Live CD doesn't detect hard drives

[renegade1029]

I've got an old machine here that I'd like to salvage using Xubuntu. It's a PIII 500 MHz with 384 MB RAM with two SCSI hard drives.

First drive : Maxtor 6 Y060L0 SCSI (60 GB), with two FAT32 partitions (15 GB and 43 GB)
Second drive : Quantum Fireball 20 GB SCSI, unpartionned, FAT32

The computer is currently running Windows XP, which detects all drives/partitions without problem.

I downloaded and burned the Xubuntu Live CD, which my computer runs without any problems.

When I start the installation process, I can select my language and time zone without any problem. When I get to the partitionner, the list of devices is empty. I ran Gparted on the Live CD, same problem. GParted doesn't detect my hard drives.

Any hints? Don't hesitate to ask me more info if you need it. Thanks in advance.

[Pumalite]

Post:
lshw

[renegade1029]

Here are the results :



ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw
ubuntu
description: Computer
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: i440BX-W83977 (BE6)
vendor: <http://www.abit.com.tw>
physical id: 0
slot: PCI
*-firmware
description: BIOS
physical id: 0
version: Award Software International, Inc. (07/05/2000)
size: 128KiB
capacity: 192KiB
capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb agp ls120boot zipboot
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Pentium III (Katmai)
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.7.3
slot: SLOT 1
size: 500MHz
width: 32 bits
clock: 100MHz
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse up
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 9
slot: Internal Cache
size: 32KiB
capacity: 32KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: a
slot: External Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 512KiB
capabilities: synchronous external write-back
*-memory
description: System memory
physical id: 1
size: 384MiB
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=agpgart-intel latency=32 module=intel_agp
*-pci
description: PCI bridge
product: 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Rage 128 RL/VR AGP
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: agp agp-2.0 pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=32 mingnt=8
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
configuration: latency=0
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.1
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi1
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master emulated
configuration: driver=ata_piix latency=32 module=ata_piix
*-cdrom:0
description: DVD reader
product: DVD-ROM DVD-114
vendor: PIONEER
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom1
logical name: /dev/dvd1
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
logical name: /cdrom
version: 1.10
capabilities: removable audio dvd
configuration: ansiversion=5 mount.fstype=iso9660 mount.options=ro,noatime,relatime state=mounted status=ready
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/cdrom1
logical name: /cdrom
configuration: mount.fstype=iso9660 mount.options=ro,noatime,relatime state=mounted
*-cdrom:1
description: DVD writer
product: DVD RW DRU-510A
vendor: SONY
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/scd1
logical name: /dev/sr1
version: 1.0c
serial: [SONY DVD RW DRU-510A 1.0c Aug06 ,2003
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=open
*-usb
description: USB Controller
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.2
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: uhci bus_master
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=32 module=uhci_hcd
*-bridge
description: Bridge
product: 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 7.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.3
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bridge
configuration: driver=piix4_smbus latency=0 module=i2c_piix4
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8029(AS)
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 9
bus info: pci@0000:00:09.0
logical name: eth0
version: 00
serial: 00:e0:29:3a:01:b3
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ne2k-pci driverversion=1.03 latency=0 module=ne2k_pci multicast=yes
*-multimedia
description: Multimedia audio controller
product: SB Live! EMU10k1
vendor: Creative Labs
physical id: d
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=EMU10K1_Audigy latency=32 maxlatency=20 mingnt=2 module=snd_emu10k1
*-input
description: Input device controller
product: SB Live! Game Port
vendor: Creative Labs
physical id: d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.1
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=Emu10k1_gameport latency=32 module=emu10k1_gp
*-storage:0
description: Mass storage controller
product: HPT366/368/370/370A/372/372N
vendor: HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
physical id: 13
bus info: pci@0000:00:13.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: storage bus_master
configuration: driver=HPT366_IDE latency=120 maxlatency=8 mingnt=8 module=hpt366
*-ide
description: IDE Channel 0
physical id: 0
bus info: ide@0
logical name: ide0
clock: 33MHz
*-disk
product: Maxtor 6Y060L0
vendor: Maxtor
physical id: 0
bus info: ide@0.0
logical name: /dev/hda
capacity: 57GiB (61GB)
*-storage:1
description: Mass storage controller
product: HPT366/368/370/370A/372/372N
vendor: HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
physical id: 13.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:13.1
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: storage bus_master
configuration: latency=120 maxlatency=8 mingnt=8
*-ide
description: IDE Channel 0
physical id: 1
bus info: ide@1
logical name: ide1
clock: 33MHz
*-disk
product: QUANTUM FIREBALLP KX20.5
vendor: Quantum
physical id: 0
bus info: ide@1.0
logical name: /dev/hdc
capacity: 19GiB (20GB)

[Pumalite]

This is the only problem I encounter:
'*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Rage 128 RL/VR AGP
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: agp agp-2.0 pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=32 mingnt=8'

Try Gparted Live CD and check if it sees your drives:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
Burn to disk and boot from it.

[renegade1029]

Same problem, GParted Live CD says "No devices detected" in its status bar. I tried refreshing (Ctrl+R) to no effect.

[Pumalite]

Does your BIOS recognize the drives? Are they well configured? Try different options. If none of that works; go and revciew connections and cables. As a last option: TestDisk:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download

[renegade1029]

Well since Windows XP runs without problem I think my BIOS detects them correctly.

I'll try to erase the partitions on the first disk or physically remove one of the disks.

[Pumalite]

Check IDE Configuration in BIOS. Sometimes Windows works with one, but Ubuntu or Linux needs a different one.

[renegade1029]

I'm not too familiar with BIOS and everything that happens before the OS is loaded, but I seem to have a strange thing installed on this computer. It seems to be some sort of memory controller, called HPT366. From a (very) quick Google search, I found out there seems to be problems with this thing. Could this cause my problem? And if so, is there a way to uninstall this HPT366?

EDIT : Also, when I boot the Live CD, I have a FAIL at "Detecting Hardware configuration" (or something along those lines, I didn't have time to take note). WOuld it be my video card like you detected or is it my hard drives?

[Pumalite]

Try the Alternate CD. Usually avoids hardware and/or video problems.

[renegade1029]

Thanks a lot for your help, I've got Xubuntu up and running. I physically removed the 20 GB hard drive and was able to install Xubuntu and run it. I then tried to replug the 20 GB HD, but Xubuntu refused to boot. So I guess this was a bard hard drive...

Time to get the magnets out of this one :P

[Pumalite]

You are welcome. Good luck.