Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

Sirupsen · 2009-11-14 22:31:52

Hello there!

Yesterday I tried out Arch in a Virtualbox on my Ubuntu build, I really liked it. It was really fast, Pacman worked very nice, and it was very easy to install a desktop environment, I choosed Xfce4 for the that Arch build to test it out! Also, the primary reason for the switch, was to learn more about Linux, and I'm sure Arch can do that for me.

Anyway, today I decided I'd like to replace Ubuntu on my Desktop, with Arch. I, at that time, had two systems installed:
* Ubuntu Karmic
* Windows XP

I had stuff backed up, so I was ready to roll. I booted from my Arch disc. It went fine for the first couple of seconds, but then I got the error:
Buffer I/O error logical block xxxx
I quickly rebooted, and got the same thing. However, this time I let it finish. It actually went to the point where I could login as root, and install. But I decidede to burn a new disc, as I supposed the other one were corrupted or similar, so I burned a new disc in my still working Ubuntu build at slowest speed possible (8x).

Again, I got the Buffer I/O error, but I just let it finish and started the install. I followed the beginners guide, and it was going fine. When I went into the partitions, I deleted everything (Windows XP and Ubuntu, as I wanted a completely fresh install, and then add these later) and made these partitions for Arch:

30 gb. Bootable partition mounted at "/"
6gb SWAP partition
100 gb. partition mounted at "/"

From there, I just installed the packages, configured like said in beginners guide, and installed the bootloader. I just picked the first partition as boot point, as that was the one containing /boot and was configured to be bootable. I took out the disc, and typed reboot.

When I rebooted, I got a grub error saying something about grub rescue. I had no idea what was going on now. I kind of paniced, and tried to install again the exact same way. Got the same error. Tried again. Same error. Error was:
df: Cannot read table of mounted file systems.

Then I figured, that something had to be wrong with Grub (o' rly ), I went into Ubuntu live cd (which also made the Buffer I/O error), and hoped I could reinstall Grub. I found this "guide" which I followed. But I got an error, I can't remember exactly what it was, but it at least didn't allow me to install Grub, also I couldn't find the Grub configuration file. I restarted, and tried again. Same error. Again, same error.

From there, I went kinda "Fuck this", clicked "Install Ubuntu" on the desktop of the live cd and installed that.

I'm probably completely failing, very unlucky, or not ready for Arch. I kinda saw my goal to get this setup:
* Arch
* Windows XP

I don't care if I have to remove the Ubuntu I'm currently on again, and wipe everything. But next time, I might want to have a better plan. So, I'm asking you guys: What should I do, what did I do wrong?

Last edited by Sirupsen (2009-11-14 22:41:39)

fsckd · 2009-11-14 23:00:20

Sirupsen wrote:

Buffer I/O error logical block xxxx

Either your disk is broken, your drive is broken or both.

30 gb. Bootable partition mounted at "/"
6gb SWAP partition
100 gb. partition mounted at "/"

Both are mount at "/"?

I don't care if I have to remove the Ubuntu I'm currently on again, and wipe everything. But next time, I might want to have a better plan. So, I'm asking you guys: What should I do, what did I do wrong?

Worst case scenario: install from Ubuntu.

Sirupsen · 2009-11-15 00:09:07

The 100gb. partition is mounted at "/home", sorry. Also, as said, I tried to burn new discs (also different kinds), and this didn't fix it. Do you think I have trouble with my harddrive then, and does it have a negative effect (except that it takes about 8x the time to load)?

gazj · 2009-11-15 00:20:21

or try installing from a usb image http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … _USB_stick

it sounds like a cd drive / cd media problem more than anything

Sirupsen · 2009-11-15 00:28:18

Yeah, the problem is that my Motherboard (Asus P5Q) doesn't support USB booting. I of course didn't think about getting a motherboard which supported that, when I build this machine..

fsckd · 2009-11-15 00:34:40

Sorry, by "disk" I meant CD, not the harddisk. If you can't use optical or USB, your only choice is to install from another GNU/Linux system, such as Ubuntu. See the link I gave earlier.

Misfit138 · 2009-11-15 00:36:39

Try the isolinux image?

gazj · 2009-11-15 14:27:16

Maybe this will work, can't see why it would not work for any usb image

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/use-a-flop … ive-linux/

Somewhere I have a floppy disk that allows cd-roms to boot when the motherboard does not support it, even if this doesn't work there must be a floppy out there somewhere that can do the same with usb

Last edited by gazj (2009-11-15 14:31:28)

ASOM · 2009-11-15 17:55:07

Shouldn't be any problem booting from usb on the P5Q. Hit F8 at the post screen.

Sirupsen · 2009-11-16 22:42:09

Thanks a lot everyone, I'll try again in the upcomming weekend.

Thanks Asom, I'll try to boot from a USB that way, I didn't know I could do that.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-11-14 22:31:52

Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#2 2009-11-14 23:00:20

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#3 2009-11-15 00:09:07

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#4 2009-11-15 00:20:21

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#5 2009-11-15 00:28:18

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#6 2009-11-15 00:34:40

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#7 2009-11-15 00:36:39

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#8 2009-11-15 14:27:16

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#9 2009-11-15 17:55:07

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

#10 2009-11-16 22:42:09

Re: Grub, Ubuntu and a bad Arch installation

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