Hi all

I am trying to install a black screen Slackware 10.2 from a cd (downloaded iso image).

I have a Pentium III with 40 GB hdd and 128 MB RAM. When I go through the installation process I end up with a 1.9GB partition mounted as / and a swap partition. I first created a linux swap partition and then I used all available when creating my main linux partition.

Where did the other 38GB go?

Any suggestions as to where to read up or research this.

Many thanks in advance

Richard

hello :-)
the problem with your partitioning.
in slackware a nice harddisk partition program called 'fdisk'
in command prompt (after booting from installation cd) give the command 'fdisk /dev/hda' (supposing you have only one IDE HDD).
the program will run in a prompt, the next part you have to do delve into a bit detail, try to follow instructions in the slackware installation disk (there is a file something like install-help, i cannot recall exactly, where you can find help for fdisk).

you can also type 'cfdisk' for a menu version of fdisk. fdisk is a bit confusing for a new user, but once you learn it, you must must love this nice program.

Thanks for the reply

I did use fdisk to create the partitions on the disk. fdisk would only recognize the first 2GB on the disk and I could not create a larger partition. I did not try cfdisk.

Richard

I have a disk (can't remember if it was the 10Gb or the 40Gb) that has a jumper that limits it to 2Gb. Take a look at the label and see if that's your problem. Maybe there's a bios setting for this as well.

Hope this helps...

Hi,

When you boot the system with the install cd, do the following;
This will provide the recognized disks partition information.

You could use either fdisk or cfdisk. If you use cfdisk, what do you see for total space? Do you have something else installed on the HD? Like M$ XP and forgot to delete it or shrink the XP OS partition?

What does your BIOS show the HD as?

Gary

Thanx for the reply

I had Win98 on the machine before (40GB was all there).

I used fdisk to erase all partitions first (FAT). There is only one drive in the machine so there was no confusion there.

I created a Linux Swap partition first of 256MB. I then created a Linux partition using the balance of what was presented (I think as number of cylinders or such).

I then installed Slackware and went through the configuration of what I needed etc. I found I only had 400MB left.

I then went back to fdisk to make sure there was no free space available for partitioning - nothing.
I checked the bios - the drive was recognized as a 40GB drive.

Still confused

Richard

Show us the fdisk -l

Hi,

Please post the fdisk -l.
As root;

Just post the fdisk_txt so we can see the information. I think the problem is that the partition table was not actually updated properly. I like to create my partitions via fdisk do a write to the disk and after I quit fdisk then do a reboot. This will insure that the partition table for the disk is actually updated.

I will then create the filesystem for each partition before an install. If I do the install in this manner then I can perform a little more checking on the partition(s). It's a habit from the old days of SMD drive systems. We use too certify(bad block) a disk after format therefore less chance of error.

With linux the mke2fs -c /dev/hd* will format and check for bad blocks. Do a 'man mke2fs' to see the switches.

Another suggestion would be to look at my sig item #12 or just select.

Hi, yeah, I agree. If you could get the fdisk -l info, that would really help.

Even if you were to boot the Win98 floppy or CD, and then choose "Install using CD Support" or something like that (it's been a while since I've used it ). Then, go the the DOS version of FDISK, and then delete all partitions from the MBR.

Sometimes the MBR doesn't get cleared automatically, so instead of just FDISK, type this command 3 times:
fdisk /mbr

That will clear out the entire MBR. There may be some other partition table on your MBR that you're not even aware of.

Give that a shot too, and you should be good. And yeah, you might find cfdisk easier to use. Hope all this helps.

Thanks,

Justin

Hi,

Sorry, but to use msdos fdisk with the /mbr switch will only restore from the original dos partition table (backup) not clear the mbr. Only then if the partition table is still available. DOS will complain no disk if everything is garbled.

Thanks Guys

I decided to try another *nix flavour. It found and partioned 40GB on first try.

On my previous post I mentioned I had deleted the FAT partition, this I did by booting on the Win98 CD and running its fdisk. All partitions were gone. Yes, I did check by rebooting on the CD again and running fdisk to make sure all partitions were gone.

At my first try using FreeBSD I was able to produce partitions that added up to 40GB. I will go that route for now.

Thanks all for your attempts.

Unfortunately I cannot post the results of: fdisk -l
as the drive has been repartitioned now.

Richard

if your using windows fdisk for fat, that fdisk will only see so may gig, it's either four or ten i think. boot to a:do the fdisk /mbr three times. then fdisk and enter, hit #4 for partition information, esc, #3 to delete partition (rtfs). esc again and reboot. back at the a: format c:, yes. then boot with the distro cd and start the install. i know this is a little late but still info to consider. i'm a windows brat untill a few months ago and when i here fdisk, i think of dos and not linux.