Hard disk not detected during install

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi,

I am trying to install a Linux system on a rather old PC (Fujistu Siemens ESPRIMO P2520). I tried the last version of Leap42.1 (installing from USB drive) and also Ubuntu 15.10. Each time, the hard disk (SATA) is not detected at the stage of declaring where to install the OS.

I used GParted Live CD to clean the disk, creating a new partition table. I tried GPT and MSDOS partition table and changed also the disk The result remains the same.

What I cannot understand is why GParted can see the disk (its a Debian system) and not the installer?
What should I do to go forward?

2

If you boot Leap into rescue system instead of installer, do you see disk there? Could you provide dmesg output after booting to rescue system (upload to http://susepaste.org)?

3

Thank you for answer. I will check later today. I will keep you informed.

4

What do you mean with “the installer can not see the disk”? On what installer screen do you base your conclusion?

In other words, can you please make an old fahioned problem description:

  • what did you do? (that is the only part where you give some information;
  • what did you expect to happen? (please no talk about systems “seeing” things, that is black magic)
  • what happened instead? (like said above, which data on which screens made you think that something is not to expactation)
5

No, I don’t. The only disk I can see is the usb drive I used to dd the .iso file of leap.

Could you provide dmesg output after booting to rescue system (upload to http://susepaste.org)?

I don’t know how to do this from command line. Is there a tool such as wgetpast available?

6

Thank you for attention.

I dd(ed) the Leap42.1 iso file — the first one on this page openSUSE Leap - Get openSUSE — to a USB drive in order to install Leap. I booted the USB drive successfully and started installation.
The installation went on till the point where you are asked to define on which partitions you will place /, /home etc. But unfortunately the HD on which I want to install doesn’t show up. The only disk I can see is the USB disk that contains the installer (result of burning the iso file on CD or dd on usb drive)

7

You also do not see that disk displayed when you choose expert user, or how it is called? Did you poke around to check all possibilities?

8

No. I don’t.

Here to answer arvidjaar is the output of dmesg. I also added the output of lspci -k and lsmod. I don’t know if it could be useful.

URL: SUSE Paste

9

Then my conclusion is that you drew your conclusion too soon.

As I see it (please correct me, but your information is still very scanty), you only saw the screen that offered you a partitioning for your installation. As you told that you partitioned your disk (the one that you want to install on) already, the installer will see a fully used disk. Thus it will not use it in it’s proposal. It will propose to install on the only place where unpartitioned disk is available: your installation USB mass-storage.

When the above is correct, you an walk two different pathes.

  1. remove all partitions from the disk; the installer will then propose a partitioning on it (which you then still can adapt to your liking);
  2. click that you want to change the partitioning when it is offered to you andthen use the several possibilities there to change or even complete remake the partitioning offer.
10

I remember doing a trial with the disk totally cleaned also. Just using Gparted to create a new partition table (GPT or MSDOS) but without creating any partition. The result was the same. I will redo that to be absolutely sure.
But, if my memory is good, the installer, even if the partitions occupy the full disk, is able to propose, some partition shrinking and creation of new partitions.

11

I did not really expect it, but verified here - it seems that somehow kernel messages are flushed so we do not see anything useful. Pity :frowning:

What do you see in /sys/block when you boot rescue image? Is there anything like sda (or even hda)?

12

You may want to check the BIOS (assuming pre EFI) and try changing settings effecting the drives.

Having mixed legacy (DOS) and GPT partitioning can cause confusion which table to use. Need to fully wipe all partition tables (hint all are in track one and there may be duplicates in last track)

13

Here you are SUSE Paste

There is a sda but it is the mobile drive I use as USB stick (120GB) with the installer on it.

14

Thank you for attention.
I am not sure I understand well. Do you mean the installer mobile disk and the fixed hard disk should have the same kind of partition table?
As for the BIOS I will have a look.

15

No it is possible to have two different partition tables on the same disk they are stored in different location on track one. This can of course confuse things if both exist.

16

Hi guys!
My openSUSE is fantastic!
I finally found the origin of the trouble thanks to gogalthorp but my thanks go to everyone of you.

In the BIOS, I changed the SATA Controller Mode from “Compatible” to “Enhanced” and now things are perfect.

17

Congratulations. Nice it works!

18

\o/ thought I remembered a problem with some older hardware.

19

Hmm … so it means installation system lacks drivers for legacy IDE. Not good, really. I would suggest opening bug report regarding this issue to help others.

20

I understand. Should I report the bug myself or someone else can do the job? As a new comer I don’t know the usages and customs (in my mother language us et coutumes) of the community. But of course I can learn. Please tell me if I should report myself.