SATA problems

[oifla]

hello all

trying to install Kubuntu on a sony vaio (model vgn-sr410J) and the installation disk is not picking up my SATA hard drive. any ideas? thanks!

[oifla]

hello all

trying to install Kubuntu on a sony vaio (model vgn-sr410J) and the installation disk is not picking up my SATA hard drive. any ideas? thanks!

sorry, forgot an important detail. i have successfully installed crunchbang linux on this machine and it seems to work without any trouble (it's just a little more barebones than what i need).

[oshunluvr]

Bad MBR? How are you trying to install it If you want help, you have to start with giving information. Click the link in my sig.

[oifla]

Bad MBR? How are you trying to install it If you want help, you have to start with giving information. Click the link in my sig.

thanks for the quick response

my apologies, i shouldn't assume you all can mind read

ok, here we go. I am trying to install it from a DVD

funny you should say bad MBR, i inherited this latpop because the PO thought it had a boot sector virus on it.

before my install attempt, i pullled the hard drive and, using an external case (via usb), i erased it with killdisk

[oshunluvr]

If you can boot to a linux USB, you can wipe the MBR easily enough. I've had issues with past releases not "seeing" a hard drive, but not since 10.10.

Try partitioning and formatting using the Live USB or CD, then installing to the pre-formatted partition. If the system sees the HD but Ubiquity (the intaller) does not, it could be a bad MBR. You could let Ubiquity wipe it and re-format from scratch - of course losing everything on it - or try something else.

[dibl]

There used to be an issue with a mix of IDE and SATA drives, where it would only see the IDE drive, but few people have that combination any more. The Ubiquity installer has always had the occasional issue seeing a hard drive, which is one reason that I preferred the Alternate CD, which I believe has been abandoned with 12.10. So, if you've already tried (in BIOS) setting your SATA controller to "legacy" or "compatible" or any other option rather than AHCI, and that didn't help, you are probably stuck with launching the text installer from the CD boot menu, if you can do that.

[pookito]

Ha, usually that is the same trick that I try at work. Sometimes, a ghost image does not want to run on Windows. We switch between different settings until I get one right.