Fresh Load of Karmic - GRUB install failure

[.46caliber]

I'm brand new to anything Linux. I'm supposed to be getting a copy of 7, but I figured I'll try Kubuntu while I wait.

Fresh build with an AMD II x2, Asus M4A785-M board, and two WesternDigi 160gb Raptors.

Kubuntu starts installing but when it gets to the grub install it fails. I've googled the problem and searched here, but anything I've found is over my head.

I downloaded the 64bit version and burned it to a CD. Runs fine from the CD, but when I go to install I get the grub failure.

I apologize if I missed this somewhere in the forums, but I've been overwhelmed by all this being so far over my head.

[askrieger]

Re: Fresh Load of Karmic - GRUB install failure

Please explain the statement "when it gets to the grub install it fails" ? How do you know that it "gets to the grub install"? What is the last message that you see on the screen? Please define "it fails".

Your hardware seems far more powerful than necessary to run a full up installation of Kubuntu. I assume that, although you say it is a "fresh build", you have run SOME software on it to verify that you don't have a hardware problem. Kubuntu will take up so little disk space, you may even be able to leave it on your machine and still fit windoze 7 on your drives. Although you didn't tell us how much RAM you have, I suspect it's more than enough.

You also haven't told us how you tried to install Kubuntu. Did you download an iso and burn it? If so, was it the 64 bit or the 32 bit version? Did you check the md5 sum of the downloaded iso file before you burned it? Did you check the burned CDR before you tried to use it? There are instructions for those steps on this site. Did you buy a CD from a reputable vendor? If so, was it the live CD? If it was, did it fail when you tried to run from the CD without installing or only when you tried to install? If it was the alternate installer CD, have you tried it on another machine?

Thousands of people have successfully installed Kubuntu. Soon, you will be one of them.

[.46caliber]

Re: Fresh Load of Karmic - GRUB install failure

Thanks for the response Al.

I put this computer together with the intention of running Windows 7. I have 4GB of GeIL 800mhz DDR2. I put the new toy together and while I wait for my copy of 7 to arrive, I wanted to play with Kubuntu.

I downloaded the 64 bit .iso file from kubuntu.org. I booted from the cd, and ran the disk check and everything was fine. The only software that is on the computer is the American Megatrends BIOS system and whatever software maybe on the board for the RAID control. BIOS recognized all my hardware. It sees the RAM and the the two HDDs and the optical.

Kubuntu runs fine from the CD. I liked the look of it so I checked some of the videos and articles online about installing the OS and went from there. I ran the installer that is on the .iso download. When the installer gets to the "installing grub files" portion is when it stop and states there was a "grub install failure." It then shows some text and instructions on how to report a bug to Kubuntu.

I did not know about checking the md5 sums, so I will search about how to do that and what to look for.

I have noticed something that I think may be part of the problem. When the installer on the Live CD asks for my information and about the drive partitions it does not look like the drive listings do on the install articles. The videos and articles I've looked at see the drive model and label it as hda or hd1 or something similar. The installer displays my HDD as something along the lines of "RAIDnvidia_hdbgdbc". I have checked the BIOS and they are not configured as RAID. I tried both IDE and AHCI. I unplugged one of the drives then the installer did not see anything.

Thanks for the help. I want to give Kubuntu a shot, but I'm not an advanced user by any means and this has been taxing.

[askrieger]

Re: Fresh Load of Karmic - GRUB install failure

You'll have to search for it, but there was a recent (last few days) thread here on the subject of RAID. The conclusion, IIRC, was that Linux and hardware RAID are still incompatible. It seems that the OS is seeing your two HDs as a RAID array. Perhaps the installer is getting confused by something in your hardware (probably in your BIOS) that hasn't made it into the Linux kernel yet. The exact wording of the error messages would really help.

By the way, your 2 hard drives should be either hda and hdb, or sda and sdb, depending on your hardware. If the drives have been formatted the first partition on the first drive will be h(or s)da1 and the second partition would be (h/s)da2. Is it possible that the drives are unformatted? Even this shouldn't stop an installation, though, because the installer expects to have to format the partitions that will get Linux. However, I have no idea what happens if the drives are totally unformatted.

[Qqmike]

Re: Fresh Load of Karmic - GRUB install failure

Picking up on what askrieger has told you ...

MD5Sum, see Question #1 here:
Top 20 Kubuntu FAQs & Answers
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3099811.0

Also before running the Live CD installer, click the "Check Disk" option on the main menu of the CD.


Recent RAID posts:

RAID Hardware RAID 1 and 9.04, dibl's post Reply #1 <--
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106012.0

RAID, Intel Matrix FakeRAID, installing with GRUB 2, user case (by abigsky, Reply #9):
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...seen#msg201558


Another way at this is to make sure your drives are properly formatted, including having a good Master Boot Record (if they are fresh, clean drives). And for that, a lot of us use GParted Live CD, easy to use, works every time (we believe). It will tell you how BIOS and GRUB are seeing your drives and partitions. Run GParted and make sure your partitions are right BEFORE running the Kubuntu installer Live CD.

GParted (Live CD, USB, HD)
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
New Manual. New man page. See Documentation:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/documentation.php


Use GParted to set up the partitions you will use during the installation.
Partitioning—how to, Rog131:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3090704.0
(You may or may not wish to use a separate /home partition -- that's up to you. At this point, you'd probably be happy to get it working any way you can.)


After running GParted, write down your partition arrangement, specifying where root, home and swap are. If you are going to install Windows later, leave the first partition open for it! (Makes life much easier later on as Windows likes to be on the first hard drive and the first partition; there are easy workarounds, but who needs a workaround?)

When you run the Kubuntu installer, it might help to select "Manual" partitioning method when you come to that step. At the last step--Summary--there is an Advanced button at lower right. Click it to see where the installer intends to install GRUB. Note that sda1 is the first partition of the drive sda. The notation sda (without any numbers) means the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the drive sda. You will want GRUB to go into the MBR of the first drive you have set BIOS to boot from, and that is usually sda.