Old PC - ASUS P5A-B - Will not boot Linux (Ubuntu)

  • Thread starter Thread starter mark4asp
  • Start date Start date
M

mark4asp

PC Will not boot Linux

I set up my PC BIOS to like this:

size cyls heads sectors
Pri Master HD1 USER 20515 2494 255 63 LBA

Sec Master (CD) AUTO

The option for LARGE/NORMAL is: 39761 cyls, 16 heads (which I
think corresponds to the physical layout of the HDD)

I partitioned my HD:

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 63.9M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.7G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
#3 primary 624M swap swap

The above is a summary of the info Ubuntu partitioning utility
gives me. All partitions were formatted. Only one partition is
bootable (/boot).

Ubuntu (v4.10) installed itself without complaint after I had
finished partitioning and then instructed me to remove the CD,
which I did.

I altered the BIOS boot sequence to boot C, A [but the original
CDROM, A, C sequence won't boot from HDD either]

During bootup attempt I see the following message:

"Detecting HDD Secondary Master ... ATAPI 52x CDROM"

It hangs around there for about a minute then tells me it can't
boot.

THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT "Detecting HDD Primary Master". The
final error message is:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Above that error message BIOS indicates the following fixed
disks:

Primary Master: CHS, Mode 0, 20521 MB
Secondary Master: CDROM, UDMA2

The jumpers are correctly set in the HDD and CDROM (both
masters)

PS: Previously the ROM would show that the HDD was mode 3 (or 4)
not mode 0. (When running under Windows)

The Mobo BIOS is: ASUS P5A-B (bios rev 1010, 24-02-2000) with
AMD K6-II 550 MHz chip, 256 M RAM

Some BIOS settings are:

HDD SMART capability: enabled
IDE HDD Block Mode Sectors: HDD MAX
IDE Ultra DMA Mode: enabled

AGP Bus Turbo Mode enabled


Q: Did I make a fundamental mistake in partitioning my disk for
Linux. If so what should my partitions have been and why did
Ubuntu install itself without errors (if I made mistakes)?

Q: Given that I've run this HDD under Windows using Ultra DMA
mode, how suspicious is it that my computer tells me that the
HDD is "CHS, Mode 0"

Q: Is there a way to find out which particular Mobo / BIOS
versions have been tested for Ubuntu Linux?

Q: Should I burn the BIOS with an earlier version (earlier than
1010), to try to get it working? [I think I already have the
most recent BIOS]

Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?

Q: Should I switch off "AGP Bus Turbo Mode" and try again - or
can't this possibly affect the HDD?

Q: Should I give up?
 
mark4asp said:
PC Will not boot Linux

I set up my PC BIOS to like this:

size cyls heads sectors
Pri Master HD1 USER 20515 2494 255 63 LBA

Sec Master (CD) AUTO

The option for LARGE/NORMAL is: 39761 cyls, 16 heads (which I
think corresponds to the physical layout of the HDD)

I partitioned my HD:

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 63.9M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.7G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
#3 primary 624M swap swap

The above is a summary of the info Ubuntu partitioning utility
gives me. All partitions were formatted. Only one partition is
bootable (/boot).

Ubuntu (v4.10) installed itself without complaint after I had
finished partitioning and then instructed me to remove the CD,
which I did.

I altered the BIOS boot sequence to boot C, A [but the original
CDROM, A, C sequence won't boot from HDD either]

During bootup attempt I see the following message:

"Detecting HDD Secondary Master ... ATAPI 52x CDROM"

It hangs around there for about a minute then tells me it can't
boot.

THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT "Detecting HDD Primary Master". The
final error message is:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Above that error message BIOS indicates the following fixed
disks:

Primary Master: CHS, Mode 0, 20521 MB
Secondary Master: CDROM, UDMA2

The jumpers are correctly set in the HDD and CDROM (both
masters)

PS: Previously the ROM would show that the HDD was mode 3 (or 4)
not mode 0. (When running under Windows)

The Mobo BIOS is: ASUS P5A-B (bios rev 1010, 24-02-2000) with
AMD K6-II 550 MHz chip, 256 M RAM

Some BIOS settings are:

HDD SMART capability: enabled
IDE HDD Block Mode Sectors: HDD MAX
IDE Ultra DMA Mode: enabled

AGP Bus Turbo Mode enabled


Q: Did I make a fundamental mistake in partitioning my disk for
Linux. If so what should my partitions have been and why did
Ubuntu install itself without errors (if I made mistakes)?

Q: Given that I've run this HDD under Windows using Ultra DMA
mode, how suspicious is it that my computer tells me that the
HDD is "CHS, Mode 0"

Q: Is there a way to find out which particular Mobo / BIOS
versions have been tested for Ubuntu Linux?

Q: Should I burn the BIOS with an earlier version (earlier than
1010), to try to get it working? [I think I already have the
most recent BIOS]

Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?

Q: Should I switch off "AGP Bus Turbo Mode" and try again - or
can't this possibly affect the HDD?

Q: Should I give up?
Click to expand...

Seems like it's not a Linux problem, reset bios to default settings, have
the HDD in Auto mode.
 
mark4asp said:
Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?
Click to expand...

LBA Mode? I thought that it was in Normal mode. Maybe I didn't understand the
start of your message.

Set the mode to "Normal" in the BIOS, then partition the drive and install the
software.

I also recommend that you switch off "SMART" disk monitoring. This causes
problems on some machines.

Regards,

Mark.

--

Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Reply to: markhobley at hotpop dot do_not_type_this_bit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/
 
mark4asp said:
I partitioned my HD:

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 63.9M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.7G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
#3 primary 624M swap swap
Click to expand...
^^^^

Does this mean the swap partition is last on the disk? That's not a
good idea, if swap is ever used it should be pretty fast (best put
directly after /boot at the beginning of the disk). Unfortunately this
output is rather short. Could you perhaps try to see what "fdisk -l"
issued from a console tells you (should be available via Alt-F2 or
Alt-F3 from most Linux installation media).
THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT "Detecting HDD Primary Master". The
final error message is:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"
Click to expand...

That probably means the boot sector in the mbr of your disk sees no
active partition. Have you checked wether your bootable /boot partition
is also the (only) active partition? You could check this from your
Ubuntu boot media or any other system with partitioning utility you have
on a bootable cd (even Windows XP cd will do).
Q: Did I make a fundamental mistake in partitioning my disk for
Linux. If so what should my partitions have been and why did
Ubuntu install itself without errors (if I made mistakes)?
Click to expand...

Not in any way to prevent booting per se.
Q: Given that I've run this HDD under Windows using Ultra DMA
mode, how suspicious is it that my computer tells me that the
HDD is "CHS, Mode 0"
Click to expand...

What part of your computer tells you this?
Q: Is there a way to find out which particular Mobo / BIOS
versions have been tested for Ubuntu Linux?
Click to expand...

This is mostly a question specific to the Linux kernel. Ubuntu takes
most modifications from debian, so you might want to search both
projects' pages. But because your system doesn't even load the boot
loader it's not relevant to your problem. And the fact that the install
went fine tells me that all hardware absolutely necessary is working
fine.
Q: Should I burn the BIOS with an earlier version (earlier than
1010), to try to get it working? [I think I already have the
most recent BIOS]
Click to expand...

Not unless you find a specific problem report.
Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?
Click to expand...

Not really. I think that might one day have been useful for relatively
old operating systems (think older than Win95).
Q: Should I switch off "AGP Bus Turbo Mode" and try again - or
can't this possibly affect the HDD?
Click to expand...

I don't see any obvious connection but can't give any good
recommendation either.
Q: Should I give up?
Click to expand...

Not at all, you are probably just stuck with a very simple problem. Not
seeing the wood for all the trees as we say in Germany is just so normal
for human beings, that even a moment of contemplation can give you just
the right idea how to tackle this.

