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Linux Installation - Problem During Partitioning
I just received an old server with Windows Server 2000 on it, and I do not have the administrator password. I want to turn it into a Linux server and just get rid of Windows. I've tried to install Debian and Ubuntu and get the same problem.
- I pop in the CD with Linux on it and stick my USB drive in as well because if I don't, the CD-ROM won't mount during installation. (I was actually stuck on the step of getting the CD-ROM drive to mount for a couple days until I accidentally left the USB drive in and inadvertently provided Linux with the CD-ROM drivers. Yay!) - Once it boots I use the "expert" boot parameter - When I get to the partitioning stage of the installation, it takes around 25 minutes to start the partitioner and about 5 minutes to scan the disks. - Once it starts partitioning the progress bar goes away and I am left with that dreaded blue screen and some bar where I can type text at the bottom. This lasts for hours. I can also press Alt+F2 to get to the BusyBox console, which I use to "reboot" once the partitioning has proven to not be working. My goal is to have a dedicated Linux server with a LAMP setup so I can deploy intranet and internet sites. I would also like to learn Linux altogether, but this is the road block I am facing. Any ideas on what/how I should be troubleshooting? |
Could you try deleting the Windows partition first with a live CD, such as gparted?
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That's crazy, because I just downloaded GParted after looking at some other topics. I will try that...but the CD-ROM mounting fiasco has left me with no blank CDs...so I will have to get some.
Thanks for your insight! |
Hi,
Which distribution of linux are u using. There are a lot of live cds available. Ubuntu10.04 is one such. Put in the cd and boot in live mode. Go to, Applications---Accessories---Terminal. In the terminal window type---- #sudo su #fdisk -l (to see how many partitions are there) #fdisk /dev/sda delete all the partitions by using the option d. press m for help. After this just reboot the machine with the ubuntu cd and use the option to install it. See if this works. |
I have Debian and Ubuntu. I have the server additions of each. I have tried to use GParted, unsuccessfully. It start out with the "Gnome Partition Editor" main screen. It then goes into the code dump (or whatever it is) and eventually stops at a black screen. Once I press a key I get...
BOOT FAILED! This Debian Live image failed to boot. Please file a bug against the 'live-initramfs' package or email the Debian Live mailing list at <debian-live@lists.debian.org>, making sure to note the exact version, name and distribution of the image you were attempting to boot. The file /live.log contains some debugging information but booting with the debug command-line parameter will greatly increase its verbosity which is extremely useful when diagnosing issues. live-initramfs will now start a shell. The error message was: Unable to find a medium containing a live file system Then it says the BusyBox prompt... Also, I have Ubuntu server, so I don't think that will work. But I will probably try the desktop version, even though I want this to be my server. |
Just realized I didn't answer your question...
debian-505-i386-CD-1.iso ubuntu-10.04.1-server-i386.iso gparted-live-0.6.2-2.iso [this one gave me the "BOOT FAILED!" message.] gparted-live-0.4.6-1.iso [suggested by this page - http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=13835] |
The other gparted wouldn't even boot...it just kept dumping code.
The desktop version of Ubuntu 10.04.1 gave me a "Unable to find a medium containing a live file system" message, similar to the gparted error...I could get to fdisk from within the Debian installation (BusyBox, Ctrl+F2), though. It looks like my USB drive is on /dev/sda, so I don't think I am supposed to partition that one; Windows was originally installed on /dev/hdb, so shouldn't that be the drive I partition for Linux? I am learning this as I go, so please bare with me. I deleted all partitions from hda and hdb, but I still encountered the same problems as before when using the partitioner from the linux installation. What would you do to troubleshoot the issue? Is it normal for the "Starting up the partitioner" to halt at 42% for over 20 minutes? According to the initial screen (where you can enter the AMI BIOS by pressing DEL) this PC is from 1997; after doing some research it appears that older machines like this may need some /boot partition needs to be within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. I am completely new to a lot of this, so pretty much assume I am completely ignorant :) |
Forgive me if you went through this already.
