[Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

K0tuk · 2009-04-25 10:14:20

Hi!

I`m trying to install Arch Linux, and when i try to partition my hard drive, it says:

Wrote partition table, but re-read table failed. Reboot the update table.

Reboot doesn`t do anything, it still gives the same error after reboot.

Any ideas?

Edit: I have 2 hard drivers, sda and sdb. sda had 2 partitions ( ext3 and NTFS with Vista, Vista`s partition formatted now ), sdb is empty. Before formatting Vista`s partition couldn`t even bring sda up on the partitioning screen during the install, now i can see it, but it gives me the same error anyway.

Last edited by K0tuk (2009-04-27 12:45:35)

graysky · 2009-04-25 11:08:14

This is the lazy way out but since I'm not too familiar with the partition editor included in the arch cd I would suggest you manually partition the disc(s) using Gparted LiveCD before you attempt to install Arch. The LiveCD has a very nice GUI and is easy to use.

After you make your /, /home, and whatever else you want from within that environment, reboot and install Arch to the partitions you just made.

WARNING: be EXTRA careful and TRIPLE check when you make your selections as to which partitions you want to use for Arch. I too have a two drive system and made the mistake once of installing Arch accidentally to my /dev/sda1 and I meant to select /dev/sdb1 -- /dev/sda1 was my Windows partition! I spent the next 2 hours reinstalling windows to fix that mistake!

Last edited by graysky (2009-04-25 11:10:18)

bwh1969 · 2009-04-25 12:13:55

Good advice. I have had issues with partition editors in distros, but never do I recall having any error using gparted-live. It does a "simulation" then it does fsck, then it moves/resizes, then it does fsck again before it completes.

K0tuk · 2009-04-25 19:28:33

Well, i still can`t install it. gParted does anything OK, without any issues (i actually used Ubuntu`s Live CD). When i try to set mount points in Arch`s Live CD, it throws error:

Error creating swap mkswap /dev/sdb1

. I can select package source, but when i try to choose what to pick some for installation, it gives me error:

Pacman preparation failed! Check /dev/tty7 for errors

but /dev/tty7 is empty...

I checked that /src/core/pkg is mounted and it has all packages there.

Edit: I use core CD, not FTP

Last edited by K0tuk (2009-04-25 19:33:15)

K0tuk · 2009-04-25 19:40:55

I tried auto-partitioning, but when trying to make changes to HDD, it says:

Error partitioning /dev/sdb (see /dev/tty7 for details)

but /dev/tty7 is empty... i need the system to be up and running as soon as possible... this is the first distro that gives me any problems during the install. Also, when i installed Arch for the first time, i didn`t have any problems.

Edit: I burned three CDs already, on the slowest speed, on different PCs, so it`s not a CD issue.

Last edited by K0tuk (2009-04-25 19:42:25)

Kevind71 · 2009-04-25 20:15:19

I had a drive that was giving me all sorts of problems partitioning, even GParted Live CD wouldn't write a partition table. The solution I tracked down involved the following code.

CAUTION - THIS WILL WIPE THE ENTIRE DISK

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512

Replace sda with the appropriate designation for the drive you are having problems with.
After this comand it was suggested that I reboot or run the following command before trying to partition the drive.

blockdev --rereadpt /dev/sda

This might help, but I am not a linux expert by any means. Just remember that the above invocation of dd will completely wipe any existing partition table, so do not use the command as written if there are any partitions containing data that you wish to keep, including hidden partitions such as those used for Windows Recovery by many computer manufacturers.

K0tuk · 2009-04-26 10:44:24

Still no luck, nothing helps. I`ve just formatted both of my hard drives, i`m burning core iso at the moment, i`ll see if formatting both HDDs helped.

K0tuk · 2009-04-26 11:06:48

Still nothing, I`ve formatted both of my HDDs, and still the old error. I`ve already tried the 2008.06 iso, but it gives me the same error... Anyone?

R00KIE · 2009-04-26 12:35:02

I have an idea, do you have the boot sector virus protection active in the bios? That may be silently keeping you from making any changes to the partition table.

K0tuk · 2009-04-26 13:09:56

I will check that, but if it is active, than how gParted is able to do the changes?

R00KIE · 2009-04-26 14:46:08

Maybe a buggy bios, I've seen some pretty strange stuff

K0tuk · 2009-04-26 15:09:09

Well, formatting the partition is only a half of the problem. Even if i`ll get it to work, what`s about package errors?

R00KIE · 2009-04-26 16:46:28

Did you check any other tty for any error messages?
Maybe the second problem is related with the first one, I would try to solve that first or at least find a way to get around it.
Have you tried to manually partition with cfdisk and format with mkfs (while using the boot image)?
Try to do this first, even before starting the whole setup process, just switch to another tty and give it a go.

toad · 2009-04-26 16:54:48

Sounds like a bad install CD if you ask me...

K0tuk · 2009-04-26 17:40:14

Lol... i`m spechless... i`m such an idiot i forgot to run it as root OMG (banging his head against the wall)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-25 10:14:20

[Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#2 2009-04-25 11:08:14

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#3 2009-04-25 12:13:55

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#4 2009-04-25 19:28:33

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#5 2009-04-25 19:40:55

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#6 2009-04-25 20:15:19

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#7 2009-04-26 10:44:24

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#8 2009-04-26 11:06:48

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#9 2009-04-26 12:35:02

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#10 2009-04-26 13:09:56

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#11 2009-04-26 14:46:08

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#12 2009-04-26 15:09:09

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#13 2009-04-26 16:46:28

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#14 2009-04-26 16:54:48

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

#15 2009-04-26 17:40:14

Re: [Solved]Cannot partition my HDD during install

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