Thomas Jahns
 
Do not forget to disable the virus protection in the bios to give Linux
acces to the Master Boot Record.
The best place for Lilo is the master boot record of the first harddisk.
You can restor the Master boot record Whith a Windows 89 floppy containing
fdisk.
command is fdisk /mbr
The rest of the bios settings cen be left standard.

Thomas Jahns said:
mark4asp said:
I partitioned my HD:

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 63.9M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.7G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
#3 primary 624M swap swap
Click to expand...
^^^^

Does this mean the swap partition is last on the disk? That's not a
good idea, if swap is ever used it should be pretty fast (best put
directly after /boot at the beginning of the disk). Unfortunately this
output is rather short. Could you perhaps try to see what "fdisk -l"
issued from a console tells you (should be available via Alt-F2 or
Alt-F3 from most Linux installation media).
THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT "Detecting HDD Primary Master". The
final error message is:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"
Click to expand...

That probably means the boot sector in the mbr of your disk sees no
active partition. Have you checked wether your bootable /boot partition
is also the (only) active partition? You could check this from your
Ubuntu boot media or any other system with partitioning utility you have
on a bootable cd (even Windows XP cd will do).
Q: Did I make a fundamental mistake in partitioning my disk for
Linux. If so what should my partitions have been and why did
Ubuntu install itself without errors (if I made mistakes)?
Click to expand...

Not in any way to prevent booting per se.
Q: Given that I've run this HDD under Windows using Ultra DMA
mode, how suspicious is it that my computer tells me that the
HDD is "CHS, Mode 0"
Click to expand...

What part of your computer tells you this?
Q: Is there a way to find out which particular Mobo / BIOS
versions have been tested for Ubuntu Linux?
Click to expand...

This is mostly a question specific to the Linux kernel. Ubuntu takes
most modifications from debian, so you might want to search both
projects' pages. But because your system doesn't even load the boot
loader it's not relevant to your problem. And the fact that the install
went fine tells me that all hardware absolutely necessary is working
fine.
Q: Should I burn the BIOS with an earlier version (earlier than
1010), to try to get it working? [I think I already have the
most recent BIOS]
Click to expand...

Not unless you find a specific problem report.
Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?
Click to expand...

Not really. I think that might one day have been useful for relatively
old operating systems (think older than Win95).
Q: Should I switch off "AGP Bus Turbo Mode" and try again - or
can't this possibly affect the HDD?
Click to expand...

I don't see any obvious connection but can't give any good
recommendation either.
Q: Should I give up?
Click to expand...

Not at all, you are probably just stuck with a very simple problem. Not
seeing the wood for all the trees as we say in Germany is just so normal
for human beings, that even a moment of contemplation can give you just
the right idea how to tackle this.

Thomas Jahns
Click to expand...
 
Thomas Jahns said:
^^^^

Does this mean the swap partition is last on the disk? That's not a
good idea, if swap is ever used it should be pretty fast (best put
directly after /boot at the beginning of the disk). Unfortunately this
output is rather short. Could you perhaps try to see what "fdisk -l"
issued from a console tells you (should be available via Alt-F2 or
Alt-F3 from most Linux installation media).
Click to expand...

I would have thought so also, but if my memory serves me right, when you let
the install program auto partition your drive it sets up a seemingly
ridiculous number of partitions and puts the swap at the end. Perhaps if you
have multiple devices you might want to mount them differently, but IMHO the
best utilization of space on a single disk is a swap and root.
 
Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to
LARGE) ?
Click to expand...

LBA Mode? I thought that it was in Normal mode. Maybe I didn't understand the
start of your message.

Set the mode to "Normal" in the BIOS, then partition the drive and install the
software.

I also recommend that you switch off "SMART" disk monitoring. This causes
problems on some machines.

Regards,

Mark.[/QUOTE]

1) I checked the disk jumpers again - both set to Master

2) I reset the BIOS to LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS, followed by LOAD
SETUP DEFAULTS

3) I switched off virus boot protection (which had been switched
on by (2)). Note PnP BIOS setting was also switched off by (2).
SMART was switched off by (2).