Given an old PC I would get into the BIOS setup. make a note of all the settings particularly memory/cpu speed settings, hard disk/cdrom on which controller port. reset everything to default, change the date and save. go inside it and re-seat memory, cables in their sockets. - or maybe this first if booting problems. I'm intrigued by your saying it needed a usb hdd. All the flavours of IDE/SATA/SCSI modules are there in any Linux booting distro so unless there's some quirky "kickstart" being given by the usb discovery onto the cdrom controller. hmmm If you went into the BIOS setup which drives can be bootable in preference order? Others have mentioned ways to have the hdd blanked if some code on it is giving probs. I'd be using a disk editor to check that and zero out any previous code. Alas, not under Linux so how about using 'dd' once you get a command line. dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=2000 that should remove any partition and initial windows stuff. Of course double-check that it's the correct /hda or /sda :) Having a "normal" Live Linux cd is a good investment for these probs, though sometimes one that can easily just go to a command line, circumventing any graphics card probs, is better. A smaller download than a _distro_ cd with many useful tools including Gparted , is PartedMagic. It has boot options to run in lower spec machines. |
I apologize in advance for the verbosity of the following post :b
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Cyl - 16383 Hd - 16 WP - 0 Sec - 63 Size(MB) - 8064 Sec Master is on Auto, which detects nothing, and Sec Slave detects the CD-ROM (mine is a Plextor PX-W1210A I believe). Basically, the BIOS main menu shows like this... Setup - Standard, Advanced, Chipset, Power Mgmt, PCI/PnP, Peripheral Security - Supervisor, User Utility - Anti-Virus, Language Default - Optimal, Fail-safe But I'm not sure about the controller port thing...unless that's Pri Master, Slave, etc. Quote:
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Anyways...hopefully I provided some more clarification. |
Get Slackware.
The first install disk asks you to partition the hard drive using either Linux fdisk or Linux cfdisk (I recommend cfdisk--it's easier). When I have used it, it has never failed to blow everything away and allow me to do a clean install. Here's a link to a blog post I wrote about partitioning hard disks using cfdisk from the Slackware installation CDs. |
To me it sounds like an unsupported IDE controller. It would help if you could determine the exact type of motherboard.
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It would be good if you could get that "ATAPI CDROM" into the first position so that you could boot directly from the CD and not need to have your "USB hdd". If you system is calling that USB "sda" or "sda#" then it is booting from there, and not from the CD. Once you get it to actually booting from the CD I think you will find that Gparted works much more smoothly.
"If you went into the BIOS setup which drives can be bootable in preference order?" "The options for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Boot Devices show as follows - Disabled, 1st IDE-HDD, 2nd IDE-HDD, 3rd IDE-HDD, 4th IDE-HDD, Floppy, ARMD-FDD, ARMD-HDD, ATAPI CDROM, SCSI, NETWORK, I20" |
@littlejoe5 - I'm about to try slackware.
@jay73 - It says SUPER P6DGE/DBE when I start up the machine, and also Pentium III x2, 800MHz. So what would I do with that info? |
In the BIOS I have the 1st boot device as ATAPI CDROM.
I tried slackware, same problem. It gives me a... Code:
Searching for Boot Record from CDROM..OK |
Id almost bet that there is a hardware issue and id bet the hardware problem could have something to do with the cdrom itself.
However, if say for instance the hard drive and cd rom share the same cable but are both set to master that can be it. Also if you turned acpi off in the bios that might impact the outcome. I've had that before. You could possibly also write a disk image to the usb drive and boot from it, if my guesses here don't ring true. Although this problem is too basic to be caused by a non overcomeable incompatability) A basic rule of thumb I think works (but the advice to try slackware is worth a try before what I mention next) is to use a distribution that is a year older then your hardware. I don't know where exactly to find cds of distributions older versions released 2000 to 2003, but say a version of REd Hat 7, Bloatdrake 7, Suse 7 Slackware 8 or 9 might make a difference. Though I doubt it. I think its acpi or damaged hardware, or bios unable to deal with cable select. Try specificly assigning master slave, get an additional cable. All avenues to look at. Also occurs to me that maybe the cdrom atapi driver is not modprobing after El Torito quits. Another reason to try an age appropriate distro instead of something like Damn Small tbhat may leave you unsatisfied for lack of features. |
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I can think of two problems: - a malfunctioning cd drive - the driver has been dropped from the kernel or it is present but it cannot be found for some reason The problem sounds quite like what I experienced a year or five ago so I would suggest that you try the generic IDE workaround. When the cd boots up, look for a field to input extra boot options and enter: all-generic-ide irqpoll Press enter and the cd should continue to boot. If you are lucky, the installer should now be able to mount the cd. |
Two things...
1/ I always zero out a drive like that... 2/ I have known in the past that a USB device has caused an installer to stall. ! |
So I can definitely try an older distro, but here's something to think about. When I stick a blank USB stick in the PC and run the installer it mounts the CD, but if I don't have a USB stick in it won't. Could there be something wrong with the hard disks?
When the Linux partitioner asks me to pick a drive to partition, they appear like this... Code:
IDE1 master (hda) - 20.0 GB WDC WD200BB-32AUA1By the way, the CDROM is connected to the Sec Slave. I tried using boot: 'expert all-generic-ide irqpoll', but I got the same results as before. If I don't have a USB stick in, it won't mount. If I do, it does. Also, there is no option for booting from USB in the BIOS. |
So where is the secondary master? That's rhetorical. You have to open up the box and look at the back of these drives to see if they are set as master, slave or cable select. (To eliminate the possibility).
