Ubuntu
yelp package

Boot loader won't install

Asked by David W

My computer has 2 SATA 160gb drives.

I had problems with a virus not letting me boot windows. So reformatted the drives using ubuntu.

I can't reinstall windows xp as it won't recognise the drives anymore (I suspect due to a requirement for Raid drivers I don't have.)

Hpwever I can't install Ubuntu either.

When I initially booted Ubuntu from CD it recognised the disk as 4 seperate drives (1 raid 0 320gb drive and 3 160gb drives). But having reformatted everything and tried to install ubuntu onto the hard disk it now recognises a single 320gb drive in a raid 0 array.

The Ubuntu installation seems to run fine until it gets to the point where it tries to install the boot loader. at this point i get an error message saying that the bootloader can't be installed to /target. The installer then crashes also when I try and run programs through the menus in ubuntu after the crash they don't load.

Any suggestions? This is with Ubuntu 9.10

Do I need to preinstall raid drivers?

I've had Ubuntu working in the past on this computer as part of a dual boot setup in windows,

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Revision history for this message
DarkJavi (darkjavi) said : 		#1

Hi David, installing over a RAID 0 is always tricky, it took me a lot of time to figure out my own setup.

For the m$ you will need a floopy(yes, in these days a floopy) with your board's sata drivers.

For ubuntu, I've never succeed with graphical installer, instead of it I used alternate(text) installer, when prompted tell him you are using a raid setup and all should go fine.

Hope it helps

Revision history for this message
David W (d-a-warr) said : 		#2

Thanks for the response.

Tried the text installer as suggested, but no joy.

For some reason the DHCP wouldn't work for the network, so I bypassed the Network setup.

When I try and install grub it will only go as far as 16% then flashes back to the installation options menu.

Lilo gives me a reddish screen and error message if I try and install.

Also tried installing puppy linux as a crosscheck. The installation for that appears to work but when I reboot I get an error message "grub1.5 ........can't find grub 2".

Revision history for this message
DarkJavi (darkjavi) said : 		#3

If you have access to the raid's bios you could try to reicialize the
raid, I mean deleting and creating it again.That solved the issue for me
one time.

Also as a last resort, you can create a small partition(256MG or so)
for /boot on the spare disk, and install grub on it.that worked for me
on earlyer versions.

El mar, 26-01-2010 a las 20:20 +0000, David W escribió:
> Question #98681 on yelp in ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/yelp/+question/98681
>
> Status: Answered => Open
>
> David W is still having a problem:
> Thanks for the response.
>
> Tried the text installer as suggested, but no joy.
>
> For some reason the DHCP wouldn't work for the network, so I bypassed
> the Network setup.
>
> When I try and install grub it will only go as far as 16% then flashes
> back to the installation options menu.
>
> Lilo gives me a reddish screen and error message if I try and install.
>
>
> Also tried installing puppy linux as a crosscheck. The installation for that appears to work but when I reboot I get an error message "grub1.5 ........can't find grub 2".
>

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