Undetected hard-drives on NZXT Alpha

oskorei · 06-21-2008, 01:30 AM

Just got a NZXT Alpha. It came with 1 SATA drive, and when I tried to install (SuSE 10.3, 64-bit DVD), installation failed becasue the hard drive was not detected. I installed a working hard drive, one of my old ones, also SATA and tried to start installation again, but now neither one of the drives is detected. Everything else seems to be found just fine. Any ideas?

oskorei · 06-21-2008, 05:37 AM

An update: BIOS finds all the drives no problem, for some reason they are on IDE Channel 2. SuSE and Knoppix both fail at finding them, though, even though Knoppix finds an external eSATA drive no problem (and that one is on Ch 1 somehow). When booting from my old drive (the one I added), the drive is found, but then the boot process breaks down since grub is looking for the drive in the wrong place. But what is the right one? If I knew, I'd edit grub menu and fstab, but in rescue mode I cannot find either drive.

oskorei · 06-21-2008, 06:19 AM

More updates: tried to boot from grub command line. The problem is that I cannot get the device name for the drive. The kernel is found with grub> find /boot/vmlinuz; then the device appears as hd(0,0), so all would seem to be good, but upon issuing "boot", it ends up with:

VFS: Cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block(8,13)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,13)

So how do I get the correct root= boot option?

oskorei · 06-21-2008, 02:58 PM

And yet another update and a happy conclusion: Ubuntu 8.0.1 found all the drives and is installing as I type this. Goody. Now I have to learn Ubuntu package handling, so I can bring this system up to the level of awesomeness it deserves.

saikee · 06-21-2008, 05:26 PM

My view is the disk (or disks) is there all the time. You just haven't got any proof it wasn't there as you showed none. May be you rely it from the desktop and didn't do a "fdisk -l".

My point is your definition of undetected hard disk may be different from us.

oskorei · 06-22-2008, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saikee

My view is the disk (or disks) is there all the time. You just haven't got any proof it wasn't there as you showed none. May be you rely it from the desktop and didn't do a "fdisk -l".

My point is your definition of undetected hard disk may be different from us.

Um, what proof? The SuSE installer failed with "no hard drives found". Knoppix booted happily and saw neither of the disks. fdisk is irrelevant, since one of the drives was already ext3 with a system that functioned in a previous computer. My question was: how do I find out the device name? (They turned out to be /dev/sda and /dev/sdb just as I suspected, but it was certainly a driver issue: much as I love to insult Ubuntu, in this case it beat all competition. Trying to mount them from SuSE or Knoppix came up with "no drive found")

I fail to see what desktops have to do with it since the best I could get was a grub command line up to stage 2 and then failure, and nothing at all in Knoppix.

Since I am typing this on the new machine, something obviously worked and I could have saved everyone a toxic dump of trouble. On the other hand, not too many people seem to have troubled...

saikee · 06-22-2008, 05:01 AM

In any linux installation or before it you can see what the installer sees by terminal command

Code:

sudo su/sbin/fdisk -l

(In most distros the command "fdisk -l" is enough). The kernel will then list every partition of every hard disk in your system. Mine look like this

Code:

