hi,

I tried installing slackware 12 on dell vostro 1400 laptop but i could not...it has vista home basic installed on to it.... when i execute the cfdisk command it says read permissions only... even cfdisk /dev/sda did not work... how do i proceed??

Thanks in advance

whats output of fdisk -l ?

btwm what did you do ? boot the slackware DVD right ?

Hi,
Did you make some space on the laptop HDD for the install?

'BackTrack v2.0 and MS Vista, Create Dual Boot Guide' is a good general guide to do a install with 'Vista'. Sure it's for Backtrack but you can use the information to make a Slackware install.

The simple of it is to use the Vista tools to first defrag the drive then;Then you can perform your resize. Once you resize the disk then boot the install cd/dvd. Partition the drive as you want then perform setup.

For some reason my Laptop does the same thing. Here is what I've found:

Text based installations with cfdisk or fdisk don't like that HD....

This is what I do:

I grab a SUSE installer, boot from that, set the partitions up with that one, write it to the drive, and once it's actually written and it starts installing packages, I just shut down, pop in the Slackware CD and once logged in, type setup instead of partitioning since it's already done.

You can also use a partition tool like Partition Magic. That seems to work too. I generally set up the partitions, and then once I have the Slackware disk in to boot from, I just run setup right away as you don't have to do it again.

Hi,
I would suggest that when you create a partition table to go ahead and re-boot so that the table will indeed be updated. Then you can create your filesystem(s) on the partitions and verify then setup.

Errr what? I was replying the the OP. You CAN'T create partitions on these drives for some reason and there isn't even an error message, yet for some reason SUSE and other installers can somehow write to them.

It's a little hard to "create partitions" when cfdisk and fdisk won't even load the drive up saying it is read only. Which is why I replied telling them how I do it.

I just installed 12.0 verson on Vostro 1000.
1. Run fdisk and "p" to see in where the microsoft window is installed. Mine is in "/dev/sda1."
2. Then partition according to sda drive.

I hope this will help.

Dukeman

Hi,
I didn't say what you were doing was wrong. I was replying to you that a update of the partition table will be the way to go. A reboot will insure that. Be it for whatever distribution. That way you insure that the table is valid. I like to go ahead an verify after the reboot by creating the filesystem and doing a bad block check. Especially true for the swap partition to insure that there are no holes. A big problem for a swap.

Sorry about the misunderstanding.

It's no problem, it's just really weird for anyone who hasn't actually seen this happen before.

I mean literally, I'll make partitions with something like Partition magic or that SUSE DVD, and then when I reboot with a Slackware install CD, cfdisk and fdisk just simply won't show you anything at all.

I mean literally it says the disk is read only and won't even show you the table.

Thats' why I told him to just use something like partition magic, or, download a SUSE install CD, use that to set them up, and then skip the partitioning parts on Slackware since for some reason it won't allow you to make partitions.

BSD is the same way, I don't know what the real difference is in what each distro uses when it makes partitions, but fdisk and cfdisk just can't open the disk in these laptops.

It stumped me at first too and I had a SUSE DVD handy and gave that a shot, and it worked, which stumped me more, but at least the partition table was set up exactly how I wanted it, and afterwards if I want to install Slackware I just run setup.

the problem is for some reason the driver on the huge smp kernel is not loading. all the drivers for your box. so it cannot see the sda scsi device. please in CMOS bios setup select none plg n play. anther way is to start set up then exit the installer loades the modules into ram then go back and cfdisk good luck. or just go into set up.

Not really. This has been happening since about 8.1 with whatever Kernel is selected. Going into setup the way you're saying isn't going to do much good unless he took my advice first in making partitions before hand.

Setup needs partitions to write to.

this is strange wonder why this is happening any one ask peter his email is on all the distros. well if you type cfdisk /dev/hda1 it will show nothing but if you type cfdisk /dev/hda
it will show all the partions on hda. but I am sure you know that. This is a paradox you digg.
and that is the same thing with fdisk. for some reason the installer is unable to read the FS. or none fs.

I had a wierd problem like that on a old toshiba lap top. seems that the windows only bios had set aside a irq for it. dang thing drove me nuts. but slack 10.2 went on fine strange.

Is this slackware 12 or slackware-current (just in case)? More or less I figured out this could be because of Intel 965 Not to mention that bios update sometimes helps.

Hmmm, update BIOS, or download a SUSE install CD or use Partition Magic to do partitions.... Tough choice... I think most people who don't want to screw with BIOS would just pick the second.