mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| Failed install (newbie needs help)
I am trying to install linux on my machine, and I cannot get it to work. Here is what happened with both Ubuntu and Mint (newest stable versions):
I have searched the web and cannot find help (perhaps I'm not a good Googler?). Anyway here is what happened:
Started with a zeroed out HDD (30GB), set the installer to use the whole disk as partition. Install seemed to go perfect except at the very end-- when it asked me to restart, the screen went black and it displayed some errors, but they flashed off too quick to see-- something about unable to unmount or save or something.
Then it said to remove the CD and hit enter. It then rebooted, POST was fine and then where (in the past with Win2000/XP) the BIOS would normally hand off to windows, it hung and did not go any further at all.
I tried to look for a install log to see the errors, as I can still get onto the system if I boot from the CD, but do not know the path or filename.
I feel that the bootloader is bad or something (grub?), but as a newb I am not sure. Sorry for the long post.
Any and all help appreciated!! |
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happylurk
@look.ca | First Question...
Did you check the disk with the MD5sum when you downloaded and burned it? Could be a bad burn... |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| i did not check md5. i used two different burners on different PCs (that have been reliable for hundreds of other discs) to create install discs for both distros. I will download again and check though, but I don't think that is the issue. I will then try to find a camera and take a pic of the screen with the errors (if it will come out legibly).
Thanks for the advice |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
| When, why and how did you "zero out" the hard disk drive? Have you tried installing a known-working OS to that drive as a test? How old is the drive? The other components in the PC? Was it the same error for both installs?
I'd almost be concerned with hardware failure, except that it seemed to write fine to the drive. It still may be a problem with the disk controller or some incompatibility with the IDE controller on your motherboard. |
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upb
Premium
join:2004-03-15
Carriere, MS
 ·AT&T Southeast
| reply to mr_slick
It sounds like the boot loader install failed for some reason, leaving your system unbootable (almost). If you have a bootable Linux CD, you should be able to boot from it and mount the 30 Gig hard drive so that you can inspect it and make sure that everything looks okay. It is even possible to install grub or lilo manually from the CD in order to complete your installation.
Failed boot loader installs are common when the install software incorrectly guesses the hard drive parameters. Most likely, the boot loader install software simply refused to execute, and your hard drive has been otherwise correctly set up.
Good luck. |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| said by upb  :...If you have a bootable Linux CD, you should be able to boot from it and mount the 30 Gig hard drive so that you can inspect it and make sure that everything looks okay. It is even possible to install grub or lilo manually from the CD in order to complete your installation. Failed boot loader installs are common when the install software incorrectly guesses the hard drive parameters. Most likely, the boot loader install software simply refused to execute, and your hard drive has been otherwise correctly set up. Good luck. I can boot from the Mint CD and see all the files on the HDD. They look like they are all there (for as much as I know-- being new), and I can read and write to them and the drive. Where would I look for an error file or how would I try to reinstall Grub or edit the bootloader file(s)
Thanks for the help  |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
1 edit | reply to yock
said by yock :When, why and how did you "zero out" the hard disk drive? I always zero out a drive before doing a reinstall or fresh install of any OS. I use an older PowerMax CD I aqquired off Maxtor's site before they crapped out. It has always done me well.
said by yock :How old is the drive? The other components in the PC? Was it the same error for both installs? The drive is getting older, but I had recently put a fresh install of Win2000 on there. The other components are older too, which is why I am also considering the fact that mint may not like my NIC, vid card, memory or something else, but I don't beleive I need to replace a device, just that I may need to adjust Mint's parameters to deal with it (and I base this on nothing in particular  )
can't tell if it is same errors, but happens same time and looks similar (the brief flash before it changes screens) |
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upb
Premium
join:2004-03-15
Carriere, MS
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to mr_slick
said by mr_slick :I can boot from the Mint CD and see all the files on the HDD. They look like they are all there (for as much as I know-- being new), and I can read and write to them and the drive. Where would I look for an error file or how would I try to reinstall Grub or edit the bootloader file(s) The final step of most installations is to install a boot loader. It seems pretty clear from your post that that's where things went awry. Since I'm not familiar with Mint, I can't be sure where any log files would be found, but I'd start looking in /(mount point)/var/log for such things. Insofar as rescuing the installation, perhaps Super Grub would work (see »geocities.com/supergrubdisk/). I'm mostly a Lilo user, so I can't speak from experience about Super Grub. |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| thanks! I've got to take a break from this to get a bite to eat, but I'll try looking there, for a log, and see if I can find a camera to try the install again and snap a pic of the error (already tried the reinstall once). I'll also use a new CD with the MD5 checked. I'll report back in a little while. Thanks again. |
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Sir Meowmix III
| reply to mr_slick
If you can boot the Live-CD then I would pull up a terminal.
