partitionmagic screwing up) - it was the result of a existing old LInux installation that screwed up the partitions a bit (overlapping).

Solution in my case: remove old grub (use xp/whatever cd), remove old linux partitions. after that it should work again (both the hard installation as well as PQ Partition Magic).

Never delete tghe linux partition without removing grub from the MBR.

>> check: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=764865

mephisto

[Drone4four]

Solution in my case: remove old grub (use xp/whatever cd), remove old linux partitions. after that it should work again (both the hard installation as well as PQ Partition Magic).

How do I remove old Linux partitions if Partition Magic and gparted don't recognize them even though fdisk does recognize them?



ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0574c76c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 41 329301 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 * 42 5013 39937590 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 5014 15603 85064175 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 10242 15348 41021946 83 Linux
/dev/sda5 5014 10241 41993847 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 15349 15603 2048256 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 15604 38913 187237543+ b W95 FAT32
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$




Never delete the linux partition without removing grub from the MBR.


Grub is pretty much not working. MBR is set to WinXP, so that when I turn the computer on, WinXP boots straight away.



>> check: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=764865


This is a useful thread. Thanks for the sharing mephisto!

[arminbw]

I do have a quite similar problem now and I didn´t manage to come up with a solution yet.

I used Kubuntu 6.06 64bit till now.
I wanted to do a fresh install using the 8.04 desktop 32bit Ubuntu iso without damaging my other partitions.

AMD64. Asus A8N motherboard. NForce4.
One SATA harddisk. Grub.

This is what the graphical Ubuntu installation tool recognized:
/dev/sda1 ntfs 68722Mb (winxp)
/dev/sda5 ntfs 68722Mb (data)
/dev/sda5 fat32 25769Mb (data)
/dev/sda7 swap 3076Mb
/dev/sda3 ext3 83766Mb

The first attempt with the release candidate gave me a "mount point not selected" (it was selected!) and afterwards a blank window, with no partitions showing up anymore.
A reboot shows me that my partitions including the windows installation are unharmed.

I downloaded the LTS the next day, hoping some things have been fixed, but actually some new issues came up:

1. "installing system" - freeze at about 80%

2. Reboot. "installing system" - error message at 5%:
"The creation of swap space in partition #7 of SCSI3 (0,0,0) (sda) failed."

3. Reboot: "grub Error 15"

4. Booting SuperGrub->Fix Boot of Gnu/Linux
"selectfile /grub/stage1 /boot/grub/stage1"
"Error 15: File not found"
"SGD has NOT succeeded :("

5. Rebooting the Ubuntu CD. The partition window is empty now.

6. Booting from the Ubuntu CD again. Check the CD for errors: "no errors found".

7. Booting the Ubuntu CD again. The partitions appear again.

8. Quiting the installation process and starting ubiquity from the terminal - with the debug parameter set. The partition windows is empty again.

9. Booting the Ubuntu CD again. The partitions appear again. Selecting sda3 as a ext3 mount point again. Swap space error again.

10. Booting the Ubuntu CD again. Total freeze at step 3 (after Keyboard layout selection).

[arminbw]

I had exactly the same effect (only sda showing, and partitionmagic screwing up) - it was the result of a existing old LInux installation that screwed up the partitions a bit (overlapping).

Solution in my case: remove old grub (use xp/whatever cd), remove old linux partitions. after that it should work again (both the hard installation as well as PQ Partition Magic).

Never delete tghe linux partition without removing grub from the MBR.


1. Booted WinXP using SuperGrub. Everything´s still there.
2. Deleted and recreated my two troublesome linux partitions.
3. Used testdisk to recreate the partition table and the MBR.
4. Reboot. WinXp freezes while booting.
5. Reboot. DISK BOOT FAILURE

[Drone4four]

arminbw: I will reply to the knowledge you've shared after I build on mephisto's contribution to the discussion. mmkay?

In mephisto's thread, Pumalite prescribes a program called TestDisk to analyze the partitions and fix it accordingly. Using TestDisk, I've investigated my hardrive. Here are the results. I have bolded the details which are significant.


Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38913 255 63
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors

1 P Linux 0 1 1 40 254 63 658602
2 * HPFS - NTFS 41 0 1 5012 254 63 79875180
3 E extended LBA 5013 0 1 15602 254 63 170128350
4 P Linux 10241 1 1 15347 254 63 82043892
Space conflict between the following two partitions
3 E extended LBA 5013 0 1 15602 254 63 170128350
4 P Linux 10241 1 1 15347 254 63 82043892
X extended 5013 0 2 10240 254 63 83987819
5 L Linux 5013 2 1 10240 254 63 83987694
X extended 15348 0 1 15602 254 63 4096575
6 L Linux Swap 15348 1 1 15602 254 63 4096512
X extended 15603 0 1 38912 254 63 374475150
Must be in extended partition
6 L Linux Swap 15348 1 1 15602 254 63 4096512
X extended 15603 0 1 38912 254 63 374475150
Must be in extended partition
3 E extended LBA 5013 0 1 15602 254 63 170128350
X extended 15603 0 1 38912 254 63 374475150
7 L FAT32 15603 1 1 38912 254 63 374475087
Space conflict between the following two partitions
3 E extended LBA 5013 0 1 15602 254 63 170128350
7 L FAT32 15603 1 1 38912 254 63 374475087
*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
[Quick Search] [ Backup ]
Try to locate partition

