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Fallen at the first hurdle


Roken
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Having been an Ubuntu user for a while, and hitting some problems, followed by reading good things about Mandriva - I thought I'd give it a go.

 

Downloaded the ISO and burned to a disk, booted - and got to the desktop - and I have to say my first impressions were good. So - time to install, and here's where my problems start.

 

I have 2 SATA HD's - 250Gig each. Windows is on the first, with a couple of NTFS partitions on the second. The first 100Gb on disk 2 is free and available for the linux install. With Ubuntu - I had no problem with this.

 

However, Mandriva complains that the partition table is too corrupted and kindly offers to wipe the disk. The reported size of the disk is 490Gb - which suggests it thinks I have a RAID setup (I don't - they are JBOD).

 

How can I install to my free space on disk 2 without screwing up my existing Win installation (and the data on the backend 150Gb on disk 2 - which is kinda important to me).

 

TIA

 

Edit: Config: MB Abit KN9Ultra (RAID disabled at BIOS), AMD Athlon X2 6400, ATI X1950GT, 2GIG PC 6400 @ 800Mhz, 2 x 250Gig SATA HD (with install space for LInux at the start of disk two - grub is on disk one), 2x SATA DVD-RW. The partition table should show sda1 Windows, sda2 NTFS, sda3 NTFS, sdb1 Ext 3, sdb2 swap, sdb3 NTFS, sdb4 NTFS(scratch partition for temp, Windows pagefile etc)

Edited by Roken
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  • 2 weeks later...

OK - this is driving me insane.

 

To try to get around the problem, I installed Ubuntu which will accept the empty space for the new Linux partitions without a problem. Now I have booted the Mandriva LiveCD and tried to install, expecting to be able to format the Ubuntu partitions and use them, but I get the same error that Mandriva doesn't understand the partition table. When I use the config tool to partition manually, it is clear that Mandriva is seeing my standard SATA drives as a RAID array, lumping the two together into a single disk.

 

Is there a switch I can use at bootup to tell Mandriva this is NOT a RAID array, but simply two disks?

 

Please please help - I really like the look of this distro and desperately want to try it properly.

 

TIA

 

Steve

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Aha. Another SATA related problem with two SATA Hard Drives and 2008-Spring on the 2nd SATA HDD, sdb.

 

What is the bettng that this will be ignored by Mandriva as is my problem experience with Mandriva 2008-Spring installed on sdb. I developed a work around my self, no thanks to Mandriva, but nothing from Mandriva to even acknowledge the problem at all.

 

Try using what I found and install 2008-Spring on the 1st. SATA drive, sda, even if it means a little bit of rearranging compared to with what you have. Keep your Windows on sda though.

 

I wish you luck. Stick with Mandriva the OS if you can and experiment a little and you will likely develop a work-around too for your problem. When you get it up and running you will find it worth while.

 

Cheers. John.

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The easy workaround is disconnecting one of the two SATA drives at installation phase. Of course after installing the OS some grub editing is needed before connecting the second drive, so it will be able to boot both systems, but this isn't difficult.

Some more useful info is if your SATA HD's are set in the BIOS in AHCI mode, or IDE emulation mode, plus if they are jumpered as SATA I or SATA II (not all SATA II drives have such jumpers).

Edited by scarecrow
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Hi Scarecrow. What you suggest is certainly doable for more experienced users such as you and I but Newcomers would not find it at all easy. They also should not have to think about such a problem for something so basic that worked in Mandriva2008-Free and earlier.

 

Cheers. John.

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Wow - at last - thanks for the replies folks - and it's good to know it's not me going nuts.

 

I'm certainly no stranger to playing with the hardware (both PC's are self builds) so I can quite happily disconnect sda to install Mandriva. Neither drive is jumpered, so changing jumpers is not an option (Edit: I tell a lie - they are SATA II by default - I can jumper them to SATA I if required). I suspect part of my problem is that, whilst not quite identical, the two drives are extremely close to each other in terms of spec (simply different revisions of the same drive) which would tend to lean towards the conclusion that they are in a RAID configuration.

 

Before I start playing, if I may ask for additional info.

 

i. Can I get away with simply disabling sda in the BIOS and booting from the CD to install?

ii. Will my data on the NTFS partitions of what is (currently) sdb be safe (it's all my personal stuff - though the free space for Linux is at the start of the disk)

iii. Since GRUB is currently installed on sda - what sort of problems can I expect when setting up the dual boot with Win XP. Would I be advised to restore the MBR from XP recovery console on sda before proceeding (losing Grub is not a problem right at this moment in time)?

 

Thanks once again for replying.

 

Steve

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Let's get at things one by one.

First, the two SATA drives is definitely not a Linux soft spot. My main desktop does have two SATA HD's, and it's working without the slightest hiccup with Linux- factly, it has been working like that since I've built that system (Core 2 Duo 6600/2G RAM, later upgraded to 4G/Nvidia 7600GS/Asus P5B-V), which is some two years ago. I have installed on it my darling for the last 4 years (ArchLinux), as well as PCLInuxOS (two different versions.\, latest one some six months ago- both worked great), Kubuntu (also worked fine, but I didn't like it), and Sidux, some five months ago (terrific distro, it would really be my choice if Arch wasn't that good... for my needs, that is).

I have also used Mandriva (mainly Cooker for a very, very long time, but always as a virtual machine, installed on a virtual IDE drive- so I do not really know how it will behave with two REAL SATA drives- sorry for that...