4) Auto detected disks (& found the HDD)

5) Set disk config for master (no secondaries present) disks to
for HDD / CDROM to:

type cont size cyls heads secs mode
USER PRI 20521 39761 16 63 NORMAL
AUTO SEC 0 0 0 0 NORMAL

6) Booted a Win98 startup floppy, Ran FDISK, Got an ERROR:
"No Fixed Disks Present"

7) Reset, Booted with Partition Magic 8 floppies, Got an error:
"Error #88, Unable to find the drive specified"

Q: If my Linux partition software can see the disk why cant
floppy disk utils such as FDISK and PM8 ?

There seems to be a very serious error here if neither DOS
"fdisk /mbr", not PM8 can see the HDD. It looks like either a
HDD or controller error to me.

Q: Is this a HDD / mobo controller / cable problem ?

Perhaps I should
a) switch the controllers so that the CDROM is on controller 0
and the HDD on controller 1 ?
or b) Put both HDD & CDROM on the same controller.
or c) Change the CDROM (I can't change the HDD - it's the only
spare I have.
 
mark4asp said:
1) I checked the disk jumpers again - both set to Master
Click to expand...

Ok, Master is fine.
2) I reset the BIOS to LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS, followed by LOAD
SETUP DEFAULTS
Click to expand...

Ok, check that the drive configuration is "Normal". You do not want LBA.
4) Auto detected disks (& found the HDD)
Click to expand...

Switch to "Normal", if this has not occured.
5) Set disk config for master (no secondaries present) disks to
for HDD / CDROM to:

type cont size cyls heads secs mode
USER PRI 20521 39761 16 63 NORMAL
AUTO SEC 0 0 0 0 NORMAL

Ok

6) Booted a Win98 startup floppy, Ran FDISK, Got an ERROR:
"No Fixed Disks Present"
Click to expand...

Ok. How big is the hard disk ?

I am not sure why its not seeing the hard disk. This could be a bios or
hardware problem.

How big is the hard disk ?
Q: If my Linux partition software can see the disk why cant
floppy disk utils such as FDISK and PM8 ?
Click to expand...

Ok, reboot and try again.
There seems to be a very serious error here if neither DOS
"fdisk /mbr", not PM8 can see the HDD. It looks like either a
HDD or controller error to me.
Click to expand...
Maybe. Check the cables and try again.

When you boot the machine, sometimes the BIOS displays on the screen what
drives are present.

Have a look to see if yours is listed.

If the Linux tools are consistently seeing the drive, but the DOS ones
are not, I would not worry too much.

Just drop Linux on there. Maybe create a partition at the end of the
drive and run

badblocks -w

Or better still, if you have a boot CDROM with this capability run badblocks
against the whole drive.

If no bad blocks are order, then I'd live with it.

Just remember to back up regularly. You should always do this anyway.

Regards,

Mark.

--

Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Reply to: markhobley at hotpop dot do_not_type_this_bit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/
 
PC Will not boot Linux

I set up my PC BIOS to like this:

size cyls heads sectors
Pri Master HD1 USER 20515 2494 255 63 LBA

Sec Master (CD) AUTO

The option for LARGE/NORMAL is: 39761 cyls, 16 heads (which I think
corresponds to the physical layout of the HDD)

I partitioned my HD:

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 63.9M ext3 /boot (bootable) #5 logical 1G ext3 / #6 logical
1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.7G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
#3 primary 624M swap swap

The above is a summary of the info Ubuntu partitioning utility gives me.
All partitions were formatted. Only one partition is bootable (/boot).

Ubuntu (v4.10) installed itself without complaint after I had finished
partitioning and then instructed me to remove the CD, which I did.

I altered the BIOS boot sequence to boot C, A [but the original CDROM,
A, C sequence won't boot from HDD either]

During bootup attempt I see the following message:

"Detecting HDD Secondary Master ... ATAPI 52x CDROM"

It hangs around there for about a minute then tells me it can't boot.