When I scroll down to the "Space conflict between the following two partitions," it prompts me with:


Should TestDisk search for partition created under Vista ? [Y/N] (answer Yes if unsure)

Answering yes or no both give this result:


Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38914 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* Linux 0 1 1 40 254 63 658602
P HPFS - NTFS 41 0 1 5012 254 63 79875180
P Linux 5013 0 1 10240 254 63 83987820
L Linux 10241 1 1 15347 254 63 82043892
L Linux Swap 15348 1 1 15602 254 63 4096512
L FAT32 LBA 15603 1 1 38912 254 63 374475087



Structure: Ok. Use Up/Down Arrow keys to select partition.
Use Left/Right Arrow keys to CHANGE partition characteristics:
*=Primary bootable P=Primary L=Logical E=Extended D=Deleted
Keys A: add partition, L: load backup, T: change type, P: list files,
Enter: to continue


If I navigate to the problem drive , "P Linux 5013 0 1 10240 254 63 83987820", I then get this screen with options Write and Deeper search:


Disk /dev/sda - 320 GB / 298 GiB - CHS 38914 255 63

Partition Start End Size in sectors

1 * Linux 0 1 1 40 254 63 658602
2 P HPFS - NTFS 41 0 1 5012 254 63 79875180
3 P Linux 5013 0 1 10240 254 63 83987820
4 E extended LBA 10241 0 1 38913 254 63 460631745
5 L Linux 10241 1 1 15347 254 63 82043892
6 L Linux Swap 15348 1 1 15602 254 63 4096512
7 L FAT32 LBA 15603 1 1 38912 254 63 374475087

[ Quit ] [Deeper Search] [ Write ]
Write partition structure to disk

Selecting Write gives me:


Write partition table, confirm ? (Y/N)

Question: What am I writing to the partition table? The fix? What fix?

Selecting Deeper Search gives me an extended analysis of the cylinder with a value counting up. I can't seem to copy and paste that one here.

I don't know what I am doing so I search Google: "Space conflict between the following two partitions" I get an interesting 153 results. The first result is an ubuntuforum.org thread started by a user WxGuy1 who documents in great detail his experience with Vista and Grub messing up: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=629038

WxGuy1 is in a similar situation as I. For WxGuy1, Grub won't load Ubuntu. Windows, in his case Windows Vista, boots. Vista can see other partitions. So WxGuy1 wishes to install Gutsy to rectify the bootloader problem. WxGuy1 writes:


I tried the GParted liveCD, but it showed the entire drive as unallocated space (no partitions). So, I load up the Ubunu LiveCD and try to reinstall Ubuntu. Well, the Ubuntu installation process is also telling me that the entire hard drive is unallocated. UGH! So, get this:

+ Vista sees the partitions just fine, and it can read the contents just fine
+ The partitions show up when I boot into the LiveCD and use "sudo fdisk -l".
+ The partitions show up just fine when I use TestDrive
+ I can mount the partitions when I boot using the LiveCD (sudo mount /mnt/Vistadrive /mnt/sda1, for example), and all the contents of the mounted partitions are readable
BUT
- The partitions do NOT show up in GParted, nor do they show up when I try to reinstall Ubuntu (though the Ubuntu install process may use GParted I suppose)


Bingo -- this is almost exactly my problem. fdisk detects all my parts, GParted doesn't.

WxGuy1 seems to have solved his problem. I have bolded the sentences in WxGuy1's last post in his thread which I think I can try:


Well, I think I can close out this thread. In case others have similar problems, though, I'll give my solution...

1. Basically, I used the Vista installation disk to do the following "bootrec.exe /fixmbr" and "bootrec.exe /fixboot". This allowed me at least to boot into Vista, though I sometimes had to do the above more than once to get everything working.
2. When I got into Vista, I installed the following free-ware package --> EasyBCD 1.7.1, which can be downloaded at http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 . This let me rewrite the MBR to put in an entry for my Linux installation using the Microsoft Vista bootloader.
3. After saving and rebooting, the Windows Vista bootloader brought up the option of either booting into Vista or booting into whatever /boot/grub dictated on my Linux partition; I used EasyBCD to add an entry for my L drive (which was mapped from /dev/sda.

I am not sure what he means when he says "I used EasyBCD to add an entry for my L drive (which was mapped from /dev/sda. " Does he mean to say that using EasyBCD he assigned his linux part, sda-x to drive L? Is the L Drive the newly added option in the Vista bootloader menu explained below?

