Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

Moargazm · 2010-04-02 08:57:24

It seems that every time I try to install Arch on this computer, as soon as I reboot, whatever linux partition is on the first disk gets changed to a FAT16 format! The only thing I can possibly guess is that there's some strange Dell utility in the BIOS that insists on installing itself on every hard disk. I'm led to believe this because there is a FAT16 partition labeled "Dell Utility" at the beginning of the other two hard disks that were previously in this machine.

How do I make it stop?! It just overwrites whatever I put there, which is generally my root partition.

It's a Dell XPS 400 tower

.:B:. · 2010-04-02 10:25:05

You work around it? Make a small partition, leave it untouched, whatever it is that converts it will probably just be happy there is a partition. I'd play around a few times before you actually get to installing it though.

Moargazm · 2010-04-02 10:28:45

I've thought about it, but it just annoys me that something is being put there without my consent. I'm in no particular hurry to get Arch on this box though, so I'm willing to wait until I can find an actual solution.

I'm sorry? Play around with what?

Edit: If you meant arch, I've been using it for about 3 years. I just posted here because I'm new to the forum, and figured I'd get the best response in this area.

Last edited by Moargazm (2010-04-02 10:32:37)

barzam · 2010-04-02 10:36:32

Maybe you can find some info on this site:
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

Moargazm · 2010-04-02 10:41:27

barzam wrote:

Maybe you can find some info on this site:
http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

I did actually check out that site already. Unfortunately it makes no reference to the Utility spawning new partitions.

moljac024 · 2010-04-02 10:50:21

Wow. What a load of crap.

.:B:. · 2010-04-02 11:13:22

@ Moljac: I'm sure that helps him...

Moargazm wrote:

I'm sorry? Play around with what?
Edit: If you meant arch, I've been using it for about 3 years. I just posted here because I'm new to the forum, and figured I'd get the best response in this area.

I meant with partitioning . See what size it will be happy with (I wouldn't be surprised if the utility expects a minimum size).

I can understand you want to get to the bottom of this but I'm afraid it will go pretty deep (and if your setup is still under warranty Dell won't be likely to help you out if they found out what you were doing). If you already formatted your HD then I'm pretty sure there's nothing on the HD, it's somewhere in the firmware of the device.

Gullible Jones · 2010-04-02 19:53:01

Check the BIOS settings. Just a hunch, but there's probably some crap in there relating to this. Maybe named something like "automatic partition restore"... Or perhaps "faster boot".

(If you're wondering why the latter - Asus EeePCs have an EFI partition by default, and a BIOS function that lets you use it for a faster boot. So I'm thinking the Dell has something similar, only it automatically tries to create the partition if it's deleted.)

Optionally you could try calling Dell tech support. They might actually have an answer, though you may not like it.

moljac024 · 2010-04-02 22:01:27

@B: I was just amazed at the stupidity of it.

Anyway, it's not like I would add anything new: Look around in the BIOS to turn it off, or leave a small, but big enough empty partition for it to be happy. I have never seen anything like this before though. It's wrong on so many levels...

Moargazm · 2010-04-03 00:58:59

Ugh. I've left it a partition of it's own, which seemed to work, but now I've got a new problem...

After installation, the drive paths change. When using the liveCD, my installation is on /dev/sda, but after installation, it's on /dev/sdb. I've edited grub to point to the new location of /boot, but now it's giving me this:

Root device mounted successfully, but /sbin/init does not exist. 
Bailing out, you are on your own. Good luck.

And left me with a ramfs prompt.

This is the 3rd time I've reinstalled and ran into the same problem. I'm starting to think this tower just can't play well with linux.

hatten · 2010-04-03 06:48:54

You could always install a new bios.

Gullible Jones · 2010-04-03 13:05:08

I hope you mean "updating the BIOS", because installing a different BIOS generally = bricked machine.

(Unless you're talking about Coreboot, which looks cool but which I really wouldn't advise messing with at this point.)

Last edited by Gullible Jones (2010-04-03 13:05:38)

hatten · 2010-04-03 17:59:31

Well, if you brick it you can always use it as a doorstopper

dcc24 · 2010-04-03 19:24:41

I had a similar problem with my Dell 1564. I already had another harddisk from my dead laptop, so I switched the drives. Problem gone. My guess is that the Dell BIOS makes some hardware check first, before creating the "Dell Utility" partition. The check then fails since it's not the original HDD and it leaves the partition table untouched. Still YMMV.

novafluxx · 2010-04-03 19:37:08

There is nothing in the BIOS that "installs" a restore or utility partition onto the hard drive. Once you delete that partition it won't come back, unless you use a System Restore CD/DVD, or replace the hard drive itself with one that has been imaged by Dell.

Whatever is going on seems to be that the partition isn't deleting properly, and the MBR isn't being overwritten either, based on my preliminary diagnosis after reading this thread. This could indicate a problem with the drive itself. Try running some diagnostics. If you don't know how I can help you with that.

How many hard drives do you have in the system? The XPS400 is a comsumer grade gaming machine, sometimes sold with a RAID configuration. Do you have 2 hard drives or 1?

Last edited by novafluxx (2010-04-03 19:44:59)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-04-02 08:57:24

Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#2 2010-04-02 10:25:05

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#3 2010-04-02 10:28:45

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#4 2010-04-02 10:36:32

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#5 2010-04-02 10:41:27

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#6 2010-04-02 10:50:21

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#7 2010-04-02 11:13:22

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#8 2010-04-02 19:53:01

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#9 2010-04-02 22:01:27

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#10 2010-04-03 00:58:59

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#11 2010-04-03 06:48:54

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#12 2010-04-03 13:05:08

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#13 2010-04-03 17:59:31

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#14 2010-04-03 19:24:41

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

#15 2010-04-03 19:37:08

Re: Is Dell sabotaging my installation?

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