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fazerz
n00b
Joined: 06 May 2008
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: Sata not formatting |
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Hey,
I am starting with a fresh install off a minimal CD and everything seems to start up fine. I have to dhcpcd eth0 in order for the network to get the information from my dhcp but everything seems fine.
The problem starts right once I begin to format the hard drive. I run the command
# fdisk /dev/sda
but once I do that I get the following message:
"Can't open /dev/sda"
I go ahead and take a look in /dev and I see all my other devices such as dvd, hda and so forth but I don't see sda -which is usually what sata is listed under. I tried formating the /hda but it lists it only having one cylinder and mentions that it is running it from memory(?)
.I have installed gentoo on a system at work on another system and never encountered this problem. Hey,
I am starting with a fresh install off a minimal CD and everything seems to start up fine. I have to dhcpcd eth0 in order for the network to get the information from my dhcp but everything seems fine.
The problem starts right once I begin to format the hard drive. I run the command
# fdisk /dev/sda
but once I do that I get the following message:
"Can't open /dev/sda"
I go ahead and take a look in /dev and I see all my other devices such as dvd, hda and so forth but I don't see sda -which is usually what sata is listed under. I tried formating the /hda but it lists it only having one cylinder and mentions that it is running it from memory(?)
I have installed gentoo on a system at work and never encountered this problem. I think this problem might be related to the chipset. The motherboard I am using is:
motherboard: Abit AN52
chipset: Nvidia NF520 single chip
I have played around with it for a little while now, any ideas? |
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BradN
Advocate
Joined: 19 Apr 2002
Posts: 2391
Location: Wisconsin (USA)
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:43 am Post subject: |
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Are there any options in the bios to choose between different modes? ie, something that turns on AHCI?
Also, can you get the drive to be recognized with another livecd? If so, you may opt to install gentoo using that livecd instead - only thing you miss out on is not using any pre-built packages that may be on the CD. |
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cyrillic
Watchman
Joined: 19 Feb 2003
Posts: 7313
Location: Groton, Massachusetts USA
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| Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:28 pm Post subject: Re: Sata not formatting |
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| fazerz wrote: | I run the command
# fdisk /dev/sda
but once I do that I get the following message:
"Can't open /dev/sda" |
Instead of specifying the device you want to partition, let fdisk list what devices are available, like this.
ps. If fdisk doesn't list any devices, then you will need to try what BradN suggested, change some BIOS settings and/or boot with a different LiveCD. |
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wuzzerd
Guru
Joined: 05 Jan 2005
Posts: 467
Location: New Mexico
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:14 am Post subject: |
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Umm I think you need a partition number along with the drive spec.
As an example: | Code: | fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000b446d
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 2550 20482843+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 2551 9729 57665317+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 2551 2673 987966 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 2674 3890 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 * 3891 5107 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 5108 6324 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 6325 8025 13663251 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 8026 9729 13687348+ 83 Linux |
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BradN
Advocate
Joined: 19 Apr 2002
Posts: 2391
Location: Wisconsin (USA)
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| Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: |
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fdisk doesn't need a partition number... c'mon, read the thread at least  |
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Installing Gentoo
