Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Ubuntu cannot see partitions: "no specified kernel" after install

Asked by tudor.totolici

From a live CD, when running the bootinfoscript, this is the result:
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

I installed Ubuntu this morning using wubi downloaded directly from ubuntu.com.
I selected partition D: for the install and gave it 18GB. Everything went well and after the install it asked me to restart.
I get the windows boot loader asking for either Windows 7 or Ubuntu. I choose Ubuntu.

It says that on hdd01 (or something like this) it can't find the prefix.
After that it shows hdd02 and nothing happenes. If I press enter it takes me to GNU Grub and asks me to press tab for a list of commands. If i choose boot or linux, it gives an error message: "no specified kernel".

I read that uninstalling and istalling it again should help, but when i try to do that Windows gives an error and unistall is stoped.

How can I specify a kernel? or how can i get Ubuntu to start?

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bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#1

It sounds like there is an issue with Ubuntu detecting your drive properly. Do you have a fakeraid in place? Can you boot from an Ubuntu CD/USB - and select "Try Ubuntu"? If you can do that it will boot to a live desktop. Then you can run the bootinfoscript to give some diagnostics on your computer: http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

You can paste the bootinfoscript results here: http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/ and then post the pastebin address back here so I can find it.

Thanks

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tudor.totolici (tudor-totolici) said : 		#2

http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/945255/

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bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#3

Do you have some sort of disk encryption? Because your partitions are not visible to linux. If your encryption program runs within Windows then not other OS can view/use your hard drive unless it also has software to run the decryption (this is a good thing, otherwise anyone could boot a CD and view your data, and that's the point of encryption).

If you don't have an encrypted drive, then I'm not sure what the problem is, but clearly your partitions are not detected as shown below:

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:
    Boot sector type: Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

Revision history for this message
bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#4

You could still install e.g. to an external drive (USB drive) or run Ubuntu from a CD/USB in live mode, even if your hard drive is encrypted. You just wouldn't be able to view your data on the drive.

If you want to install it on the drive, you'd have to decrypt a portion of the drive for Ubuntu.

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tudor.totolici (tudor-totolici) said : 		#5

I didn't encrypt my drives in any way. How can I find out if and how they are encrypted?

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bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#6

If you go into the BIOS, what is the SATA mode?

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tudor.totolici (tudor-totolici) said : 		#7

AHCI

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bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#8

Thanks.

I remembered some posts on IDE vs AHCI but from what I'm finding Ubuntu is fully compatible with AHCI so that shouldn't be an issue.

To be honest, I don't have any idea what the problem could be. It's not something related to Wubi. I'm going to reassign this question to another category so you can get more people to help.
Or you could also go to askubuntu.com and create a question on why Ubuntu cannot see your partitions. Maybe someone there has some answers.

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#9

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.