[Rainer511]

Well I'm fed up with Vista and I've decided to put on a tux.

I won't be in a position to torrent anything unless I find a low security internet cafe that I want to sit around for two hours--so I bought a magazine with a copy of Ubuntu 6.10 on it.

The problem is that it doesn't detect my Samsung HM060HI ATA storage device. I've shrunk my C partition and part of a recovery drive to free up about 5 gbs to start with. The only reason I don't just delete all my NTFS partitions is that I have a lot of data I don't want to lose and no real way to store it. I figure I'll just slowly move the data over and continually change the volume sizes.

Anywho I'm getting sidetracked. How am I suppose to install Ubuntu if it doesn't come with a driver for my laptop's main storage device?

I also can't get the live CD to detect the local wireless network... but I'll start a new post for that after I get this installation matter fixed.

Thanks

[vtel57]

5GB is not really sufficient for a Linux OS installation, in my opinion. However, that's neither here nor there till you solve this drive detection problem. Are you only running one hard drive? No RAID setup, right?

Wireless can be a bit of a problem for some Linux distros. I don't use wireless, so I'll have to pass on giving any advice in that department.

When you say that the Ubuntu Live CD doesn't recognize the hard drive, have you started the install at this point? What error notice does the installation give you?

The more info you can give, the easier it'll be for folks to assist you... system specs, hardware, etc.

[saikee]

In Ubuntu, click terminal, issue command

sudo fdisk -l

that should list out every partition you have in every hard disk.

You can only say Ubuntu can't recognise it if the Sata isn't there.

On the 5Gb partition size. I would say all of my 4 Ubuntu plus at least 100 other distros are all housed in a 5Gb partition but I so have a data-only partition, that I can mount in every system, for my personal data.

[Rainer511]

When I do "sudo fdisk -l" it just doesn't output anything at all.

When I install from within the live CD boot it just sends me to a partition manager but doesn't give me anything to manage. When I try and install from the OEM installer it tells me that it can't detect the driver for the hard disk and I need to choose one; then it gives me a really long list of driver numbers that don't mean much of anything to me. I tried using one that said "general" and that didn't work. The rest are either model numbers or something... all I know is that it definitely doesn't give me manufacturer names.

When I'm booting the live CD there is a point where it gives an error on an all black terminal-like screen (don't know what its called) and says that it can't detect a hard drive. I wish I could give you more information but it only stays up for a second and then disappears... maybe I'll try and take a photo of it or something.

EDIT: Oh, and I'd give the install a good 10 gigs if I could properly defrag my C partition. I'm using O&O Defrag and everything starts out alright but as it goes parts of the data get "locked" and it won't move. I tried defragging in safemode but Vista won't let me start the defrag service, both the O&O one and the Microsoft one, while in safemode.

[saikee]

The curiosity got the better of me and so I booted up my Ubuntu to have a look.

The oldest one I have is v5.04 and surely it can't recognise a Sata, as Ubuntu in those days wasn't anywhere as well developed as today.

I then tried the next one up Ubuntu 6.04 and this is the truncated fdisk -l output

saikee@ubuntu-dapper:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Password:

Disk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        5099    40957686    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            5100        6315     9767520   93  Amoeba
/dev/sda3            6316        6923     4883760   83  Linux
/dev/sda4            6924       24792   143532742+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            6924        7531     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            7532        8139     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda7            8140        8747     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda8            8748        9355     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda9            9356        9963     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda10           9964       10571     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda11          10572       11179     4883728+  a9  NetBSD
/dev/sda12          11180       11787     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda13  *       11788       12395     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/sda14          12396       23916    92542401   1c  Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda15          23917       24792     7036438+  83  Linux
Warning: omitting partitions after #60.
They will be deleted if you save this partition table.

Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300090728448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1         122      979933+  16  Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda2             123         244      979965   16  Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda3             245         366      979965   16  Hidden FAT16
/dev/hda4             367       36483   290109802+   5  Extended
/dev/hda5             367         609     1951866   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda6             610        1217     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda7            1218        1825     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda8            1826        2433     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda9            2434        3041     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda10           3042        3649     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda11           3650        4257     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda12           4258        4865     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda13           4866        5473     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda14           5474        6081     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda15           6082        6689     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda16           6690        7297     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda17           7298        7905     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda18           7906        8513     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda19           8514        9121     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda20           9122        9729     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda21           9730       10337     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda22          10338       10945     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda23          10946       11553     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda24          11554       12161     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda25          12162       12769     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda26          12770       13377     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda27          13378       13985     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda28          13986       14593     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda29          14594       15201     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda30          15202       15809     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda31          15810       16417     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda32          16418       17025     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda33          17026       17633     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda34          17634       18241     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda35          18242       18849     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda36          18850       19457     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda37          19458       20065     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda38          20066       20673     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda39          20674       21281     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda40          21282       21889     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda41          21890       22497     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda42          22498       23105     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda43          23106       23713     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda44          23714       24321     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda45          24322       24929     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda46          24930       25537     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda47          25538       26145     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda48          26146       26753     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda49          26754       27361     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda50          27362       27969     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda51          27970       28577     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda52          28578       29185     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda53          29186       29793     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda54          29794       30401     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda55          30402       31009     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda56          31010       31617     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda57          31618       32833     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/hda58          32834       34049     9767488+  83  Linux
/dev/hda59          34050       34657     4883728+  83  Linux
/dev/hda60          34658       35265     4883728+  83  Linux

Sorry to include the 63-partition of hda but in Linux hda is a Pata and sda is a Sata. The above clearly shows Sata is recognised by Ubuntu back in V6.04.

