[SOLVED] Why can't I install 10.04 on a system that already has 8.04?

android-eve · 12-29-2010, 08:01 AM

Ubuntu 10.04 is beautiful. I love it. I am dying to install it on my PC, alongside the existing Ubuntu 8.04 (from which I write this message right now).

But... it won't let me!

When I reach the partitioning stage (manual!) Ubuntu 10.04 sees my two HDDs as one RAID volume.

It doesn't see all the partitions I already have in place in /dev/sda and /dev/sdb.

Even Windows 7 doesn't behave like this... (yes, I actually managed to install Windows 7 64-bit in dual-boot configuration with Ubuntu 8.04 on this same system).

Note: GParted on Ubuntu 10.04 (live CD) sees the partition intended for Ubuntu 10.04 (/dev/sda4) perfectly, but is unable to format it.

Note: I also removed that partition trying to reformat it via GParted once 10.04 LiveCD is loaded. It didn't help.

I believe that the problem lies in Ubuntu "deciding for me" that the HDDs should be "seen" as a RAID, hence any partition is seen by GParted (10.04 LiveCD) as "busy" or "locked".

Any idea how to solve this problem?

amani · 12-29-2010, 09:16 AM

are you using raid?

post output of

#lspci -v

#parted

> print -a

____________________

You should consider replacing 8.04 with 10.04 (keep /home and install without formatting) OR

from 8.04
#sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

(many stages will be involved)

android-eve · 12-29-2010, 10:21 AM

Thank you amani. Here are my answers, hoping you can help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

You should consider replacing 8.04 with 10.04

Please note that I am not interested in an upgrade but rather in multi-boot configuration (both 8.04 and 10.04 on the same system).

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

are you using raid?

Not at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

post output of #lspci -v

Here is the relevant part of lspci -v:

Code:

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IR/IO/IH (ICH9R/DO/DH) 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
	Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp. Unknown device 1083
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 508
	I/O ports at f900 [size=8]
	I/O ports at f800 [size=4]
	I/O ports at f700 [size=8]
	I/O ports at f600 [size=4]
	I/O ports at f500 [size=32]
	Memory at fdffd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>

03:00.0 SATA controller: JMicron Technologies, Inc. JMicron 20360/20363 AHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
	Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp. Unknown device 1083
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at fdafe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at fd900000 [disabled] [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>

03:00.1 IDE interface: JMicron Technologies, Inc. JMicron 20360/20363 AHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
	Subsystem: ABIT Computer Corp. Unknown device 1083
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	I/O ports at bf00 [size=8]
	I/O ports at be00 [size=4]
	I/O ports at bd00 [size=8]
	I/O ports at bc00 [size=4]
	I/O ports at bb00 [size=16]
	Capabilities: <access denied>

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

post output of #parted

Here is the output of parted:

Code:

        (parted) print all

Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  16.4GB  16.4GB  primary   ext3              
 2      16.4GB  49.2GB  32.8GB  extended                    
 5      16.4GB  32.8GB  16.4GB  logical   ext3              
 6      32.8GB  49.2GB  16.4GB  logical   linux-swap        
 3      49.2GB  187GB   137GB   primary   ntfs         boot 
 4      187GB   203GB   16.4GB  primary                     


Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  500GB  500GB  primary  ext3

Thanks so much for your help.

stress_junkie · 12-29-2010, 10:27 AM

When you run Windows and get into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management do the physical disks show up as Basic or Dynamic Volumes?

android-eve · 12-29-2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

When you run Windows and get into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management do the physical disks show up as Basic or Dynamic Volumes?

Basic.

All Volumes are reported Simple + Basic -- without any exception.

tommcd · 12-29-2010, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by android-eve

When I reach the partitioning stage (manual!) Ubuntu 10.04 sees my two HDDs as one RAID volume.

I know that you said you were not using RAID, but make sure that RAID is not enabled in the computer's BIOS. This is to ensure that the Ubuntu installer does not see a RAID option during partitioning.

Also, make sure the hard drives are connected to the Intel Corporation 82801IR/IO/IH (ICH9R/DO/DH) 6 port SATA ports, and not the J Micron ports from your output of lspci.

android-eve · 12-30-2010, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommcd

make sure that RAID is not enabled in the computer's BIOS.