Your hard drives typically are connected by a cable that connects to the mother board. That cable can accommodate two drives, 1 master, 1 slave. The drives thenselves have a small pin. Settings on the back, master on pen setting should match up with position on cable that can connect two drives. You may also try to see if the cd drive works in another computer. It could be its gone bad. You know what, maybe its just my imagination, but I don't recall ever seeing a machine with both hda (h) and sda (s). Either they usually are all hda, hdb, hdc, etc. Or sda, sdb, sdc...etc. |
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Anyway, if nothing helps, I would suggest moving one drive to another computer to do the install, then put it back. |
@jay73 If trying an older distro doesn't work, that'll be my only option.
This is my thought...tell me if I'm close... The computer is able to boot from the CD-ROM. Then the installer is unable to find a "live file system" and is unable to mount the CD-ROM. If I plug in my USB stick, it then recognizes the USB as the "live file system" and is then able to mount the CD-ROM. That's my thought process at least. The error message I get when trying to mount the CD-ROM WITHOUT a USB stick connected is... Code:
No common CD-ROM drive was detected. |
That's the kind of message you would get if your chipset is not supported. However, for several versions, Debian had a bug that caused it to mess up the drive order if drives were connected to more than one controller. I had some SATA drives plugged directly into the motherboard, two more into and add-on SATA card and my optical drive was connected to the IDE controller. The effect was lots of trouble getting the installer to pick up the optical drive; though I succeeded at last, Debian would boot off the wrong controller half of the time so I ended up with busybox and I had to reboot until it got it right.
I would say: remove the second hard drive and put the optical drive in its place. It may make a difference but then again it may not. There are only two alternatives I can think of right now. The first is the one I suggested in my previous post; the other one would be recompiling the kernel. |
no, don't apologise. I should do it being late in reply and I missed seeing your normal Debian thinking you just had server iso's :)
the others have said about as much as I'd have continued. A few points though. yes, the command line is when the BusyBox goes to a prompt. the controller port is what you've seen in the bios, wthether the hdd is Primary master or slave etc. in the bios, check for anything which might restrict changes to the hdd. Some have an anti-virus setting which might disallow writing to the mbr (master boot record) of a hdd. See if you can get the cdrom as secondary master. That means it should be on the end cable socket and any small jumper on its back should be set as 'm' or as indicated if at all. If you have never done an actual build or stripdown of a pc then it might be tricky knowing what's what. It seems you can get it to boot up but the install borks. Try finding out more about the IDE controller which has been suggested is incompatible. At the prompt type: lspci --help that will show what switches to use, so: lspci -v or maybe lspci -k will identify the names of the various things. |
@jay73 --
So, I took one of the HDDs out and stuck it in an old VAIO, which ironically the CD drive of it seemed to not be so friendly either. Only the Ubuntu Server disc would boot. All of the others did not even register as a disc was inserted. Anyways, long story short, I installed Ubuntu Server on the HDD, moved it back to the server and tried to boot from it. All I get is a Code:
Searching for boot record from IDE-1..OKCode:
Booting from local disk...So I figured out how to set the CD-ROM to Sec Master, but the CD still won't mount during installation. When I try the 'lspci' command, I get this Code:
~ #lspci -k |
Try updating the BIOS. Make sure you download the BIOS update from the manufacturer site of either the motherboard or the laptop. Do the same for the other components such as graphics card, cd drive, etc.
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- There was another hard drive in the VAIO that presented itself to the installer as the primary master so GRUB was installed onto the wrong drive. - GRUB was installed onto the right drive but onto a partition rather than onto the MBR; this does not happen unless explicitly requested. It can be solved by marking the partition that contains GRUB as active. - Neither of the above but you did not make the drive primary master when you put it back into the server. |
Ok, so in the words of Professor Farnsworth..."Good news, everyone!" But seriously, it works now, but I have to boot from the CD. I even set the jumper on master and unplugged the other HDD when I installed from the VAIO. If I don't 'Boot from first hard disk', it will hang on the 'Searching for boot record from IDE-1..OK' screen.
Any ideas? I will be researching this one you (jay73) said...it sounds like it may be the culprit... Quote:
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I think I'm doing something wrong when sdetting the drives to master/slave. All I do is change the jumper on the back to match where it says on the board, right?