First, find out what your block device is. Is it IDE or SATA/SCSI? /dev/hda or /dev/sda?
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rolfp
join:2001-09-12
Oakland, CA
 ·Comcast
·EarthLink
| reply to mr_slick
First, always check the md5sum or other hash that is provided along with the iso you download. Downloads are not infrequently corrupt, the md5sum will exclude that, and, if the file's not right, it's a waste of time to go further. There are ways to verify the burn, as well, and that's good practice.
Second, it would not be hard, at this point, if I read it right, to install grub from the live cd session and wouldn't hurt anything.
You mention grub so I assume that's the bootloader. In the live cd session become root in the terminal, however that is done with your distribution, and call the grub shell:
# grub
So, in case you didn't know, the # is the prompt for root, grub is the command you type, press Enter to execute the command. When you start grub you get a new shell with the grub prompt. Assuming one drive on the machine, it goes like this:
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
There's no need to mount the partition, it's better not to have it mounted. In case there are more drives, and in any case, you can find how grub sees the partition with your grub files, often, and in this case, the / partition. On my machine, it looks like this as there are lots of installations:
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd0,0)
(hd0,4)
(hd1,4)
(hd2,5)
(hd4,0)
You can put a unique file on your / partition to identify it as grub finds any file, given the correct path, even windows files.
Be sure to use quit to quit the grub shell. It's preferable to use the grub shell rather than the grub-install script. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
1 edit | reply to mr_slick
Others have given you good advice on how to proceed. Still, there is this.said by mr_slick :I always zero out a drive before doing a reinstall or fresh install of any OS. I use an older PowerMax CD I aqquired off Maxtor's site before they crapped out. It has always done me well. It's worth mentioning that there is no value-add in this process. It might make you feel better, but there is no technical advantage. You could save yourself a lot of time, effort, and wear and tear on the drive by skiping this step in the future. |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| said by yock :Others have given you good advice on how to proceed. Still, there is this. said by mr_slick :I always zero out a drive before doing a reinstall or fresh install of any OS. I use an older PowerMax CD I aqquired off Maxtor's site before they crapped out. It has always done me well. It's worth mentioning that there is no value-add in this process. It might make you feel better, but there is no technical advantage. You could save yourself a lot of time, effort, and wear and tear on the drive by skiping this step in the future. it does check the disk for bad sectors and such (read/write tests). i have had it let me know a drive was failing when i was doing an install on what i thought was just a bad windows box (software/malware issues).
it does however put unnecessary strain on the drive though... |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH | A sector check can be done without flipping the bits, and zeroing it still wouldn't help for all of those that were already at 0. |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| reply to mr_slick
ok... I ran grub with the command: sudo grub, which i believe gives me root permissions on it.
here's the output:
grub> root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
grub>
I am not sure if the disk (0,0) is correct. I do still have a couple of NT volumes in this box.
I looked in GParted and it is listed as /dev/sdc
Not sure if I am addressing it correctly in grub |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| reply to yock
you are correct, but coming from the windows spectrum (and being a little paranoid ) I usually want to make sure there is no residue of windows or malware hiding in the MBR or elsewhere or partitions themselves that are not erased by conventional windows formatting.
Just let me go with it man  |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH | reply to mr_slick
/dev/sdc would be (hd2,x) in Grubspeak. |
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yock
TFTC
Premium
join:2000-11-21
Fairfield, OH
1 edit | reply to mr_slick
Grub overwrites the MBR, and once you've created a new filesystem the old files are inaccessible to the available APIs in the operating system.
Letting it go is fine, except that someone will find this thread via Google someday and think they're doing some good for their system. |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA
| reply to mr_slick
Thanks a lot guys!!! looks like I made progress:
grub> root (hd2,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> setup (hd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"... 18 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0)1+18 p (hd2,0)/boot/grub/stage
2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.
grub>
I'll reboot and see (assuming this is all I needed). |
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mr_slick
join:2003-05-22
Lynnwood, WA | reply to mr_slick
Still will not boot
Going to try to fiddle around and see what I can find. Thanks everyone and keep the tips coming if you have anymore ideas.
Thanks |
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