[SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

winek · 2014-09-07 16:21:47

Hello.

I was installing Windows to dual boot with Arch Linux. When, after choosing the desired logical partition the installer hang for a very long time, I finally decided to do a hard reset.

Now, I have a totally f****d up partition table. When trying to access sda5 (Arch /) from GRUB, it says: "Unknown filesystem". Fortunately at least my /home is not destroyed by Windows. However, when I boot the Arch LiveCD, the udev daemon crashes: "Killed process xxx (udev)...". The message is repeated for a while (each time with a new PID), and then kernel panic happens.

What tools can I use to backup my latest data (at least /home, which GRUB rescue shell can read) or/and fix the partition table?

Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!

Last edited by winek (2014-09-10 17:52:46)

ewaller · 2014-09-07 16:41:50

First, please be respectful of other operating systems.. Critiques are acceptable if backed by facts. Nationalistic and slanderous comments are not needed.

end of moderator mode.

Which Windows? Did you try to install it to a working Arch installation? Is this a BIOS or EFI system?
Are you saying that you cannot even boot the install media? It should not have any issues booting regardless of any issues with sda.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-09-07 16:48:03

@winek: it is recommended to install Windows first, then the GNU/Linux distro of your choice...
Windows will not recognise the (ext4?) filesystem used for Arch & was probably in the process of formatting it when you pulled the plug.
Try running gdisk (presuming you are using a GPT disk) to inspect the partition table:

# gdisk /dev/sda

It will tell you if it can repair it.

winek · 2014-09-07 16:58:11

@ewaller: 64-bit Windows 7. The partition for Windows had been created manually using GParted. This is BIOS system. The /home partition was ext3, / was ext4, there was also a 2GB swap and the 50GB logical partition was NTFS.

@Head_on_a_Stick: I can't even boot any (at least modern) Linux ISO because of the crashing udev. Could you point a Linux LiveCD which does not contain udev but contains gdisk and other disk-related utilities?

Booting Ubuntu 14.04, I noticed that a listing with a sequence of sdaX device names:

sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 sda9 sda10 sda11...
Killed process xxx (udev)

It is possible that udev reaches out of memory because of detecting "infinite" number of partitions somehow.

Sorry for my bad English.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2014-09-07 17:00:47

winek wrote:

@Head_on_a_Stick: I can't even boot any (at least modern) Linux ISO because of the crashing udev. Could you point a Linux LiveCD which does not contain udev but contains gdisk and other disk-related utilities?

That makes no sense -- check your firmware ("BIOS") options...
You should be able to boot the Arch live .iso regardless of how FUBAR'd your hard drive is.

ewaller · 2014-09-07 17:24:27

wikek,
Are you booting an Arch Linux installation media, or are you booting an install media for an Arch fork that implements a GUI installer to make your life easier?

If you are, let's ignore that for a second. Let's get you out of this conundrum. Obtain, burn and boot Arch's latest iso and lets see what can be done.

winek · 2014-09-10 17:52:31

Problem solved. I've managed to boot an ancient version of SLES and have used sfdisk to correct the partition table.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-09-07 16:21:47

[SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#2 2014-09-07 16:41:50

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#3 2014-09-07 16:48:03

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#4 2014-09-07 16:58:11

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#5 2014-09-07 17:00:47

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#6 2014-09-07 17:24:27

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

#7 2014-09-10 17:52:31

Re: [SOLVED] Broken partition table, udev crashes.

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