[SOLVED] Unable to install Linux - Harddrive refuses to be partitioned.

[Bottom]

Hello,

My harddrive currently carries essentially one partition on which there is Windows XP home edition installed. 53 of 120 GB of the partition are not in use and I intend to install LINUX alongside Windows using this free space.

The Linux installation routine will stop after a long pause with an error message when I try to repartition. (The error message says just 'partitioning failed' or so, so nothing that gets me anywhere). I tried versions of Ubuntu and Kubuntu. With Kubuntu the computer just suddenly switches itself off.

I then tried to just repartition using Symantec Partition Magic. When I do so, runs the "checking filesystem" and exits with:

Error 1529 while executing batch

Error 1529-information mismatch in directory entry

They tell you that you should run a chkdsk, i did so with chkdsk /i , chkdsk /f and chkdsk /r and the problem persists.

When I ran the chkdsk /i it said that there where errors in the filesystem that can be repaired by running chkdsk /f (which i had done right before) and that there are 0 KB in "bad" sectors. So I'd guess the hard drive is ok.

Someone recommended GPartition, which I burned to a CD and booted from. I tried some of the modes it offers (normal, from RAM, safe mode). It loads fine until the GUI loads, then my computer suddenly switches itself off. The first time it made it to the window where you can see the partitions of the harddrive, now it switches off even earlier.

Windows is driving me crazy, but I can´t just format the crap out of the harddrive and set it all up from scratch for certain reasons.

I have no clue what to do or try next, it would be great if anyone here could help me.

With best regards,

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[rokytnji]

You can try some of the tools supplied by this free disk

Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

[darkrose0510]

defragged windows recently? do it twice, then see if you still get errors. Windows has a tendency to through files randomly around the hard drive, so I've seen this help a couple of times.

[devils casper]

Lets check partition structure of your Hard disk first.
Boot up from Ubuntu/Kubuntu LiveCD, open Terminal/Konsole and execute this

sudo fdisk -l

Post output here.

* Its small L in fdisk -l.

[Bottom]

I ran sudo fdisk -l from some after starting up with some Kubuntu version without GUI, I can unfortunately not copy and paste, but this is what it gives me:

Disk /dev/sda : 120 GB, 120033xyz bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 822528ö bytes
Disk Identifier: 0xd0f4738c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 12 96358+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 13 14592 117113850 7 HPFS/NTFS


Thank you very much for your replies! I will defrag Windows in the meantime.

regards,

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[devils casper]

You have to shrink /dev/sda2 and create space for Kubuntu.
GParted Partition Manager is available in Kubuntu. Its one of the best partition manager.

Shrink /dev/sda2 and create two new partitions.

ext3 - 10-15 GB
SWAP - 512MB

Start installation and select Manual partitioning in Partition Section. Select ext3 partition and assign it / mount point. Installer will detect SWAP and Windows OS. It will setup dual boot itself.

[Bottom]

Hello,

I tried GParted before, it loaded and then just switched the computer off, similar to what happened with the regular Kubuntu installation. No clue why. I suspect that I might have had some cooling problems considering that the laptop seemed fairly hot and I had to fix some cooling bug apparently caused by a malfunction between motherboard and graphics card.

However, I somehow managed to split my harddrive. I have no clue how it worked, but I think it happened during one attempt to partition the harddrive while i was installing linux.

Namely, I was trying some minimal version of Kubuntu that did not have a graphical interface during the installation (meaning: no fancy interface, it wasn't commandline or anything). So if any other noob with similar problems ever stumbles over this thread, this is what I'd try :P. Oh and maybe to check whether it could be some cooling issue and put your notebook in the fridge :P.

In windows, the sda2 was suddenly just some 69GB big and the rest showed up as unallocated space in partition magic. I then defragmented the harddrive upon recommendation by a university tech-guy over here and formatted the unallocated space in GPartition to some 512MB Linux Swap and ext3 otherwise, this rendered my Windows unable to boot because some dll is missing, but what the heck, I'm writing you through Ubuntu so it's a partial success

Next thing I'm trying to do is install Beryl (for which I need some special "feisty fawn" ubuntu version? I wish I wasn't such a noob..) in order to be more successful with girls.




Thank you very very much for your help!

I've beem trying to get some Linux to run now for two weeks and you'll find many threads I've started about this issue in other forums, this is the only one where I really got help.

Best regards,

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[coopstah13]

beryl merged with compiz a long time ago, its called compiz fusion, feisty fawn is an old version of ubuntu, 7.04, i wouldn't install anything from that on a newer version of ubuntu, just enable desktop effects under system->preferences->appearance

[Bottom]

Thanks,

everything is running now.

As an update: Windows now boots mostly successfully as well and I can mostly mount the Windows drive too. I didn't change any settings, it just woke up one morning and worked.

[devils casper]

Glad to help you !
Do start a new thread if you have any other question.