Arch Linux

Tyrian

Member

Registered: 2008-10-22

Posts: 7

Installing Arch on Asus Eee, Already Read the Wiki [Solved]

I'm attempting to install Arch on my Asus Eee 701 (4GB SSD model) and I made a mistake that I'm having trouble correcting.  First, I accidentally wrote the image to my Eee's SSD, instead of my USB drive.  I tried to install Arch with the installer on my SSD, set up the partitions (one for /, one for /boot, and one for /home), but when I issued the command, it told me that the disk was in use.  It was then that I realized what I did.  I used an Ubuntu LiveCD on another computer to burn the image file again, this time to my USB drive.  I booted my Eee from the USB drive and tried to partition my SSD again, but this time, it tells me:

Device or resource busy
This disk is currently in use - repartitioning is probably a bad idea.
Unmount all file systems, and swapoff all swap partitions on this disk.
Use the --no-reread flag to suppress this check.
Use the --force flag to overrule all checks.

When I boot from my SSD, I get the same message, so I'm not even 100% certain that I booted from my USB drive before.  My USB drive's activity light was on though.

Is there any way to fix this?  Also, given that I have an SSD, what partitions should I set up and how big should they be?  I can't find any concrete numbers in the wiki.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Last edited by Tyrian (2008-11-17 04:14:23)

Ranguvar

Member

Registered: 2008-08-12

Posts: 2,563

Re: Installing Arch on Asus Eee, Already Read the Wiki [Solved]

As they say in that message

First of all, the command 'mount' by itself should list all filesystems and their mount points. Ensure that the SSD is not really mounted. If it is, unmount it ('umount'). If you can't unmount, and you're SURE the SSD is not in use, try the -f option with umount. If the SSD is not mounted anywhere, try doing the process you did with the --no-reread option.

Tyrian

Member

Registered: 2008-10-22

Posts: 7

Re: Installing Arch on Asus Eee, Already Read the Wiki [Solved]

I'll try that, thanks.  What would happen if I dismounted the SSD with -f if it was in use?

EDIT:  I just realized that when I go into the installer, it lets me set up partitions manually (I run the installer, pick "Prepare Hard Drive", "Partition Hard Drives", "/dev/sda").  But how should I set them up?  When I test it by just making one 4GB partition, it tells me, "Wrote partition table, but re-read table failed.  Reboot to update table."  So I rebooted, and it appears to work.  So I deleted that partition, made a 512MB one, rebooted, and repeated until I had 3 partitions in ext2, a 512MB (sda1, bootable), 512MB (sda2), and one roughly 2.5GB (sda3).  I then went to "Set Filesystem Mountpoints", said "NONE" for the swap (due to the avoiding pitfalls section of the wiki), picked "/dev/sda1" as "/" in ext2, made "/dev/sda2" as ext2 called "/var", and made "/dev/sda3" in ext2 called "/home", then said "DONE".  When I say "Yes" as the confirmation prompt, I get this message:

Error creating filesystem: mke2fs /dev/sda1

I hit enter and get dropped back to the "Prepare Hard Drive" menu.  I followed this section of the Beginner's Guide too.

Is there any way to fix this?

Last edited by Tyrian (2008-11-15 18:37:10)