Argh, why can't Linux find my hard drive?

[dantheflyingman]

Okay, I have been running Windows problem free for the last six months. However I have recently decided I would like to try Linux, so I ordered the Kubuntu Live-CD. It boots up fine, but when I try to install it, it freezes at Step 5 (select disk). So I try installing with Ubuntu. It also fails to find my hard drive. So then I try Fedora Linux. This too fails. I then try doing the debian.exe installation method for Debian, and even that screws up when it gets to the hard drive part (EVEN THOUGH IT IS INSTALLING FROM THE SAME BLOODY HARD DRIVE!). I know the hard drive works because I have been running Windows on it. Do any of you guys have a clue on what is going on, this is driving me insane (get it?)!

[apoorv_khurasia]

Hi dantheflyingman! Welcome to linuxforums.

Linux has some issues with certain hard-disks and most of them can be resolved. To proceed further we would need to know that motherboard specs (as in model and company name would be sufficient) and your hard disk specs (as in whether you are using SATA or other disks). Please post these details.

[dantheflyingman]

Ah, I knew I left something out in the first post. My motherboard is an Asus a8v-mx, and the hard drive is a Seagate SATA II 80GB (I can't be more specific than that, I'm afraid). Thanks.

[techieMoe]

Ah, I knew I left something out in the first post. My motherboard is an Asus a8v-mx, and the hard drive is a Seagate SATA II 80GB (I can't be more specific than that, I'm afraid). Thanks.

That's plenty specific. I did a Google on it and pulled up the specs page from ASUS here:

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?m...3&l2=15&l3=224

Looks like you have a VIA 8251 chipset, which is pretty common (I have the same), so I doubt that's the issue. I'm curious about SATA II however. I have an ASUS k8v-x with regular SATA and don't have any issues with your same chipset. Is your harddrive set up in any kind of RAID configuration, or is RAID turned on but not being used?

[dantheflyingman]

No RAID I'm afraid (sorry).

[techieMoe]

No RAID I'm araid (sorry).

As well you should be; RAID can be a pain in Linux. Do you have any regular SATA or IDE drives lying around you can try it out on? I'm curious if the problem is specific to your SATA II drive or the SATA controller.

[dantheflyingman]

All I have is this and some ancient Ultra ATA drive.

[saikee]

I do think Sata II could be a problem. Older Fedora can't even recognise Sata I let alone Sata II. Debian gets its stability by not moving forward with its kernel and that should be discounted.

Kubuntu is Ubuntu using KDE GUI so if one doesn't work so would be the other.

My advice in this case is try out other distros like Slax, Suse and Knoppix.

I have my 200Gb sdb in Sata I but recently cloned it into a 500Gb Sata II. The distos inside are xfld 2.0, Kanotix 2006-1, Paipix 5.0, Frugalware 0.4, Sabayon c86_64 3.0, Quantian 0.7.9.1, Suse 10.1 c86_64, Slackware 11, Knoppix 4.0.2, Mandriva 2006 0.4 and Fedora Core 6. They all seem to run alright but I didn't installed them directly into the Sata II disk. I have the sdb1 holding a Win2k too.

I believe if Ubuntu or Kubuntu can see the disk and suitable partitions for native Linux, one for Type 83 to be used for the Linux and one for Type 82 for the swap partition, are available then it is "quite difficult" not to have a succesful installation.

I find it a lot easier to have a partition created ready for each Linux and only install a Linux in a single partition as it is a lot easier to maintain, to boot, to migrate and resize.

[dantheflyingman]

I managed to snag a regular SATA drive from a friend and it still isn't working. Any ideas now?

[devils casper]

there is no such thing as a distribution or its installer (generically) "having SATA support" (or not). some SATA chipsets have been supported since practically forever, as their programming interfaces are unchanged from PATA predecessors. others are brand-new and require new drivers from scratch.

Problem: SATA chipsets are rapidly replacing legacy PATA chipsets but many Linux installers' kernels don't yet support many SATA chipsets. If yours isn't supported, you have an installation obstacle.

try these options at boot: prompt

linux ide=nodma
linux acpi=off
linux acpi=off apm=off
linux nofb

try setting your SATA controller (in the BIOS) to "compatibility mode" (or "legacy mode").
a few more things you can try. Check this link





Casper