[SOLVED] no drive showing for distro install

houndhen · 09-07-2014, 03:06 PM

Dell Mini Tower Computer OptiPlex 960
Motherboard - Winbond Electronics
64 bit
BIOS - Winbond Electronics
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
7 GB Ram
500 GB Sata HD

The first three partitions are formatted and used as NTFS for Windows 7
/dev/sda4 is an extended partition that holds /dev/sda5 thru /dev/sda10.
sda5 is swap
sda6 is pclos KDE
sda7 is /home
sda8 is manjaro
sda9 sda10 were to be used for a new installation

I tried to install several 64 bit distros before I got Manjaro to install. Some of them had other problems but Centos, Zorin, and maybe a couple more would get the page of choosing where to install the distro and no drives would be showing.
I have been doing some searching for the answer. The problem is probably not a Linux problem but a I wasn't sure where to try and get help.
I found a thread about going into the bios and changing the sata drive to AHCI mode. That didn't seem to help.
Doe anyone have any ideas to try?

houndhen · 09-07-2014, 04:38 PM

For what it is worth....
After making the change to the bios and rebooting, Manjaro would not start. So I went back into the bios and undone that changes that I had made and but them back like they were originally. After doing this Manjaro booted normally.

jefro · 09-08-2014, 03:03 PM

"no drives would be showing. " I'd suspect that the kernel didn't have support for the chipset that somehow connects the drive to the motherboard. Since you got one working then you can see what is supporting it.

houndhen · 09-08-2014, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

"no drives would be showing. " I'd suspect that the kernel didn't have support for the chipset that somehow connects the drive to the motherboard. Since you got one working then you can see what is supporting it.

Not sure what you mean by "can see what is supporting it." Is there something that I can change so that my system will be compatible with more distros? I have plenty of working distros; it is just a learning thing, that I ask.

Germany_chris · 09-09-2014, 10:41 AM

when you're booted into a live distro try lspci and if something like this:

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port S

doesn't show the kernel doesn;t support you SATA chipset. I'd argue that that is not the case because you optical drive is hooked to your SATA controller so if it can read your optical drive it should "see" your hard drive.

jefro · 09-09-2014, 03:18 PM

That's a good point, Germany_chris. A sata DVD would confound my suspicion.

So to the OP, boot to live cd and see what devices are being shown in lspci. Boot to another live media and see if same list shows exactly the same.

houndhen · 09-09-2014, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

That's a good point, Germany_chris. A sata DVD would confound my suspicion.

So to the OP, boot to live cd and see what devices are being shown in lspci. Boot to another live media and see if same list shows exactly the same.

This is a little above my knowledge and understanding but I can do this. Will post back the results.

jefro · 09-09-2014, 07:19 PM

Do you know how your dvd connects to the motherboard? Is it a sata optical drive or an eide connection?

houndhen · 09-09-2014, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

Do you know how your dvd connects to the motherboard? Is it a sata optical drive or an eide connection?

No I don't. I could take the cover off and see but I have actually been using a USB drive to boot the to-be-installed distro. I am in the process of gathering the lspci results that you suggested. I will post the results as soon as I can.

houndhen · 09-09-2014, 08:13 PM

Here is the results of lscpi from Zorin.

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 03)
00:03.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PT IDER Controller (rev 03)
00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Serial KT Controller (rev 03)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JDO (ICH10DO) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Famil

y) 4-port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) 2-port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)[/code]

and from centos lscpi -

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:03.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 03)
00:03.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PT IDER Controller (rev 03)
00:03.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Serial KT Controller (rev 03)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JDO (ICH10DO) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) 4-port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JD/DO (ICH10 Family) 2-port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)

Neither distro showed any drives for the installation to be put on.
Sorry. the code tags don't seem to be working correctly. They look fine before posting but not after.

Germany_chris · 09-10-2014, 12:17 AM

OK you don't have SATA connections you have IDE connections which is strange we had more than a few of these at work there from the time of the changeover but ours were all SATA. The kernel is supporting your IDE ports because it "sees" them so you're good to go there.

I'm kinda stumped if you can boot from the drive it should be functional and the port should be working.

actually looking at the drive structure I think the new install is bridge to far, you can only have so many primary partitions (4 if I recall correctly for MBR drives) so your install is looking to create those and cannot so it cannot see the drive. This is just a guess though.

houndhen · 09-10-2014, 09:57 AM

OK. Thanks Germany_chris. There is a great deal about computers that I don't get into because I don't have the time or mental capacity at 71 years. It is a hobby of mine and I like learning as much as I can but I realize that with what I have learned and understand that I am just scratching the surface.

This 64 bit computer is a MAR (Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher) that I bought just to get a version of Windows 7. It actually came with less RAM and just a cd drive. I had an extra DVD drive that I installed. That could be some of the confusion that my machine is having with the installs. I bought some more ram and got the total up to 7 GB without too much expense. I still run XP on three 32 bit machines but keep fooling with the 64 bit to try and keep increasing my knowledge. So far, I still prefer the 32 bit over the 64 bit; I guess it familiarity. It seems to me that the 32 bit machine that I use daily is quicker than the 64 bit one, both using PCLOS KDE.

I have plenty to play with on the 64 but unit (Windows 7 , PCLOS, Manjaro) so I will mark this thread as solved.

Thanks for yours and jefro's help,
Harold

Germany_chris · 09-10-2014, 10:54 AM

don't mark it solved just yet, see if smarter people prove me wrong. I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again.

jefro · 09-10-2014, 03:45 PM

If I read what you posted then the devices are shown to be found exactly the same. From your first post you said both Zorin and Centos fail. You need to test this with a good distro versus a bad distro.

Also you say you are trying to install from usb? Can you create a dvd or cd to try?

I'll agree that right now it is a brain scratcher. Pretty sure it will be figured out to be rather simple.

houndhen · 09-10-2014, 05:13 PM

I already have PCLOS KDE and Manjaro XFCE installed. I believe that PCLOS was installed from a DVD and Manjaro was installed from USB. I can run either in the live mode and do the lspci again and post it.