THERE IS NO MENTION OF IT "Detecting HDD Primary Master". The final
error message is:

"DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Above that error message BIOS indicates the following fixed disks:

Primary Master: CHS, Mode 0, 20521 MB Secondary Master: CDROM, UDMA2

The jumpers are correctly set in the HDD and CDROM (both masters)

PS: Previously the ROM would show that the HDD was mode 3 (or 4) not
mode 0. (When running under Windows)
Click to expand...
Get it working in BIOS setup (read below), then reformat in linux when
specifying LBA mode.

The Mobo BIOS is: ASUS P5A-B (bios rev 1010, 24-02-2000) with AMD K6-II
550 MHz chip, 256 M RAM
Click to expand...
I am not near the computers I manage which are using the P5A. I know I
have one system with the P5A with a 40G hard disk and the onboard ALi
chipset hard disk contoller with a 40G disk. I had to upgrade the BIOS at
some point to cross the 32G barrier.
Some BIOS settings are:

HDD SMART capability: enabled
IDE HDD Block Mode Sectors: HDD MAX
IDE Ultra DMA Mode: enabled

AGP Bus Turbo Mode enabled


Q: Did I make a fundamental mistake in partitioning my disk for Linux.
If so what should my partitions have been and why did Ubuntu install
itself without errors (if I made mistakes)?

Q: Given that I've run this HDD under Windows using Ultra DMA mode, how
suspicious is it that my computer tells me that the HDD is "CHS, Mode 0"
Click to expand...
That is the key.

Q: Is there a way to find out which particular Mobo / BIOS versions have
been tested for Ubuntu Linux?
Click to expand...
You want kernel support for the ALi chipset. I don't use Ubuntu, but I
think it should support ALi. Look at the kernel configuration file for
this entry: CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ALI15X3=y

Q: Should I burn the BIOS with an earlier version (earlier than 1010),
to try to get it working? [I think I already have the most recent BIOS]
Click to expand...
No. If it is most recent, then it should work.

Q: Should I change the BIOS settings for the HD (from LBA to LARGE) ? No, use LBA.

Q: Should I switch off "AGP Bus Turbo Mode" and try again - or can't
this possibly affect the HDD?
Click to expand...
Don't know.

Q: Should I give up?
Click to expand...
Not unless you're a quitter. ;-)


Note: part of response inline.

Within BIOS setup, specify to autodetect your hard drive type- do not
specify CHS. There is a menu entry within the BIOS setup of this
motherboard which will show what is presently detected. If your hard
drive is not "detected" in that environment, then there could be a
hardware on another problem. Usually, 32G is a BIOS limit for older
boards, not the 20G you are using. So, I would expect the drive to be
autodetected correctly. By specifying CHS as a "user" type, it appears to
override any autodetected information. Also, I think that you want to
boot/format linux in LBA mode.
 
1) I checked the disk jumpers again - both set to Master
Click to expand...

Ok, Master is fine.
2) I reset the BIOS to LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS, followed by LOAD
SETUP DEFAULTS
Click to expand...

Ok, check that the drive configuration is "Normal". You do not want LBA.
4) Auto detected disks (& found the HDD)
Click to expand...

Switch to "Normal", if this has not occured.
5) Set disk config for master (no secondaries present) disks to
for HDD / CDROM to:

type cont size cyls heads secs mode
USER PRI 20521 39761 16 63 NORMAL
AUTO SEC 0 0 0 0 NORMAL

Ok

6) Booted a Win98 startup floppy, Ran FDISK, Got an ERROR:
"No Fixed Disks Present"
Click to expand...

Ok. How big is the hard disk ?

I am not sure why its not seeing the hard disk. This could be a bios or
hardware problem.[/QUOTE]

Yes. It must be a hardware problem. I downloaded the Western
Digital disk diagnostics prorgam and that wouldn't even run it's
2 minute test before conking out and giving an error.
How big is the hard disk ?
Click to expand...

