My dad brought in two laptops for me to fix. Whoopey. One of them has no operating system, that's cool, I can always use my Ubuntu livecds. My dad asked me what I can do for it and I told him about Linux. Anyways, here's what happens, Because, it has no OS, it starts up with the HP loading screen, and askes me to input the following: "Enter DriveLock Password [ ]", I normally just type in two random passes, then it brings up "Enter HDD Master Password { }", again I type in a random password, and put in my Ubuntu livecd. Linux loads up perfectly, the logo with the moving line that goes left and right goes perfect, after I press "Start or install Ubuntu", it loads the kernel fine too, then it brings me to this: [BusyBox v1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-5ubuntu7) Build-in shell (ash) Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands. (initramfs) [ 25.988000] Buffer I/o error on device hda, logical block 3 [ 27.584000] Buffer I/O error on device hda, logical block 3 --- and it continues on with it anending as: [ 93.460000] Buffer I/O error on device hda, logical block 0 _ I'm such a noob at this, any help? Edit: I've also done the Ctrl+Alt+F7 thing, it doesn't work for me. I can do the C+A+F# thing to get to the other consoles. Double edit: Fixed typos.
Well, it could be that your CD burned badly. Did you check the md5sum of the download? Did you do the CD integrity check? When you reach the screen to start/install ubuntu press F6 and edit the kernel line and remove quiet splash and add break=top before the -- then press enter. When you receive the error again type modprobe piix then hit enter, then type exit then hit enter again.. this should continue the boot. Personally I would use puppy to partition and format the drive first. It seems to work better that way.
I did the MD5sum check and it said it was fine, but I dunno what the heck a CD integrity check is. I'll do that and see if it works. Edit: When I type in modprobe piix it gives me: "FATAL: Module piix not found." Is this normal?
That module should be there.. They do so much messing with ubuntu tho that..... ????? So the machines will actually boot and run from the live cd and it is only the installer that isn't working? I googled your error, and have seen it once or twice myself.. The installer throwing it can mean the hdd has bad sectors in the mbr/file table area. It may be an idea to run some live boot hardware diagnostic tools on the drive before going any further. Did you get that DSL disk we were talking about last week? That's good for this kind of job.. it installs as debian and will sort any drive access issues. You should then be able to install any debian based distro straight over it.
If it's needed, I have Ubuntu 6.06, the one with LTS, which I believe it's named Feisty Fawn? Anyways, ya I still have that DSL disk with me. Ok, so I do what? Stick in DSL and let it install those Linuxy files? By the way: For the diagnostic tools, which one should I use? Should I just use GRML (They say on linux.com that it bundles a bunch of useful software for this stuff.) or use this thing called "smartmontools"?
You can yes.. But there is a better trick.. When you get to the first boot prompt type "DSL 2" and wait for a minute. Another prompt.. "cfdisk" then you will get a really good command line partitioner.. you will need a swap, /(root) and home partition.. format /(root) and home ext3.. type 83 and swap as swap type 82, and make the / bootable.. Then write changes and exit. A quick note on sizes.. for ubuntu swap needs to be twice the hardware ram size.. or 1 gig.. whichever is smaller... / needs to be about 8 gigs, maybe 10.. and home should be the rest of the available space.. That should cure the "invalid media sector0" error with the ubuntu installer.. just be careful there isn't a small system partition with a label like * or system.. If there is then best leave it alone and partition the rest of the drive..
So lemme see if I get this straight: Put in DSL 1st prompt: Type "DSL 2" 2nd prompt: Type "cfdisk" The Really Good Command Line Partitioner: Type in "format /(root)" and "format home ext3" then type in "swap type 82" Ok, but how do I make the / bootable?
Did you consider that maybe the BIOS is blocking drive access, but still reporting the drives as existing? So Ubuntu sees a drive present, tries to query for info and gets gibberish in return. It asked for passwords for a reason... My first guess would be to reset the BIOS and thus remove any passwords. Failing that, investigate on the net how else to remove those passwords, "Enter HDD Master Password" and "error on device hda" sounds like it is one and the same problem!
Ok, did a quick search, sounds like it is the drive that is locked itself. Sort of like how the original xbox locks a hard drive. So resetting the BIOS likely won't fix the immediate problem, but you can probably disable it from happening again if you can at least break in to the BIOS, so probably still worth doing. I know it sounds far fetched, but search some xbox threads and sites for HDD password removal. www.xbox-scene.com is a decent site with some tutorials that might help?
I dunno, my sister cracked the code somehow 4 days ago but she wouldn't tell me what it is (Typical.).
There are methods, but they usually cost. Need to know the actual make of the drive to go further, or you could look for a *cough cuogh* free version of this http://www.download3k.com/System-Utilities/Other-Utilities/Download-HDD-Unlock.html Seemed to me from your description that the drive had unlocked. I won't be surprised to find the drive is duff anyway.. a good way to sell large fuxxored drives for good money is to lock them. :-( (seen people get caught out on ebay with 300-750 gig locked but dead drives)
If the laptop is worth salvaging, probably more worthwhile to get a nice new hard drive for it, or at least try to swap a known good drive in first and see if the rest of the system works fine. Just make sure that there isn't some setting in the BIOS that did it in the first place, wouldn't want to kill a second drive off by not knowing the password.
I'll try to open it up and see whether I can change the drive. But now that I've got my external hard drive, I'll try seeing if installing Linux via ISO file and connect it through USB should work.
The same thing happened to me with the Fedora 8 LiveCD. It was some BIOS error that it couldn't handle, I guess. It was supposed to be the home file server, but now I use Xubuntu instead. I think Fedora would perform the same, though, so I don't care.
Ya I was actually looking at that now, I saw that "Ubuntu USB installation using Windows" article and I was thinking of doing that but I can't even get pass the BusyBox shell, sooo ya.. I'll look around for more articles.
I think what you could do with looking at is the options you have after booting a live cd. You should be able to run tools from a usb by using the "mount" command.. mount /dev/sda1 /media (most cd distros have a media mountpont defined but nothing actually mounted there) You will need to look more closely at mountpoints for different media/filesystems..
Oh ya sorry, I've been busy lately. No I haven't done the drive thing yet but I'll get to it. But I'm thinking about just giving up. I popped in my LiveCD on my main laptop but it was just stuck on the start-up screen (After the chorus start-up.), however pressing escape brings up the options. I dunno what the heck is goin' on. Edit: I just remembered, the drive requires a password to use, I'm sure it'd work, but there's an obstacle; it requires that it's XP/Mac only, and the password thing is an .exe, out of Linux's jurisdiction. Not sure if Wine would work with it.