I verified that RAID is not enabled in the BIOS. The BIOS is set on AHCI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommcd

Also, make sure the hard drives are connected to the Intel Corporation 82801IR/IO/IH (ICH9R/DO/DH) 6 port SATA ports, and not the J Micron ports from your output of lspci.

This is not acceptable. Because:

I specifically asked about adding 10.04 to an existing 8.04 system. Which means that if the hard drives have been working through the J Micron ports, I want them to continue working that way.
Yes, the hard drives are connected to the J Micron ports and I don't intend to change that (for compatibility to existing state and for performance reasons).
If Ubuntu 8.04 can deal with the J Micron ports, there is no excuse for 10.04 not to deal with them.

Any other ideas?

amani · 12-30-2010, 11:15 AM

use the alternative installer iso - that will give you more options

amani · 12-30-2010, 11:19 AM

The other option is to use pass options to the kernel at boot-time...

Kenny_Strawn · 12-30-2010, 11:21 AM

The best thing to do is just do an in-place upgrade on an existing system. Just open Update Manager and you probably will see 10.04 in the list of newer releases it gives you.

android-eve · 12-30-2010, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn

The best thing to do is just do an in-place upgrade on an existing system.

Kenny, thanks for your suggestion but please re-read my original post and my answers to similar suggestions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

use the alternative installer iso - that will give you more options

I didn't know there is an alternative installer ISO. I will check this out, but if you happen to have a direct URL to where I can get, that would be great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

The other option is to use pass options to the kernel at boot-time...

Great idea. I will check this out shortly (takes less time than downloading the alternative installer iso).

Thank you all for your insights so far.

amani · 12-30-2010, 11:41 AM

the iso is in the ubuntu site and mirrors

android-eve · 12-30-2010, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

the iso is in the ubuntu site and mirrors

Thanks. I found it:

http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu/ubuntu-releases/10.04.1/

BTW, I tried finding a way to pass kernel options when booting from the LiveCD. I couldn't find any. Interesting.

Thanks!

android-eve · 12-30-2010, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

use the alternative installer iso - that will give you more options

I am almost there... I downloaded the alternate install ISO and upon the first screen, I pressed F6 and selected nodmraid.

Then, as the CURSES based setup continued, I was prompted with a question:

Quote:

Activate SATA RAID devices?

to which I answered: No!!!

Then installation seemed to have proceeded successfully, to completion.

I am still unable to boot to it, however, because I explicitly told it not to install GRUB on the MBR (I am still using 8.04's GRUB).

I modified 8.04's /boot/grub/menu.lst to include:

Code:

title		Ubuntu 10.04.1, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=/dev/sda4 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
quiet

But /dev/sda4 still won't boot, for some reason. I know I am very close... I was able to mount /dev/sda4 as / using the rescue console.

I wonder whether 8.04's GRUB is unable to boot 10.04's /dev/sda4 because it's formatted to ext4.

Or perhaps it requires the partition's UUID? Let's find it by typing:

Code:

 blkid /dev/sda4

and see where that takes us.

tommcd · 12-30-2010, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by android-eve

I am still unable to boot to it, however, because I explicitly told it not to install GRUB on the MBR (I am still using 8.04's GRUB).

Where did you install grub2 from 10.04 to? Did you install it to the root partition of Ubuntu 10.04?

Quote:

Originally Posted by android-eve

I wonder whether 8.04's GRUB is unable to boot 10.04's /dev/sda4 because it's formatted to ext4.

If you want to go with grub2 (which I would recommend, since it works quite well now), just boot from the alternate install CD and choose the option "Rescue a Broken System". Then proceed through choosing language and keyboard options, etc, until you come to a menu where you can choose to reinstall grub2 to the MBR. Grub2 should pick up your existing 8.04 installation.

I honestly don't remember if the grub legacy from 8.04 included support for booting ext4 partitions. Does anyone know this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by android-eve

Or perhaps it requires the partition's UUID? How do I find it? (GParted provides all info, but not UUID)

To find the UUIDs for all partitions run: "sudo blkid" in the terminal. This will list all partitions and their respective UUIDs. Then just substitute the correct UUID in place of /dev/sda4 after the root= part of the kernel line in your menu.lst.

What errors do you get when you try to boot 10.04 from 8.04's grub legacy?