Only 20 GB. I've already upgraded the mobo BIOS to cope with
much bigger hard disks.

I shall have to try this HDD with a different mobo or on a
different controller.
 
There seems to be a very serious error here if neither DOS
"fdisk /mbr", not PM8 can see the HDD. It looks like either a
HDD or controller error to me.
Click to expand...
Maybe. Check the cables and try again.[/QUOTE]

I changed the cable and altered the HDD jumper to factory
setting (neither CS nor SL nor MA). It is the only drive on that
cable. I did change the cable yesterday when it wasn't working -
so I've either got 2 faulty cables or it was the wrong jumper
setting. I suspect the wrong jumper setting.

This time, DOS FDISK did run

I've already booted Win95 startup and run "FDISK /MBR"

So it looks like it was a cable problem all along.

Thanks for your help, it looks like it was actually the HDD
jumper setting that was causing the problem (set to MA for a
single drive on the cable).

I shall run the WD diagnostics program I downloaded again, as
well.
When you boot the machine, sometimes the BIOS displays on the screen what
drives are present.

Have a look to see if yours is listed.
Click to expand...

WDC WD205AA, 20.5 G. My HDD diagnostics figured that out
yesterday before it died.
If the Linux tools are consistently seeing the drive, but the DOS ones
are not, I would not worry too much.

Just drop Linux on there. Maybe create a partition at the end of the
drive and run

badblocks -w
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll run that anyway.
Or better still, if you have a boot CDROM with this capability run badblocks
against the whole drive.

If no bad blocks are order, then I'd live with it.

Just remember to back up regularly. You should always do this anyway.

Regards,

Mark.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help Mark, I think I've figured out the problem.

My machine BIOS config screen, that shows during bootup, also
reports that the drive is "CHS UDMA mode 2" whereas previously,
when it was broke, it had been shown to be "CHS, Mode 0". Given
that the HDD controller and HDD can both handle UDMA mode 2 -
that is a sure sign of confidence.

One last question. Is this scheme, below, OK for partitioning my
20.5 G HDD?

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 64M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#3 primary 512M swap swap
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.8G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp

I'm now loading Linux again but the default gives only 2
partitions: 20G + .5G swap.
 
There seems to be a very serious error here if neither DOS
"fdisk /mbr", not PM8 can see the HDD. It looks like either a
HDD or controller error to me.
Click to expand...
Maybe. Check the cables and try again.[/QUOTE]

I changed the cable and altered the HDD jumper to factory
setting (neither CS nor SL nor MA). It is the only drive on that
cable. I did change the cable yesterday when it wasn't working -
so I've either got 2 faulty cables or it was the wrong jumper
setting. I suspect the wrong jumper setting.

This time, DOS FDISK did run

I've already booted Win95 startup and run "FDISK /MBR"

So it looks like it was a cable problem or HDD jumper setting
that was causing the problem (set to MA for a single drive on
the cable). I suspect it was the jumper setting. I shall change
the cable again later to check this.

I shall run the WD diagnostics program I downloaded again, as
well.
When you boot the machine, sometimes the BIOS displays on the screen what
drives are present.

Have a look to see if yours is listed.
Click to expand...

WDC WD205AA, 20.5 G. My HDD diagnostics figured that out
yesterday before it died.
If the Linux tools are consistently seeing the drive, but the DOS ones
are not, I would not worry too much.

Just drop Linux on there. Maybe create a partition at the end of the
drive and run

badblocks -w
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll run that anyway.
Or better still, if you have a boot CDROM with this capability run badblocks
against the whole drive.

If no bad blocks are order, then I'd live with it.

Just remember to back up regularly. You should always do this anyway.

Regards,

Mark.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help Mark, I think I've figured out the problem.

My machine BIOS config screen, that shows during bootup, also
reports that the drive is "CHS UDMA mode 2" whereas previously,
when it was broke, it had been shown to be "CHS, Mode 0". Given
that the HDD controller and HDD can both handle UDMA mode 2 -
that is a sure sign of confidence.

