Linux not recognizing my Hard disk.
 

Hey guys,
I am trying to install Ubuntu onto my Toshiba Satellite L25. I added more ram so my specs are good, but when I go to do the install off of a USB stick, it doesn't seem to find the HD. It will only let me install onto the USB stick. My first guess is possibly an incompatibility issue, but when I tried to install Ubuntu before I did the memory upgrade (last week), it recognized the HD, now it does not. Open to suggestions.

When you boot with the live CD, is the HD accessible? Did you run disk utility and gparted? Looks like somewhere to start!

Regards

@ Reply
 

Hi shirky,

Welcome to LQ!!!

As you said that you were able to see the hdd last week before the RAM upgrade so it does not appear to me as incompatibility issue. And upgrading RAM should not affect the hdd visibility. Did you make any other changes to your system like:

1. Changes in BIOS.
2. hdd jumper settings.

Is there any OS currently installed on this system? If yes, could you share the partition information. From your post it appears that you have created a bootable USB and using that you are trying to perform install. When you install using USB it gives you option to select the drive on which you want to install it. Did you get that option during install? Do you remember which option you are selecting?

thanks T3RM1NVT0R for the info. Her are the answers I can give you on what I did so far. Right now WindowsXP is installed, however I want this to be a Linux only laptop, I don't want to share and I have windows on another laptop and my PC. As far as the BIOS, the only change I made was to boot from the USB first, although I will double check to make sure nothing else was changed by mistake. I do get the choice screen, but it only reads the USB stick, not the HD, it also asks me if I want to unmount any partitions, I select yes and the disks didn't show up. When they did I got an error saying "No root file system"

ukiuki, I have not tried either of them, and am unfamiliar with gparted. I will look into it though!

@ Reply
 

How many partitions you have currently setup for Windows? I just had a look at Toshiba Satellite L25 specs and it does come with CD/DVD drive. Did you try booting the system using CD? Before it got to hdd partitioning it ask you what you want to do with existing OS (say Windows). What did you select at that point?

Here is the link that will help you to make sure you are going the right way or not: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download. Click on Show Me How button to see the screenshots of the install.

Ok, unfortunately this was a donor laptop from my brother with a busted (somehow removed) dvd drive so I am stuck using the stick lol. I only have one for the HD that holds windows. Should I make another partition? Do I need to if I am only going to be running Linux? I was thinking about trying another version like Fedora or Mint to see if I run into the same problem

@ Reply
 

Yes, you could try with Fedora or Mint to see if they can see the hdd. As you said you just upgraded the RAM (I am keeping rest at default) and you were able to see hdd before so it is quite unlikely that system has got a compatibility issue.

I'll play around with it. Thanks for the suggestions. If all else fails I will throw it out the window :)....Trying Fedora..

I'm not familiar with the CMOS settings on Toshiba laptops, but you might want to check for a setting that loads setup defaults or something similar. Sometimes you have to do that after a hardware change, or weird things can happen.

ION i have not done this...good idea though. I will try it, btw it loads Windows normally.

Fedora worked perfectly!

Just a side note, after I installed Fedora, I tried to install ubuntu instead and it is working so far, for some reason Ubuntu just wouldn't see the HD. But all seems well now..thanks again for the help guys.