Unable to install OpenSuse 12.1 using the DVD or the KDE live CD

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello everyone,
I have bought new Dell Inspiron 5110 core i7-2670 QM CPU @ 2.20GHz, 4 core(s), 8 Logical.
SMBIOS Version 2.6, Boot device : \device\harddisk\volume3 , installed physicsl Ram is 6GB, that runs under Win7 ultimate platform.
I am trying to install OpenSuse 12.1 on my machine in addition to windows 7.0. I used the DVD to install the windows installer, but with no success: (You Admin have no privelegs to complete the operation message apear) !!.In the second trail I used the XPM virtual machine , but again with no success !!!.
I have read on Opensuse form for a soulution …but with no succes. The last step I used the Live KDE CD to install it…with opensuse installer…every thing goes well untill I reach the partioning of my disk…(No proposed suggestion) so I create three partions for OpenSuse 12.1 to move around the problem in addition to the the drive C:\ D:\ and H:\ which all have data with (NTSF file system) on my machine , the ( first: 6GB Raw for swap ) (2nd: 40GB Raw for Root ) and (3rd: 100GB Raw for \home). and I continue with the installer untill I reach the final screen before we click for final installation, I got under booting:
(The bootloader is installed on a partion that does not lie entirely below 128 GB. The system might not boot if BIOS supports only lba24 (results in error 18 during install grub MBR))
I ignored this and continue with the installation , but it fails with the message:
GNU GRUB (640 K lower/ 3072 K upper memory :
YasT2 (Error occured while installing GRUB {minimal BASH-like ) editing is supported. For the fast word, TAB lisits possible command…etc.
grub>setup --stag2=/boot/grab/stage2 --force-lba(hd0,3)(hd0,3)
Error 17. cannot mount selected partion
grub>quit…
its is repeated again with error 22…when I repeat the same steps once more.

My question is, how do i install opensuse 12.1 on these three created partions ? How i could solve the problem with the boot loader (Dual booting for Win7 and Opensuse)…it seems that Win7 ultimate blocks this !!!.
Suse is unable to provide me a recomendation on the “Suggested Partitioning” screen.

I apprecaite your help to overcome this problem…although i have read on this form many replies…but it is different when you are on newly bought machine with Win7 ultimate…since I need both on my machine.

many thanks in advance

2

On 02/08/12 06:06, hyperstallion wrote:
> My question is, how do i install opensuse 12.1

Boot the live cd
Open a terminal and do

su -
fdisk -l

Post result here

All that C D F mumbo jumbo is no use at all, totally meaningless

3

Thanks allot, I got the following list with the code:

Disk / dev/sda 750 GB
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 Cylinders,…
units = sector of 1*512=512 bytes
disk identifier : 0x0c7a859b

Device Boot Start End blocks Id system

/dev/sda1 63 80324 40131 de dell utility
/dev/sda2 80325 81919 797+ 42 SFS
/dev/sda3 81920 4177919 2048000 42 SFS
/dev/sda4 4177919 441145343 218483712 42 SFS

4

On 02/08/12 07:26, hyperstallion wrote:
>
> Thanks allot, I got the following list with the code:
>
> Device Boot Start End blocks Id system
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> /dev/sda1 63 80324 40131 de dell
> utility
> /dev/sda2 80325 81919 797+ 42 SFS
> /dev/sda3 81920 4177919 2048000 42 SFS
> /dev/sda4 4177919 441145343 218483712 42 SFS
>
>

Your SFS partition table is the problem I think.
Unless you can move away from that or add a HDD. I think you are kind of
stuck.
Can any one else confirm?

5

On 2012-08-02 08:26, hyperstallion wrote:
>
> Thanks allot, I got the following list with the code:
>
> Device Boot Start End blocks Id system
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> /dev/sda1 63 80324 40131 de dell
> utility
> /dev/sda2 80325 81919 797+ 42 SFS
> /dev/sda3 81920 4177919 2048000 42 SFS
> /dev/sda4 4177919 441145343 218483712 42 SFS

No, post the ALL output of fdisk -l inside code tags. The text above is not the total text
output from that program.

Posting in Code Tags - A Guide

Like this:


Telcontar:~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ccd24

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63      417689      208813+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2   *      417690      819314      200812+  83  Linux

....