I can try it on my main system, but I don't think this will happen soon. Generically speaking, Mandriva has no real chances becoming my distro of choice, for the foreseeable future.

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I agree with you Scarecrow that SATAs are NOT a softspot with Linux, only with Mandriva and ONLY on 2008-Spring.

 

Hello Roken.

If you look at your bios carefully you should see that you can select DVD/CD as first to boot up. There should not be any necessity to disable SATA to be able to do an install.

I certainly have never ever had to.

 

Cheers. John.

Edited by AussieJohn
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I agree with you Scarecrow that SATAs are NOT a softspot with Linux, only with Mandriva and ONLY on 2008-Spring.

 

Hello Roken.

If you look at your bios carefully you should see that you can select DVD/CD as first to boot up. There should not be any necessity to disable SATA to be able to do an install.

I certainly have never ever had to.

 

Cheers. John.

 

Thanks John. That's not what I meant. I already have CD/DVD set as first boot device anyway (I find it easier that way). What I meant is in order to install onto the 2nd SATA drive, if I understood your original reply properly, I need to remove the first SATA from the equation. Rather than physically disconnecting it, installing Mandriva, reconnecting, and then finding a way to manually edit grub already installed in sda1, can I simply disable sda in BIOS, then boot the CD to install to sdb, re-enable sda at the BIOS, and worry about trying to edit grub on sda after that?

 

TIA

 

Steve

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For me Mandriva 2008 Spring installed without problems on the second sata drive, no fiddling with noapic or the like, just a clean install. how is your sata-controller set in the bios ? tried other settings there ?

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Aha I see what you are meaning now. You are trying to avoid the problem that I encountered. Obviously when doing the install routine you can select the hard drive to install -, in this case you want it to be sdb which is your second SATA hard drive.

I would suggest that this time round that you just go ahead and install to the sdb and see what happens. If you encounter the problem I had then seriously consider installing the /root Partition and /Home partition on sda in some free space and still create Music, Graphics _Picture ,etc) and Videos Mandriva partitions on sdb.

When you come to the Grub boot setting part just select install to the mbr even though it is on the sda drive and let grub do its thing.

I can assure you that trying to paste in the grub menu.lst from 2008-Spring into a grub bootloader installed by an earlier version of Mandriva WILL NOT WORK even though you would think it should.

But don't worry because the Mandriva-Spring grub will detect your other Mandriva if you have one and will also detect your Windows OS and list it as well.

 

If you do not already have any Mandriva partitions on sda in the first place then it is unlikely you will have any problems installing onto sdb, such as I experienced, at all.

 

Please let us know how you go.

 

Cheers. John.

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Aha I see what you are meaning now. You are trying to avoid the problem that I encountered. Obviously when doing the install routine you can select the hard drive to install -, in this case you want it to be sdb which is your second SATA hard drive.

 

Thanks again - but here's the crux of the problem. despite my drives being setup as JBOD (no RAID config whatsoever) - mandriva is seeing a single drive of close on 500 gig. In other words - it sees a striped RAID array where it doesn't exist. In Windows (and Ubuntu - including 8.04) I have two disks, but Mandriva sees one large drive.

 

For the record - I do not now, nor have I ever, setup a RAID array. I have RAID disabled at BIOS level, and so I'm baffled as to why, but c'est la vie say the old folks (Chuck Berry quote). I'm starting to think this is a bug in the partitioner - but surely that would affect other distros too?

 

Steve

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My apologies yet again.

Hello Roken.

Our experienced problems are not the same.

 

I am starting to think our two problems have a common root and are perhaps symptomatic of a deeper problem of Mandriva2008-Spring not being capable of handling SATA issues properly.

 

The fact that other users say they don't have problems related to SATA doesn't mean a thing if two types of problems such as we have are readily reproduced install after install and as I try to keep reminding everyone, these problems did not occur in 2008 or earlier versions.

 

What truly surprises me is that our good friend Adamw has totally avoided these posts of yours and mine on SATA issues although visiting MUB many times in that period. Maybe it is just too hot a potato. I have a vast respect for Adam so I am a little surprised to say the least. Maybe Mandriva has told him to leave this issue alone. This is only speculation on my part of course.

 

By the way what Mainboard and what hard drives are you using. I am using a Gigabyte MA790X-D84 board and two Western Digital SATA II, 16mgb cache 160Gbs Hard drives.

 

Cheers for now. John

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By the way what Mainboard and what hard drives are you using. I am using a Gigabyte MA790X-D84 board and two Western Digital SATA II, 16mgb cache 160Gbs Hard drives.

 

Hi again, John.

 

I have an Abit KN9Ultra MB (NF5 chipset) with 2 Hitachi SATA II drives, 250Gb each, and two LG DVDRW (also Sata). IDE mode is set at the BIOS (and clearly working since I can boot the LiveCD).

 

It is starting to look like Mandriva may simply be a non-starter here. I'm sure that if I was prepared to sacrifice the contents of my drives I could get it installed, but that is quite simply not an option. I have a highly cutomised install of Windows on drive 1, which I don't relish the thought of re-installing (it's a 3 day job), and a lot of personal data on drive 2 (though as I said, the first 100Gb of drive 2 is free for the Linux install).

 

To rule out local problems, I downloaded the latest Ubuntu distro (8.04) - which installed without a hitch. I think I may have to stick with that for the moment, until this problem is fixed.

 

Regards

 

Steve

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