Slackware 12.0 fdisk: Re-reading the partition failed Error 22: Invalid Argument

Rayburn96 · 08-01-2007, 10:36 PM

I have a Pentium 1 PC w/ 64MB of RAM and Windows 2000. I'm trying to install Slackware 12.0 from an ISO on the hard drive since I don't have an extra DVD burner or discs right now. There is 1 3.7GB Drive installed, which is where Windows 2k is installed, then a 40GB drive installed. I can get to the root@slackware #/ prompt, but I can't format the partitions on the 40GB drive. Typing "parted" then "print all" shows both drives with their correct sizes and partitions. There are several partitions on the 40GB drive, one is 19GB, another is 6.4GB, another 5.0GB, another 2.0GB, another 5.8GB (which is where the contents of the ISO are stored)

I can't format any of the partitions that are on the 40GB drive. They all were created in Windows 2000 with FAT32 (except the 2.0GB partition which is FAT16). The problem I get is with both fdisk and cfdisk, I get the message "WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 22: Invalid argument. The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at next reboot.
Syncing disks."

When I reboot, it's like nothing has happened. I've tried Parted, and it fails too, giving a message "Error: Error informing the kernel about modifications to partition /dev/hdd5p1 -- Invalid argument. This means Linux won't know about any changes you made to /dev/hdd5p1 until you reboot -- so you shouldn't mount it or use it in any way before rebooting.
Ignore/Cancel?"

I type ignore, then reboot, then type at the prompt "cfdisk /dev/hdd5" then press enter, and CFDISK appears and shows the partition formatted as Linux, however typing "fdisk -l" shows the same partition formatted as the FAT32 filesystem. What's going on and how can I fix it? Thanks.

Rayburn96 · 08-02-2007, 02:01 AM

Never mind! I think it's going to work. I downloaded Ramish, but Ramish only saw the first 8GB. But with Ramish I was able to create a 800MB linux swap (at the beginning of the disk too), then a 4.8GB linux partition. After that I booted to 2k and use the Disk Manager to handle the rest of the disk. Now the installation is installing the packages! Thanks anyway.