Ubuntu 11.04 can't see Windows Partition

[Quackers]

Thanks.
You said earlier that you created a 50GB partition from within Windows.
How many primary partitions were in use by Windows before you created that new one?
The hardware isn't a Mac is it?
Sorry about all the questions, but I'm trying to figure out what's happening

[MarkieMice]

No problems about the questions. Data, data, data, as they say.

I'm using a Gateway NV48. It's not Mac-ed. There were three partitions in Windows, the one with the actual Windows data, one that was used for 'System Reserved', and of course, the raw 50GB.

I get the sort of feeling I'm not allowed to be using AHCI mode to install Ubuntu.

[Quackers]

AHCI works fine on mine
I'm wondering whether the creation of the partition may have gone badly.
From the live desktop please go to the site below and download the boot script. This will give you a zip file which should be extracted in the same directory as it was downloaded. This produces a folder which contains the script and a changelog file.
You then need to cd to that directory in the terminal (for example

 cd Downloads/boot_info_script060

if you downloaded it to your Downloads folder). You don't need to do that if you downloaded it to your home folder.
Then enter

sudo bash boot_info_script.sh

This will produce a results.txt file in the same directory as the downloaded boot script. Please copy the contents of that file and paste them in your next post between CODE tags. For CODE tags click on New Reply (not quick reply)and then click on the # symbol in the toolbar.
This will give a full overview of your current system.
Thanks.

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[MarkieMice]

                  Boot Info Script 0.60    from 17 May 2011


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

 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

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

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18
    Boot sector info:   Syslinux looks at sector 120704 of /dev/sdb1 for its 
                       second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the  directory. 
                       The integrity check of the ADV area failed. No errors 
                       found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /syslinux/syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys

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

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 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       206,847       204,800   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2             206,848   522,739,711   522,532,864   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3         522,739,712   625,137,663   102,397,952   6 FAT16


GUID Partition Table detected, but does not seem to be used.

Partition    Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System

Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 7948 MB, 7948206080 bytes
81 heads, 10 sectors/track, 19165 cylinders, total 15523840 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    *          8,192    15,523,839    15,515,648   b W95 FAT32


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs   
/dev/sda1        D054FBAB54FB9308                       ntfs       System Reserved
/dev/sda2        DE48FD4D48FD2545                       ntfs       
/dev/sda3        ee0f6760-4757-42eb-ac68-a70da0fdffe5   ext4       New Volume
/dev/sdb1        F009-64A5                              vfat       PENDRIVE

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

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/loop0       /rofs                    squashfs   (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda1        /media/System Reserved   fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
/dev/sda2        /media/DE48FD4D48FD2545  fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
/dev/sdb1        /cdrom                   vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)


========================= sdb1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: ==========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# D-I config version 2.0
include menu.cfg
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 50

# If you would like to use the new menu and be presented with the option to install or run from USB at startup, remove # from the following line. This line was commented out (by request of many) to allow the old menu to be presented and to enable booting straight into the Live Environment! 
# ui gfxboot bootlogo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             ldlinux.sys                                    1
            ?? = ??             syslinux/gfxboot.c32                           1
            ?? = ??             syslinux/syslinux.cfg                          1
            ?? = ??             syslinux/vesamenu.c32                          1

============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============

 syslinux/gfxboot.c32               :  COM32R module (v4.xx)
 syslinux/vesamenu.c32              :  COM32R module (v4.xx)

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

boot_info_script.sh: line 1579: [: 2.73495e+09: integer expression expected

[Quackers]

The line below is where your problem lies

"GUID Partition Table detected, but does not seem to be used."

Is there any specific reason why you are using a GUID partition table?

[MarkieMice]

Umm. No. I didn't even know I had one. What can I do about this?

[Quackers]

Hmm, good question
If your system came this way there is likely to be a reason for it. Is there any software in your Windows system that needs EFI to boot (like a boot booster)?

It is possible to convert from GPT to MBR, though it is not something I have done.
Forum member srs5694 has written a page on his website regarding this issue.
I suggest that you have a read through that first.

Please also take note that a successful conversion to MBR automatically requires that no more than 4 primary partitions be created. However, one of these primary partitions can be an extended partitions, which can hold many logical partitions. So you are not actually limited to just 4 partitions (just 4 PRIMARY partitions).

http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html

You want the Converting from GPT to MBR section, but you should read it all, really.

[MarkieMice]

I will. Thank you very much for your help. Do you think maybe it's got something to do with me installing VMWare on Windows? I tried virtualizing MacOS. It didn't work, though.

[Quackers]

It's got nothing to do with VM. Interestingly though, MacOS uses EFI, but I don't think that installing it in VM would affect you. But I've been wrong before!

[srs5694]

The disk is not currently a GPT disk. You've got leftover GPT data -- perhaps the disk was once used in a Mac, or an attempt was made (and then abandoned) to install OS X on it, or you experimented with GPT under Linux or some other OS, or perhaps you even bought the disk used or as an "open box" item and the previous owner used it with GPT. In any event, if the old GPT data isn't completely wiped from the disk, it confuses some utilities -- most importantly, most utilities based on libparted (including GParted).

The solution is to erase the old GPT data. This can be done in various ways, but the simplest is probably to use my FixParts program. When you launch it on the disk, it will ask if you want to wipe the old GPT data. Answer in the affirmative and then quit from the program. The GPT data will then be gone.