linux:/home/saikee # /sbin/fdisk -lWarning: omitting partitions after #60.They will be deleted if you save this partition table.Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System/dev/hda1   *           1         122      979933+  16  Hidden FAT16/dev/hda2             123         244      979965   16  Hidden FAT16/dev/hda3             245         366      979965   16  Hidden FAT16/dev/hda4             367       36483   290109802+   5  Extended/dev/hda5             367         609     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris/dev/hda6             610        1217     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda7            1218        1825     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda8            1826        2433     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda9            2434        3041     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda10           3042        3649     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda11           3650        4257     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda12           4258        4865     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda13           4866        5473     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda14           5474        6081     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda15           6082        6689     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda16           6690        7297     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda17           7298        7905     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda18           7906        8513     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda19           8514        9121     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda20           9122        9729     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda21           9730       10337     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda22          10338       10945     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda23          10946       11553     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda24          11554       12161     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda25          12162       12769     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda26          12770       13377     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda27          13378       13985     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda28          13986       14593     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda29          14594       15201     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda30          15202       15809     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda31          15810       16417     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda32          16418       17025     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda33          17026       17633     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda34          17634       18241     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda35          18242       18849     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda36          18850       19457     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda37          19458       20065     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda38          20066       20673     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda39          20674       21281     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda40          21282       21889     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda41          21890       22497     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda42          22498       23105     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda43          23106       23713     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda44          23714       24321     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda45          24322       24929     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda46          24930       25537     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda47          25538       26145     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda48          26146       26753     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda49          26754       27361     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda50          27362       27969     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda51          27970       28577     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda52          28578       29185     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda53          29186       29793     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda54          29794       30401     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda55          30402       31009     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda56          31010       31617     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda57          31618       32833     9767488+  83  Linux/dev/hda58          32834       34049     9767488+  83  Linux/dev/hda59          34050       34657     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hda60          34658       35265     4883728+  83  LinuxWarning: omitting partitions after #60.They will be deleted if you save this partition table.Disk /dev/hdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System/dev/hdc1               1        3315    26621952    7  HPFS/NTFS/dev/hdc2   *        3315        6354    24410767+  83  Linux/dev/hdc3            6354        9393    24410767+  93  Amoeba/dev/hdc4            9393       60801   412939342+   5  Extended/dev/hdc5            9393       10001     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc6           10001       10609     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc7           10609       11217     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc8           11217       11825     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc9           11825       12433     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc10          12433       13041     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc11          13041       13649     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc12          13649       14257     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc13          14257       14865     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc14          14865       15473     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc15          15473       16081     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc16          16081       16689     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc17          16689       17297     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc18          17297       17905     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc19          17905       18513     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc20          18513       19121     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc21          19121       19729     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc22          19729       20337     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc23          20337       20945     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc24          20945       21553     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc25          21553       22161     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc26          22161       22769     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc27          22769       23377     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc28          23377       23985     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc29          23985       24593     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc30          24593       25201     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc31          25201       25809     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc32          25809       26417     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc33          26417       27025     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc34          27025       27633     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc35          27633       28241     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc36          28241       28849     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc37          28849       29457     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc38          29457       30065     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc39          30065       30673     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc40          30673       31281     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc41          31281       31889     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc42          31889       32497     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc43          32497       33105     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc44          33105       33713     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc45          33713       34321     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc46          34321       34929     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc47          34929       35537     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc48          35537       36145     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc49          36145       36753     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc50          36753       37361     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc51          37361       37969     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc52          37969       38577     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc53          38577       39185     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc54          39185       39793     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc55          39793       40401     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc56          40401       41009     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc57          41009       41617     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc58          41617       42225     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc59          42225       42833     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdc60          42833       43441     4883728+  83  LinuxWarning: omitting partitions after #60.They will be deleted if you save this partition table.Disk /dev/hdd: 400.0 GB, 400088457216 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 48641 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System/dev/hdd1               1        3039    24410736   af  Unknown/dev/hdd2            3040        6078    24410704+  b5  UnknownPartition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary./dev/hdd3            6078        9117    24410830+  b5  Unknown/dev/hdd4   *        9118       48641   317476530    5  Extended/dev/hdd5            9118        9725     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd6            9726       10333     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd7           10334       10941     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd8           10942       11549     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd9           11550       12157     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd10          12158       12765     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd11          12766       13373     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd12          13374       13981     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd13          13982       14589     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd14          14590       15197     4883728+  93  Amoeba/dev/hdd15          15198       15805     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd16          15806       16413     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd17          16414       17021     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd18          17022       17629     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd19          17630       18237     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd20          18238       18845     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd21          18846       19453     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd22          19454       20061     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd23          20062       20669     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd24          20670       21277     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd25          21278       21885     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd26          21886       22493     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd27          22494       23101     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd28          23102       23709     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd29          23710       24317     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd30          24318       24925     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd31          24926       25533     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd32          25534       26141     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd33          26142       26749     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd34          26750       27357     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd35          27358       27965     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd36          27966       28573     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd37          28574       29181     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd38          29182       29789     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd39          29790       30397     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd40          30398       31005     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd41          31006       31613     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd42          31614       32221     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd43          32222       32829     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd44          32830       33437     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd45          33438       34045     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd46          34046       34653     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd47          34654       35261     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd48          35262       35869     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd49          35870       36477     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd50          36478       37085     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd51          37086       37693     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd52          37694       38301     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd53          38302       38909     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd54          38910       39517     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd55          39518       40125     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd56          40126       40733     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd57          40734       41341     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd58          41342       41949     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd59          41950       42557     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/hdd60          42558       43165     4883728+  83  LinuxDisk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylindersUnits = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System/dev/sda1   *           1        5099    40957686    7  HPFS/NTFS/dev/sda2            5100        6315     9767520   93  Amoeba/dev/sda3            6316        6923     4883760   83  Linux/dev/sda4            6924       24792   143532742+   5  Extended/dev/sda5            6924        7531     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda6            7532        8139     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda7            8140        8747     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda8            8748        9355     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda9            9356        9963     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda10           9964       10571     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda11          10572       11179     4883728+  a9  NetBSD/dev/sda12          11180       11787     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda13  *       11788       12395     4883728+  83  Linux/dev/sda14          12396       23916    92542401   1c  Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)/dev/sda15          23917       24792     7036438+  83  Linuxlinux:/home/saikee # uname -aLinux linux 2.6.13-rc5-git3-3-default #1 Fri Aug 5 14:06:24 UTC 2005 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linuxlinux:/home/saikee #

In the above I used an installed Suse 10.1 (about 2 years old) with 2.6.13 kernel. At that time Linux allowed Pata disks to have 63 partitions. Now all disks are permitted 15 partitions only as my Sata sda.

There are many ways to install Suse. If you select an alternative to install Suse into the empty space of a hard disk but none of the disks have any then Suse installer could report no such disk found. On the other hand if you choose expert mode and specify which partition Suse to be installed then any of the partitions showed up in fdisk can be used for installation.

The box I am using has 150+ Oses. Three of them are Suse (V10.1_x64, 10 and 9.1). You should only claim the disk not detected if it is not show up in the "fdisk -l".

If a raw disk, direct from a purchase and has no partition inside, is present it will show up in fdisk. If a partition has been created but not formatted it will still show up in fdisk but can't in the desktop because without a filing system inside it cannot be mounted. Thus fdisk is the command to see all your hard disks.

If the disk is not shown in "fdisk -l" then it would be likely a hardware fault; either the disk cannot be read because it is corrupted so badly or there is a loose connection (or a wrong jumpered position) resulting the Bios cannot detect it and the kernel cannot establish it.

If one Linux kernel can see it then all other Linux kernel and operating systems can see it too. Nothing wrong with the distros.