At any rate, selecting the newly-added option in the Vista bootloader menu, menu.lst given in /dev/sda8/boot/grub was called up.
4. I selected the line "Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)" and logged is as root.
5. A quick "fdisk -l" showed the partitions just fine, so I got into the grub prompt (by typing "grub" at the prompt), then did "root (hd0,7)" followed by "setup (hd0)". SUCCESS! I didn't receive the "Error 12: Invalid device requested" that I received every other time that I ran the two above commands.
6. I rebooted from recovery mode, and, voila!, GRUB pops up and gives me the correct options given in menu.lst . All entries work from this menu! If I choose Vista (/dev/sda2), then it brings up the Vista bootloader menu, from which I can choose "Vista" again to boot into that Windows. FWIW, if I choose "Linux" from the Vista bootloader menu, I'm brought back to the GRUB loader.

Now, I haven't yet checked to see if GParted can read the partitions correctly, but at least it's up and working. It's worth noting that you can go back into Vista and run EasyBCD again to remove the Linux entry added to the Windows Vista bootloader. Since I only added one entry originally, the deletion of this entry left only 1 entry in the Vista bootloader list, which means that Vista now boots correctly (i.e. the Vista bootloader list doesn't come up when I select my Vista partition / sda8 from the grub menu).
Last edited by WxGuy1; December 3rd, 2007 at 02:40 AM.

Working with WxGuy1's solution, I will:
1. Download EasyBCD 1.7.1
2. With EasyBCD create a windows loader
3. Use the new loader to launch Ubuntu Gutsy
4. In Gutsy, use Grub to fix Grub.

[Drone4four]

Working with WxGuy1's solution, I will:
1. Download EasyBCD 1.7.1
2. With EasyBCD create a windows loader
3. Use the new loader to launch Ubuntu Gutsy
4. In Gutsy, use Grub to fix Grub.

After installation, EasyBCD 1.7.1 and 1.7.2 both produce this error when I run the exe:


Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0x00000135). Click on OK to terminate the application.

Therefore, WxGuy1's solution and what my little adventure learning from his post has proven not helpful. Any other ideas?

[arminbw]

Thing is, I have one primary partition (winxp) and one extended partition containing three logical partitions (the last one beeing a 3GB swap partition) and finally another "primary" partition used for gnu/linux.

This worked for Kubuntu 6.06 and WinXP.
Testdisk does not see any problems. No overlapping partitions.
A hardware test didn´t bring up any bad blocks.


The solution I finally came up with:

I booted WinXP and erased the swap as well as the linux partition. I did not recreate the linux partition, just freed the space.
But I DID recreate the logical partition for the swap space, without formating it.

Afterwards I booted the Ubuntu CD and let the partitioning tool create the gnu/linux partition. It asked me if I want to have a logical or a primary partition and I chose the later. (To create another logical partition the extended partition needs to get resized, something the program conceales!)

And suddenly.. everything works. Don´t ask me why, this is not computer science, this isn´t even computer alchemy.


Explanation:

I do have the feeling my problems originated in my partition layout, which caused the Ubiquity partitioner to freak out.
After some searching I found out that this is quite an old issue called the "partitions in wrong order" problem. In my case it caused a cascade of other problems.

Looking at your fdisk output, Drone4four, I think Ubiquity gets confused the moment it sees your sda4 ( 10242-15348 ) before your sda5 ( 5014-10241 ). But this is just a wild guess.

Check this:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/parted/+bug/209974

[Drone4four]

Slackware 12 recognized all partitions and installed just fine. Using the Hardy LiveCD, I can access all my partitions with nautilus and fdisk. Then using TestDisk I removed one of my logical partitions, Slamd64 11 rieserfs. Despite the fact that now TestDisk doesn't see the problems with cylinders like it did before, ubiquity and gparted both still see nothing. I've tried a few different combinations of commands in TestDisk, but nothing seems to work.

Thanks arminbw.

[Drone4four]

Think about it: fdisk and nautilus both see and recognize all my partitions. TestDisk fixed the problems it previously detected. And gparted and ubiquity only see one large disk? This is one serios bug. What I am looking for now is a workaround. Are there any alternative ways to install Ubuntu that use a different partitioning program?

[Drone4four]

At the launchpad thread mentioned earlier (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/parted/+bug/209974), someone has recently posted a work around. dmsuperman writes:


My fix!
Adding a few mb unallocated space between partitions fixed it
I believe it's to do with somehow overlapping partitions


I've got the Ubuntu LiveCD booted and fdisk up, but I can't figure out which commands to pass to fdisk. Here are my options:


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 38913.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): m
Command action
a toggle a bootable flag
b edit bsd disklabel
c toggle the dos compatibility flag
d delete a partition
l list known partition types
m print this menu
n add a new partition
o create a new empty DOS partition table
p print the partition table
q quit without saving changes
s create a new empty Sun disklabel
t change a partition's system id
u change display/entry units
v verify the partition table
w write table to disk and exit
x extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help):

Which commands can I enter to safely add a few mbs of unallocated disk space between partitions without losing any valuable data?