STILL NEED HELP, PLEASE! Can't install Lynx or revert to Hardy.

[Jabberwoc]

I'm using a Live CD, both ISO and CD checksum verified OK. My Lynx installer keeps crashing - it did install the first attempt but I always get Grub error 15 when booting from hard drive.

I've tried to revert to Hardy with a verified CD but now can't do that - throws up a shell with minimal commands. I'm clueless from that point.

My system is an AMD Sempron 3000 with Biostar motherboard, built in nvidia graphics chip, 1 gig RAM, 2 Maxtor hard drives, 80gig SATA and 40 gig IDE, Optiarc DVD burner.

ANY help would be gratefully received. I'm happy to format my drives (I've tried!) - I've backed up my data. I'm happy to do a clean install but would appreciate experienced advice on the best way to do this, please.

Many thanks in advance.

Mark (UK).

[Fintan]

Try using the alternate cd:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily/current/
more on the alternate cd:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation#Installation%20using%20the%20Alternat e%20CD

Hope this helps :)

[Jabberwoc]

Thanks for the reply, Fintan.

However, I can't seem to download the iso for the alternate CD..seems I have no storage.

I can run Lynx LiveCD and install Gparted. BUT, I can't format my hard drive.

I get; http://i39.tinypic.com/t5g6xu.png

I'm at a loss. Help me Obi-Wan, etc.............

Cheers, Mark.

[Teunis]

You might want to edit your last post so that we can read the screen shot :P

You are right to try GParted as a controlled method to access the disk but because 10.04 seems to be a bit more paranoid about who and what can access disks you could try installing and running palimpsest, it too has a format option.

[Jabberwoc]

Yeah, hope a link is OK, Teunis?

I apparently got an installation this time but on booting from the hard drive I just get a "hang". No error message, just a freeze in POST.

Any idea, please?

[Snowhog]

From your picture, and the messages it shows, it looks like you are running GParted as an application from your currently running application. If that is true, that's why you are seeing what you are seeing. You can not modify a live/running OS with GParted. If you have the GParted LiveCD, use it.

[Jabberwoc]

Thanks, snowhog.

No - I'm using the LiveCD. It's all I can get to work. I'm not using GParted from the CD - I installed it in a Konsole session.

I thought I could format the hard drive if I was running the OS in memory only from a live CD?

I'm just trying to wipe the hard drive completely in the hope that I can install Lynx. Hardy would do.

Just want my computer back!

[Jabberwoc]

;D UPDATE.

After about a million attempts at installing on my SATA 80 gig drive I have managed to successfully install Lucid Lynx on my IDE 40 gig drive using the Live CD "install side by side" option.

It took all day but I appear to have a working computer again. It IS possible!

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers, Mark (UK).

[Snowhog]

Well, as they say, Linux is all about choices. More than one way to get things done - usually. Glad you found a solution.

[Jabberwoc]

:'(

*** UPDATE ***

Well...that didn't last long.

Next boot I get a GEOM error.

I've tried mkfs ext 4 AND ext 3 on an 80 gig SATA drive.

Any help, please? Or am I stuck with a Live CD now?!!

[GreyGeek]

Jabberwocm,

Boot a LiveCD and issue this command in a Konsole:

sudo /sbin/lspci -v

Post info on the harddrive controller. There is a chance there is no module for it or it needs a module which has been disabled for some reason.

[Jabberwoc]

Thanks for the swift reply, GreyGeek, but there is no such command in my sbin folder.

Nearest is lspcmcia ? But that returns nothing....

[GreyGeek]

sudo apt-get install pciutils

Then try the command

[Jabberwoc]

Cheers, but I get;

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install pciutils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
pciutils is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo /sbin/lspci -v
sudo: /sbin/lspci: command not found
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[Snowhog]

Use sudo lspci -v

That's all you need to type in the console. The 'error' in GG's reply was providing an explicit path: /sbin/lspci

But that path is incorrect, so the command fails. The actual path is: /usr/sbin/lspci

[GreyGeek]

And BOTH /sbin and /usr/sbin are in the PATH environmental variable so only the command name is needed and I, personally, never include the path.

My error was assuming that lspci was indeed in /sbin.
Thanks, Snowhog!

