Arch Linux

longmains

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2012-03-06

Posts: 15

Website

[SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

Been running Arch for a while now. Unfortunately I had to do a reinstall because of another distro I had installed caused disk problems.

So I downloaded the latest snapshot, started the installation. When it came to manually configuring the hard disk, I set up the following.

sdb1 500 mb intended for boot
sdb2 2048mb for swap
sdb3 20 gigs for root
sdb4 150 gigs for home.
free space 300 gigs (maybe less or more for other distro)

Hard disk not set up I now try and set partitions and format for arch.

Boot first as usual. But when it asks to select the partition I can see two of every partition on every disk on the PC (including NTFS for windows on sda). When I select one for boot, it goes through the motions of allotting boot. Then returns to the selection menu. I see boot is not showing. So I try root and that does not work also. What is going on.

Okay, I decide to use the whole disk. So allow the default options. That sets up the partitions as 125mb for boot, 2048mb for swap and 7.5 gigs for root, remainder for home.
That works okay and formats the partitions accordingly. I continue with the install. Goes okay until I try and install the bootloader. It comes up with the message. "Your root boot device could not be detected by set up", then when I select sdb (the MBR as it should be) it fails with "Grub does not know boot partition notation for for ." (note the period . dot). What is going on.

So I get hold of an older snapshot from approximately three months ago. Installation goes okay with that disk. Partitions set up manually okay and grub installs okay. Though I did run into trouble with pacman updating with the conflicting files problem.

Last edited by longmains (2012-06-22 13:25:14)

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,576

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

So I get hold of an older snapshot from approximately three months ago. Installation goes okay with that disk. Partitions set up manually okay and grub installs okay. Though I did run into trouble with pacman updating with the conflicting files problem.

??

So everything you described is now fixed, but you have a new problem you didn't bother to describe?  I'm not sure what you're looking for in a response.

I'll offer a suggestion anyhow - instead of working with the snapshots, have you tried the net install?

Last edited by Trilby (2012-06-21 23:36:20)

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"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: [SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

longmains, keep it short and to the point. Don't waste other people's time with endless monologues.

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

I have made a personal commitment not to reply in topics that start with a lowercase letter. Proper grammar and punctuation is a sign of respect, and if you do not show any, you will NOT receive any help (at least not from me).

longmains

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2012-03-06

Posts: 15

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

Sorry but to me it is not endless. I am having a particular problem with new Arch snapshots on my system. Think it may be only on my system with a hard drive problem. Just thought I'd let people know in case they have had a similar problem and see if there is a resolution. As I said everything is okay with a snapshot from March except the same pacman issue as is posted on the arch home page. Going to mark thread as solved.

sonoran

Member

From: sonoran desert

Registered: 2009-01-12

Posts: 192

Re: [SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

sdb1 500 mb intended for boot
sdb2 2048mb for swap
sdb3 20 gigs for root
sdb4 150 gigs for home.
free space 300 gigs (maybe less or more for other distro)

Your original partition scheme used all 4 primary partitions without an extended partition. The 300 gigs of free space would have been unusable on an mbr-partitioned disk.

longmains

Member

From: Scotland

Registered: 2012-03-06

Posts: 15

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Multiple problems on new installation.

sdb1 500 mb intended for boot
sdb2 2048mb for swap
sdb3 20 gigs for root
sdb4 150 gigs for home.
free space 300 gigs (maybe less or more for other distro)

Your original partition scheme used all 4 primary partitions without an extended partition. The 300 gigs of free space would have been unusable on an mbr-partitioned disk.

Sorry should have mentioned that sdb4 is extended partition, For sdb4 above should sdb5 as well as 300gigs free on the extended partition,

Last edited by longmains (2012-06-22 19:12:43)