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#1 2010-12-09 00:49:15

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

So I've been fighting this for 9 hours now. I've tried everything I could think of to resolve it. I was going to put Arch on my laptop, and the first time I ran the installer, I got all the way up to the part where I install GRUB, and it failed to install. Interestingly, for GRUB install location choices, I had /dev/sda twice. it failed to install on either of them, because of "Unknown partition type: 0x82" which is a swap partition (Though /dev/sda definitely should not be swap).

Every attempt since then, the install process SEEMS to be doing stuff, but when I get to the config part, I have no files on my HDD at all from the install process whatsover. None. I've tried recreating the entire partition table, both CD and network installs ... I even installed Ubuntu to see if Ubuntu could install and boot successfully, which it could. I used, for both Arch and Ubuntu installs, ext4 /home, swap, ext4 /, and ext2 /boot, in that order on the hard disk. I double checked my /dev/sda# numbers every time by using TTY2 and running fdisk -l, to which I would tab back and forth to make sure I was setting mount point correctly. Still, Arch will not install at all. I have no idea what to do next.

EDIT: I also have run HDD diagnostics. The hard disk is healthy.

Last edited by Ceiling Fan Man (2010-12-09 05:22:06)

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#2 2010-12-09 02:40:13

lagagnon
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From: an Island in the Pacific...
Registered: 2009-12-10
Posts: 1,087
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Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Run any Live Linux CD and open a terminal and type "sudo fdisk -l" and show us the output.


Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

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#3 2010-12-09 03:37:34

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0008dcdd

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       22101   177526251    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2           22103       38913   135034327    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           22103       35156   104856223+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6           38901       38913      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda7           35157       35417     2096451   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8           35418       38900    27977166   83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

/dev/sda1 is Windows 7. sda5 is supposed to be /home, sda6 is /boot,sda 7 is /, and sda8 is swap.
Laptop brand, if it matters any, is System76. It's a Pangolin Performance from last year.

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#4 2010-12-09 03:46:15

bangkok_manouel
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From: indicates a starting point
Registered: 2005-02-07
Posts: 1,556

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

sda 7 is /, and sda8 is swap

that's a typo?

/edit: because sda7 fs is swap

Last edited by bangkok_manouel (2010-12-09 03:47:23)

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#5 2010-12-09 03:46:53

skunktrader
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From: Brisbane, Australia
Registered: 2010-02-14
Posts: 1,538

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Ceiling Fan Man wrote:

/dev/sda1 is Windows 7. sda5 is supposed to be /home, sda6 is /boot,sda 7 is /, and sda8 is swap.

I think you have sda7 and sda8 reversed

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#6 2010-12-09 03:58:35

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

I see that here, it must changed when I was re =partitioning since the last install attempt. Swap was indeed sda8 when I last tried to install Arch though, I assure you.

EDIT: Tried downloading, burning, and using a x86_64 only CD instead of the dual architecture I was trying to use. No diffrence, I still have no files. Next, attempting to make an installer with Pendrive Linux. Don't know what difference that would make, but I'd really like to have Arch on the laptop....

Last edited by Ceiling Fan Man (2010-12-09 04:51:56)

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#7 2010-12-09 04:56:14

unilx
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From: Fredericton,Canada
Registered: 2009-10-01
Posts: 183

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

I'm not sure if this will help but i see that your sda1  ntfs partition is set to bootable.Maybe you could try setting one of your linux partitions to bootable

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#8 2010-12-09 05:21:30

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

The problem wasn't with booting, it was with actually copying files from the install. But, I did finally manage to solve my own problem just now, 13 hours after I started trying to install to my laptop.

To gut the story of details and failed attempts, I'll just say the solution, for anyone who might run into this problem, was to use Pendrive Linux to create a USB installer. The dual architecture ISO will not boot properly with Pendrive Linux, so make sure you download an ISO for your architecture specifically.

I installed Arch from an x86_64 Pendrive, and it actually copied files and installed packages. Arch simply won't install to my laptop from CD. Other OSes will, and Arch installs fine from CD on my desktop, but my laptop didn't like the CD.

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#9 2010-12-09 20:26:25

Dieter@be
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From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-11-05
Posts: 2,000
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Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Something tells me there is an interesting problem here.  Something more then "my laptop didn't like the CD".  Maybe a mistake on your end, maybe a bug in the installer.  Something worth debugging, imho.

"Unknown partition type: 0x82" on /dev/sda is weird, because that's not a partition at all. where did you see this error?  You sure that's how it went down?

Also, I find it hard to believe the installer wouldn't put files on the filesystems of the target filesystem, if the partition,filesystem and package installation steps went fine.


< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
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#10 2010-12-09 21:17:14

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Yeah I don't really understand it either. But I carefully went through the partitioning (With a gparted live CD) several times, and the installation from CD several times, using both the dual architecture CD and a x86_64 CD. Tried dual first, and it installed fine up to the point where I needed to install GRUB, which it failed to do so. Every attempt after that the CD failed to install any packages or files. It would say package installation was complete, but it actually did not do squat. The USB installer installed without a hitch.

However, I wonder if it could just be incompatible with my System76 PanP5 laptop, as now that it's installed and bootable, try as a I might, I can not get a network connection in order to finish the setup. I'm about to make a topic for that, but as I browsed to the forums, I seen my topic here had a reply and stopped here first. smile

Edit: ...And the "Unknown Partition type" error was seen after GRUB failed to install. I believe I seen it when I checked TTY7 (I believe that was the behind-the-scenes output during install) after GRUB failed to install.

Last edited by Ceiling Fan Man (2010-12-09 21:18:40)

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#11 2010-12-10 20:47:11

Dieter@be
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From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-11-05
Posts: 2,000
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Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

have you ran memtest already? your problem seems pretty random. and it should not matter whether you run a single- or dual arch image. the environment you boot (and software you have) is identical.


< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
4 8 15 16 23 42

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#12 2010-12-11 18:47:19

Ceiling Fan Man
Member
Registered: 2010-12-08
Posts: 12

Re: Arch Installer Won't Actually Install [Solved, USB Installer FTW]

Dieter@be wrote:

have you ran memtest already? your problem seems pretty random. and it should not matter whether you run a single- or dual arch image. the environment you boot (and software you have) is identical.

The laptop passes Memtest, and the dual image thing applies only to using Pendrive Linux. It's not an official form of using Arch Linux (To my knowledge), but if you run the dual architecture ISO on Pendrive Linux, and then boot to it, you don't get the the same boot menu. You get one that looks like it is for single architecture, and when you select to boot to it, it just reloads the boot menu and sets the timer to 300 seconds all over again. This is only an issue when booting from a Pendrive Linux version of the dual architecture Arch ISO.

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