[Jabberwoc]

Cheers, SnowHog!

This now returns;

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo lspci -v
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device cb84
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [44] HyperTransport: Slave or Primary Interface
Capabilities: [dc] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable+ Fixed-

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SMBus (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 5
I/O ports at fc00 [size= 64]
I/O ports at 1c00 [size= 64]
I/O ports at 1c40 [size= 64]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: nForce2_smbus
Kernel modules: i2c-nforce2

00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Memory Controller (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 10)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
Memory at fe02f000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at fe02e000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 256]
Capabilities: [44] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=0098
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:04.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI bridge (rev a1) (prog-if 01)
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
Memory behind bridge: fdf00000-fdffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: fd800000-fd8fffff
Capabilities: [b8] Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device cb84
Capabilities: [8c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed-

00:05.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 820d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 9
Memory at fe028000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 16K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask+ 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [6c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed+
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 IDE (rev a2) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 3407
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
[virtual] Memory at 000001f0 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size= 8]
[virtual] Memory at 000003f0 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size= 1]
[virtual] Memory at 00000170 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size= 8]
[virtual] Memory at 00000370 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size= 1]
I/O ports at f000 [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: pata_amd
Kernel modules: pata_amd

00:07.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 Ethernet (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 2505
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
Memory at fe02d000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
I/O ports at ec00 [size= 8]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask+ 64bit+ Queue=0/3 Enable+
Capabilities: [6c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed+
Kernel driver in use: forcedeth
Kernel modules: forcedeth

00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP61 SATA Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 5405
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
I/O ports at 09f0 [size= 8]
I/O ports at 0bf0 [size= 4]
I/O ports at 0970 [size= 8]
I/O ports at 0b70 [size= 4]
I/O ports at d800 [size= 16]
Memory at fe02c000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [b0] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/2 Enable-
Capabilities: [cc] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed+
Kernel driver in use: sata_nv
Kernel modules: sata_nv

00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: fde00000-fdefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdd00000-00000000fddfffff
Capabilities: [40] Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device 0000
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed-
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: fdc00000-fdcfffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdb00000-00000000fdbfffff
Capabilities: [40] Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device 0000
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed-
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP61 PCI Express bridge (rev a2)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
Memory behind bridge: fda00000-fdafffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fd900000-00000000fd9fffff
Capabilities: [40] Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Device 0000
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping Enable- Fixed-
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C61 [GeForce 6100 nForce 405] (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Device 1404
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
Memory at fb000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 16M]
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size= 256M]
Memory at fc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 16M]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at 40000000 [disabled] [size= 128K]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Kernel driver in use: nouveau
Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nouveau

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: [80] HyperTransport: Host or Secondary Interface

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
Flags: fast devsel

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
Flags: fast devsel

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
Flags: fast devsel
Kernel driver in use: k8temp
Kernel modules: k8temp

01:06.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7850 (rev 03)
Subsystem: Adaptec Device 7850
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at cc00 [disabled] [size= 256]
Memory at fdfff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1
Kernel driver in use: aic7xxx
Kernel modules: aic7xxx

01:08.0 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 10)
Subsystem: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 9
Memory at fdffe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

01:08.1 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 10)
Subsystem: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
Memory at fdffd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

01:08.2 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 10)
Subsystem: ALi Corporation USB 1.1 Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 5
Memory at fdffc000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 4K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

01:08.3 USB Controller: ALi Corporation USB 2.0 Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: ALi Corporation USB 2.0 Controller
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
Memory at fdffb000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size= 256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Debug port: BAR=1 offset=0090
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[re-entity]

Do you still get the grub error 15 from your original disk?

If so, try re-installing grub using method 3 here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling GRUB 2

[Jabberwoc]

No, re-entity, I get a "hang" with a message without the second option of booting from the Live CD actually happening (BIOS settings are correct).

The message has been around for years and is "Verifying DMI Pool Data..K8 NPT Data change..update new data to DMI" but the system's always booted before.

Strangely when I do boot from the Live CD I can now access my Sata drive which appears to have a Kubuntu partition and a blank partition (10 and 70 gig respectively). The computer's just not booting from the hard drive.