It is possible for an installed Ubuntu to recognise a Sata but its installer can't during the installation phase but that is rare.

In conclusion I couldn't advise further if your newer Ubuntu fails to recognise the Sata disk. The obvious route for you is to try a few more modern distros.

From my experience if your Sata is working with Vista then your hardware should have no problem to the Linux.

Lastly if you are not aware of the new Windows Vista has an resizer program in the disk management. You can use it to resize the partition, pressumably without the need to defrag the partition first. I used it and it is pretty fast too.

[Rainer511]

Alright, this is what it says while booting. I took a picture and tried to copy it all down. The picture was blurry though so some of the periods might be commas... I dunno.

[17179702.004000] bcm48xx: Error: Microcode 'bcm43xx_microcode5.fw' not available or load failed.
firmware_helper[4644]: main: error loading '/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw' for device '/class/firmware/0000:05:00.0' with driver 'bcm43xx'
[17179702.024000] bcm48xx: Error: Microcode 'bcm43xx_microcode5.fw' not available or load failed.
firmware_helper[4609]: main: error loading '/lib/firmware/bcm43xx_microcode5.fw' for device '/class/firmware/0000:05:00.0' with driver 'bcm43xx'
 * Activating swap...                                     [ ok ]
mount: Function not implemented
 * Checking file systems
fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)                                    [ ok ]

I really just think the install CD is missing the driver for my hard disk.

When I run the OEM Installer I get this error right before it starts up

[17179572.052000] PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 7 of bridge 0000:00:05.0
[17179572.052000] PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 8 of bridge 0000:00:05.0

It continues the installer after that until it gets to detecting disks. Then it says "No disk drive was detected. If you know the driver for your disk drive please select it from the list." I selected "none of the above" and it sent me to another screen that offers to let me insert a floppy with the driver. Since I have no floppies or drivers for that matter that doesn't help any. I tried googling around for Samsung HM060HI ATA ubuntu drivers and I've found nothing so far.

[Rainer511]

Yeah I'm aware of Vista's partition tool. When I first tried to do it, it told me by how much I could shrink it.... by "0 MBs"...

So I turned off the page file and set it to defrag a while, I got impatient and saw that much of the data was "locked" and wouldn't be moved anyway and stopped the defrag to see if it helped any. It now read that I could shrink it by around 2500 mbs. So I shrunk it by 2 gigs and then shrunk the recovery drive by 3. That's where I'm getting my 5 gigs to try and install this distro.

EDIT: Maybe I should try a different distro? I saw a magazine with a SUSE disk pasted to it today. This whole not being able to torrent things sucks.

EDIT2: Nevermind! I can torrent. Vista was blocking it without telling me. I've started downloading an ISO for Linspire... I guess that's sort of the easy way out isn't it? Any suggestions for a distro? Or just a suggestion to get Ubuntu working?

EDIT3: I just realised that Linspire isn't free... so I've canceled the downloaded. What about Freespire?

[Headrush]

The best thing would be to to use Vista to look at the hardware profile and tell of which SATA chipset your motherboard uses.

Then we can tell you which distro to use. I would stick with the main end user distros like K/ubuntu, OpenSuSe, PCLinuxOS. Even if they don't boot now, it might be possible once we find out what SATA chipset you have.

[Rainer511]

Okay... I've no idea how to figure out what sata chipset my motherboard is using.

Any directions?

[RootbeaR]

I am relatively new to computers and I am brand new to Linux, a week tonight, I find PCLinuxOS pretty easy to use. Seems to have everything needed to just start using and forget about windows altogether if that is what you wish. It even has firefox pre-installed.
A couple of questions to answer and you are online. Which I was really happy about as I have a router and a modem so wasn't sure what to expect.
Has all the tools needed to partition and format. If you run the LiveCD first, there is installation instructions on your desktop explaining how to set-up a dual boot system, which I did. This is just a test release, 2nd, but final is due out in less than a week I believe. I don't mind this test version, only a couple of issues, nothing I can't live with or work around until the final release version.
As a newbie, I can highly recommend it to others just starting out with Linux.
Welcome to the 21st Century.(At least that is how I feel)

[comprookie20]

To see the chipset this should help;
lspci
with ubuntu
sudo lspci
For some of the newer motherboards with sata you need to add this option to grub.
pci=nomsi

[Rainer511]

Okay this is what I got.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 5a37
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4380
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4387
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4388
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4389
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 438a
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 438b
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4386
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4385 (rev 13)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 438c
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4383
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 438d
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 4384
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS482 [Radeon Xpress 200M]
05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Unknown device 4311 (rev 01)
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
08:01.0 Class 0805: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19)
08:01.1 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Unknown device 0843 (rev 01)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[comprookie20]

You can see what I am talking about here;
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=299929

[Rainer511]

i love u