cannot find hard drive when trying to install linux on new computer

you can use the 64 bit Ubuntu but that is not the source of your problem. your motherboard may have two different hd controllers. For example the 2 SATA intel channels, and maybe 2 other from SIIG or Promise etc If you only have one hard disk, you should plug it into the intel controller, with the lowest channel number. it may be called SATA 0 or it might be numbered starting with 1. definately not SATA5. Even if windows does boot with it now, it can cause problems later.

the bios POST screen should see the hard disk. you may need to mess with the switches in the BIOS to change the controller from RAID to SCSI or enable/disable ACHI but then ubuntu should see it fine.

the POST does see it and ive now plugged it into SATA1(lowest number) (the 6 slots are all together in a grid fashion).
i can't change RAID to SCSI, there was only one thing that even mentioned RAID and that was RAID mode; choices were IDE and some other thing thats not useful, i forgot what it said, i know it wont help though. SCSI was not mentioned at all.
eveything but the ubuntu setup partitioner thing can see my hard drive.
and also in 'Standard CMOS Features' it says:
-IDE Master___Not Detected
-IDE Slave____ATAPI DVD A DH (the dvd drive)
-SATA 1______WDC WD3200AAKS (im guessing its my hard drive)
and SATA 2 through to 6 say not detected

and it still shows me nothing in the setup box thing.

help

ive tried everything and its still not working. ive even tried multiple linux distributions, still the same problem.
also when it comes up with the blank partition setup area, if i click on forward it says 'no root file system specified, do this in the partition menu', that sort of thing.

plz help me someone!

Please post more information regarding your hardware like the exact motherboard model. Also please share the BIOS configurations you're using.

(Sorry wrong button, that was a information request)

ok.
- intel dual core E5200/2.5G/2MB/S775
- MSI P43 NEO - F S775/DDR2
- Apacer 2GB DDR2-800 RAM
- Liteon 20x DVDRW IDE 5.25'Drive -DH20A4P
- GW 550W PSU/12CM Fan(550SEL)
- ASUS EAH4850 - 512MB ATI Radeon 4850 VGA
- LG W1942T, 19"WLCD Monitor
- WD 320GB SATA2KS3.5 16MB
- 3.5" Cardreader

that's exactly what's written on my receipt.

what else do you want to know about the BIOS apart from what i said earlier?

The options of the BIOS related to the harddrive, just enter the bios and take not of the "chipset", "harddrive" "sata" etc related options.

I think you've hit this bug because of your chipset "JMicron 363":

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.17/+bug/57502

There are some solutions there like activating irqpoll that worked for some. Alternatively, try connecting the harddrive to all the SATA connectors as not all seem to be controlled by the "JMicron 363" according to MSI.

all above is what i have seen. The rest just tells me the hardware I'm using, which is listed above also.
that link does tell me that im screwed if i want to use ubuntu on this computer, but nothing else.

guess im F#@%*d then.

also all those posts are years old and are using old versions of ubuntu.

No, the last was posted in 2008-08-19 and the version was 8.04... Awaiting results of the solutions/suggestions above

im dowloading ubuntu 8.10 64bit now. to see if they might have fixed the problem.
that list has no solutions just peoples ideas that dont work and people agreeing that they have the same problem.

Rodney,

a version of Ubuntu less depending on the exact type of hardware and working with a lighter X-windows on it is Xubuntu...
On several PC's i install Xubuntu without any problem.
I myself want to take a LTS-version, so that support is there for 3 years.
I should give it a try and start an installation of Xubuntu-08.04.1 LTS and see what it says at partitioning your hardware...;
once Xubuntu is installed and updated, you can choose to "convert" it to any Ubuntu-version using the Synaptic Manager.

You will find Hardy_Heron (LTS) at http://xubuntu.org/get#hardy ...

Xubuntu, Ubuntu, won't make a difference here as they only have a different set of X packages. This is kernel related.

yeh menting, i said before that i tried many different distributions. and i use Xubuntu on my other two crappy computers, i know what it can and cant do. ubuntu is more compatible and easier to use and more stuff actually works, xubuntu is just a smaller version for computers that cant handle the power ubuntu, and this computer can handle the power easily. just some bug with the motherboard and linux dont mix.

i still havnt tried ubuntu 8.10 (i dont have any black cds left) but any other help would be greatly appreciated everybody.

i got it to install. i looked at the removable media menu in places and it had 320gb disk drive. i clicked it, it showed me my stuff on the hard drive, then i went to properties for it and changes mount point to '/'. and it installed perfectly.
problem solved
but new problem
new problem though there is no working flash player for the 64 bit version ubuntu that the first dude said i could use.
and also with compiz on my videos flicker like crazy and dont do what they should do with compiz.

Ok for search and other purposes you should close this and open another page for the compiz issue.

Flash should work. Google is your friend. http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Install-Adobe-Flash-Player-64-bit-on-Ubuntu-8-10-98076.shtml

http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Install-Adobe-Flash-Player-64-bit-on-Ubuntu-8-10-98076.shtml

ok thanks man. you've been a great help.