When I put the HDD from the server into the VAIO and disconect it's original HDD, it doesn't recognize any drive as pri master, or pri slave for that matter. When I get in the bios I can go to pri master and set it to auto (not changing anything, that's where it was already) and after a few moments it wiL display the HDD as pri master. When I exit and save changes it still doesn't find a pri master. I'm sure this is the problem. |
Hi again. It's a real pain when you think things are ok and then next time, not! Your lspci output showed nothing that should ruffle any present day Linux module-wise I'd say.
At times, the most simplified approach is necessary, and then other things get introduced to complicate it. The procedures with some hard disks for making them master/slave was often fraught and diff makers had diff methods. And IDE controllers seeing disk geometry differently. Here's a start from first principles scenario which establishes what's where. The idea is that with your server PC you have only 1 hdd connected correctly, and then the cdrom, and bios options to minimise problems. Get back inside the server PC and pull any cards except the ATI graphics card (presuming that is a card). The hdds will be on a flat ribbon cable connected to the mainboard IDE sockets as will be the cdrom. And maybe a floppy drive to its own. Pull them all. Those WD make hard disks. I see from WD's site that they are 10-pin total each. The jumper pins on the back total 10, 2 rows of 5. A hdd alone should have no jumper. A hdd as master (with a slave) has jumper on 5-6, the slave on 3-4. Another simplified method is "Cable select". Each drive has a jumper on 1-2. The idea is that the socket on the cable determines the master, in this case the cable end. Have 1 hdd only, cnctd on the cable end and put the other cable end into an IDE socket. Switch on, get into bios and do a "Setup defaults" again. Usually you see that and "bios defaults" where this latter gives a more "failsafe" lower performance base. Check a tab for "antivirus" or "security" and disable as these might interfere with hdd usage. Save and reboot. Again into bios. Now use the various options for the disk tabs to see that your hdd is the Primary Master. It will be if it's in the correct IDE socket and jumpered/cabled correctly. Note that when you have 'Auto' enabled for the hdd bios entries you should see how it's being used by the controller when you hit 'Enter' key- meaning the hdd should show something like 'LBA xxxx sectors' and a cdrom 'PIO mode x' While in the bios, pare it down further. It probably has pages for - Main, chipset, Power, PCI, Onboard, Boot. or similar. Find and disable- floppy, network (LAN) and scsi if were not cards, parallel, serial, infrared, usb. In 'Power' disable APM plus anything about 'wake up' or 'power down'. Have 'ACPI' enabled. In 'PCI' it might have 'PNP OS installed' for a plug'n'play operating system. That deals with how things get an IRQ and memory address; start with 'yes' and try 'no' later. You want a setup where nothing might interfere with what's going to be needed for the hdds, and then the cdrom. Set the boot to 1st hdd, save and reboot. See what happens if it was a hdd that you thought had a working install. Try the other hdd alone also. If you get a successful boot then you can go ahead and put in the cdrom and restore things back in the bios etc, etc. If you just get the "no bootable, waiting..." messages it's hard to say whether trying to get the cdrom up and having a go at fixing or a fresh install. I'd be tempted to wipe and install. Still with 1 hdd only. Plug up the cdrom, check if it needs a jumper or not, again on the end of its cable and switch on and in bios ensure it shows as Secondary master. Now try booting an Install CD. If you like, re-enable the USB and do your trick. Remember, if neither hdd is booting, that using the 'dd' command I gave earlier will clean up any code at the start to allow a fresh use of 'fdisk' to partition. |
@skola
I will try those tomorrow...working on this server has pushed back a lot of music I've been needing to record. But while I'm here, I wanted to throw this at you. Grub did successfully install when I used the VAIO, I was just an idiot and didn't do something right. It installed to its original HDD, which I had not disconnected the first time. If I boot the VAIO with its original HDD connected, I get a grub error stating that the device was not found. What is the appropriate jumper/cable combination? Which connector of the cable should I be using? I tried both and it seems like I got the same results. |
why not to just do a grub-setup /dev/sdX on the server drive putted in the VAIO, and then return it to the server machine?
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Ok...well, I lied. I get a tad obsessed when I don't figure things out quickly. I have been working on it and finally figured it out (with the help of everyone here). You see, I forgot to zero out the drive before re-installing Ubuntu and especially GRUB. But then I had another problem...GRUB wasn't installing properly...so I tried it from the command prompt and it gave me the error that I wasn't seeing during the installer. It had no partitions! (duh) So I simply used fdisk to create a partition and then used grub-setup and grub-install to fix grub.
And it's a done deal! It works successfully. Once again, thank you everyone. You know, I read somewhere that if you wanted to get into Linux you will learn more (than you ever wanted) about how your computer works. And this is very true, except I've always wanted to learn these things...I had never opened up a PC before talking to you guys. Hopefully one day open-source will dominate the market and keep Gates and Jobs from telling us how our OS is SUPPOSED to run! Thanks again! |
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