[SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

replax · 2011-02-12 22:04:52

Hello,

Firstly, I am rather sorry that my first post on the forum is a post in which I am asking for help, but I hope I can do my best to help other in the future, too!
To cut a long story short, I have an Acer netbook which ships with Windows 7 and a recovery partition. Due to my work I am forced to have that Windows 7 on my netbook, there is no way around that.
For quiet some time I ran Ubuntu Netbook Remix along Windows 7, which also installs GRUB. Unfortunately, Ubuntu comes with a lot of stuff I don't need and I don't get to chose what I want and what I do not...
So I decided to ditch Ubuntu and install Arch Linux, so I booted up GParted Live from a thumb drive and erased Ubuntu and its swap partition.
Afterwards, I booted up Arch's net install, set everything properly until step three.
As I do not want my whole HD to be erased, I wanted to manually set up my partitions and where I want to install Arch.

However, upon selecting manual, I get the following error: Bad primary partition 1: Partition ends in the final partial cylinder
Now, initially it was Bad primary partition 3: Partition ends in the final partial cylinder, but I then decided to wipe the HD (excluding the recovery partition) and recover Windows to then try again if it'd work. It didn't.
Worse even, it kinda screwed with GRUB, causing it to not load any OS anymore (that's a minor issue though, as it can be fixed rather easily, has nothing to do with Arch and will probably be fixed automatically upon installing Arch).

Now, I suspect the recovery partition to be the cause of my problem and I do not really understand the error, nor do I have any idea on how to fix it. Also, I do not own any Software to create an image from my HD to back the recovery partition up.

Thank you for your time
Yours sincerely,

replax

EDIT: just thinking about it, I might try to dd the recovery partition onto an external drive. I wouldn't know how to "restore" the recovery partition onto the original drive. Also, I wouldn't be able to check the integrity.

Last edited by replax (2011-02-17 10:31:03)

Awebb · 2011-02-12 22:25:02

Your recovery partition is to blame. They don't ship the HDD with a regular partition table. Make a backup and reinstall both, Win7 and Arch. Maybe you can get around installing win7. Try and error?

lucke · 2011-02-12 22:32:42

You should be able to partition the disk with gparted and then just format the partitions/set mount points with Arch's installer, without running cfdisk.

replax · 2011-02-12 22:45:29

Thanks for your quick replies!

So, the best way to do it then would be to install Win7, split its partition in two (for Arch), then using gparted formating that partition (ext4?) and then setting the mount point of Arch to the newly formated partition?

.:B:. · 2011-02-12 23:07:21

You don't need gparted, Arch's installer will offer you the option to partition the remaining space. Just make sure you install Windows 7 first and that it doesn' eat your whole HD.

lucke · 2011-02-12 23:17:30

replax, yes.

B, the problem is that cfdisk, used by Arch's installer, doesn't want to work in some circumstances and parted/gparted does work.

replax · 2011-02-12 23:33:14

alright, thanks! I'm installing now and I'll post later if it all worked out.

btw, cfdisk seems to be really picky about partitions, unlike fdisk...

Last edited by replax (2011-02-12 23:34:21)

s1ck0 · 2011-02-17 09:36:29

i encountered the same problem before... i fixed it without wiping the disk...

all i did was use gparted to readjust/resize the partition that resides in the partial cylinder...

replax · 2011-02-17 09:56:25

@s1ck0
did you check afterwards if your recovery partition was still completly intact?

the way i used worked, too, just with the downside that i cannot use cfdisk.

ichase · 2011-02-17 13:53:35

I personally say that gparted is the way to go in setting up your partitions PRIOR to install. I have used it MANY times and I have never had an error. Also, I use Clonezilla and clone all of my partitions atleast once every 2 weeks. Great program and I have yet to have any errors re-imaging a partition after I made a goof ball mistake.

All the best,

Ian

replax · 2011-02-17 14:28:33

Thanks for the CloneZilla link, really useful!

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-12 22:04:52

[SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#2 2011-02-12 22:25:02

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#3 2011-02-12 22:32:42

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#4 2011-02-12 22:45:29

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#5 2011-02-12 23:07:21

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#6 2011-02-12 23:17:30

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#7 2011-02-12 23:33:14

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#8 2011-02-17 09:36:29

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#9 2011-02-17 09:56:25

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#10 2011-02-17 13:53:35

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

#11 2011-02-17 14:28:33

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to get beyond step three during Arch Install

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