One last question. Is this scheme, below, OK for partitioning my
20.5 G HDD?

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 64M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#3 primary 512M swap swap
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.8G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp

I'm now loading Linux again but the default gives only 2
partitions: 20G + .5G swap.
 
mark4asp said:
One last question. Is this scheme, below, OK for partitioning my
20.5 G HDD?

Number type size format partition
#1 primary 64M ext3 /boot (bootable)
#5 logical 1G ext3 /
#3 primary 512M swap swap
#6 logical 1G ext3 /home
#7 logical 6G ext3 /usr
#8 logical 10.8G ext3 /var
#9 logical 1G ext3 /tmp
Click to expand...

That looks fine to me.

Regards,

Mark.

--

Mark Hobley
393 Quinton Road West
QUINTON
Birmingham
B32 1QE

Reply to: markhobley at hotpop dot do_not_type_this_bit com

http://markhobley.yi.org/
 
1) I checked the disk jumpers again - both set to Master [...]
or b) Put both HDD & CDROM on the same controller.
Click to expand...

I am out of my newb depth but have recently posted about something that
might be relevant:

++++++++++++++++
From: AC <aec$news@....>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: "Live" CDs wont boot.
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 06:23:04 +0000

I am fairly new to linux and have had some similar problems. However,
although I have not followed the problem to conclusion, I have recently
read:
================
If your atapi cd-rom is not recognised .... while reading .... most
frequently due to incorrectly installed hardware. All devices must be
..... eide controller in the correct order. The first device is master on
the first controller. The second device is slave on the first
controller. The third device should be master on the second controller,
( .... etc).
It often occurs that there is only a cd-rom besides the first device.
The cd-rom drive is sometimes connected as master to the second
controller (secondary ide controller). This is wrong and can cause linux
not to know ......

(extracted from Admin manual, Suse 9.1 Professional)
(continues)
================

++++++++++++++++
 
I demand that AC may or may not have written...
1) I checked the disk jumpers again - both set to Master [...]
or b) Put both HDD & CDROM on the same controller.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I am out of my newb depth but have recently posted about something that
might be relevant:
[snip]
I am fairly new to linux and have had some similar problems. However,
although I have not followed the problem to conclusion, I have recently
read:
================
If your atapi cd-rom is not recognised .... while reading .... most
frequently due to incorrectly installed hardware. [...]
Click to expand...
It often occurs that there is only a cd-rom besides the first device. The
cd-rom drive is sometimes connected as master to the second controller
(secondary ide controller). This is wrong [...]
Click to expand...

No; that's a correct configuration. Configuring that device as slave while
leaving it on the second IDE bus, OTOH, would be wrong.

--
| Darren Salt | d youmustbejoking,demon,co,uk | nr. Ashington,
| Debian, | s zap,tartarus,org | Northumberland
| RISC OS | @ | Toon Army
| <URL:http://www.youmustbejoking.demon.co.uk/> (PGP 2.6, GPG keys)

You haven't a single redeeming vice.
 
Darren said:
I have recently
read:
================
If your atapi cd-rom is not recognised .... while reading .... most
frequently due to incorrectly installed hardware. [...]
Click to expand...
It often occurs that there is only a cd-rom besides the first device. The
cd-rom drive is sometimes connected as master to the second controller
(secondary ide controller). This is wrong [...]
Click to expand...

No; that's a correct configuration. Configuring that device as slave while
leaving it on the second IDE bus, OTOH, would be wrong.
Click to expand...

It was news to me when I read it, however, I was quoting from the
published Suse 9.1 (professional) Administration Guide, 9. Edition 2004,
Section 1.5 'ATAPI CD-ROM Hangs While Reading' (page 21)

The manuals are in hard copy and on the distro cds, although I have not
found them online.

When I came across this I concluded that as suggested in this Guide,
linux may react differently to my (previous) windowbox experiences.
 
Back
Top