However, you can not use SFS partitions with Linux. You may need to repartition the entire disk
again.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

6

Dear Carlos, your’re absolutely right, he/she didn’t give the full output.

On the other hand

I know this problem all too well myself, and it is due to that 12.1 still uses old Legacy GRUB.

@hyperstallion:
The probably best advice in my view is:
Wait just a few weeks (not that long time),
until openSUSE 12.2 is available (which employs new boot loaders, or at least GRUB 2).
Then your current problem shouldn’t occur any more.

The alternative would probably be to move the data on your hard disk,
in order to provide space for an openSUSE root- or /-partition below 128 GB,
i.e. just in an area where windows resides now on your hard disk.

What do you prefer ?

Best wishes
Mike

7

On 2012-08-03 01:56, ratzi wrote:

>> (The bootloader is installed on a partion that does not lie entirely
>> below 128 GB. The system might not boot if BIOS supports only lba24
>
> I know this problem all too well myself, and it is due to that 12.1
> still uses old Legacy GRUB.

No, that’s simply a warning. Some machines are affected, most are not. It is a BIOS problem,
not a grub problem, and should be non existent in current machines (10 years is time enough).

It refers to this:

The 137 GB limit (Sept 2001)

As mentioned above, the old ATA protocol uses 16+4+8 = 28 bits to
specify the sector number, and hence cannot address more than 2^28
sectors. ATA-6 describes an extension that allows the addressing of
2^48 sectors, a million times as much. There is support in very
recent kernels.

4. History of BIOS and IDE limits

(137 GB = 128 GiB)

The actual error he gets from grub is this:

17 : Cannot mount selected partition
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the
filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB.

> The alternative would probably be to move the data on your hard disk,
> in order to provide space for an openSUSE root- or /-partition below
> 128 GB,
> i.e. just in an area where windows resides now on your hard disk.

If he is really affected by that problem at worst he would need the traditional solution of
having a small (< .5G), separate /boot partition below the problematic point. I don’t remember
if placing grub in the MBR also solves this particular problem - again, if it is that one.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

8

Thanks allot caf4926,

I am on line now !!, Sorry yesterday I have no connection after I talked to you.

I would like to thank you all, Mike, Carlos…and others. I have turned around the problem after I played with it for days !!!, I actaully noticed that I am stuck as you have said SFS is not right… I used a small falsh disk of 8GB as a root with Auto configuration using the DVD…all the problems (Error 17, 18, and 22…) with the bootlaoder disappear.
and right now I am installing the packages …(72 %) with no problems yet…because with the errors before I have to quit installation.
My question to you…do I have to keep the small stick disk 8GB (i.e the root) attcahed to the USB port each time I have to boot either with Win7 or Linux?.
What about the backup of my computer…when Suse 12.1 is installed…do I have to keep the flash stick too? does that have any effect on the back up of the whole operating system I have on my machine ( I use Memo software to back my system under windows).
With GRUB 2 that is with Suse 12.2 two weeks later i gues…can I upgarde with the new system and remove the old partitions …and keep things on one local disk along with Win7 ultimate.
Many thanks in advance to you all.

9

On 2012-08-03 08:16, hyperstallion wrote:

> My question to you…do I have to keep the small stick disk 8GB (i.e
> the root) attcahed to the USB port each time I have to boot either with
> Win7 or Linux?.

Depends on where grub went to. Lets wait till you attempt booting.

> What about the backup of my computer…when Suse 12.1 is
> installed…do I have to keep the flash stick too? does that have any
> effect on the back up of the whole operating system I have on my machine
> ( I use Memo software to back my system under windows).

I don’t understand.

> With GRUB 2 that is with Suse 12.2 two weeks later i gues…can I
> upgarde with the new system and remove the old partitions …and keep
> things on one local disk along with Win7 ultimate.

You can have things in the hard disk if you reinstall Windows using plain traditional partitioning.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

10

Hi, caf4926, and Carlos,
My sincere thanks to you both. Please Can you help me with your distinguished experience ? I am new here ! with a humble experience to overcome dual boot of two operating systems.
I have followed somehow your posts regarding this issue. I have done installation with the DVD of OpenSuse 12.1 on a machine that have Win 7 ultimate (SFS type), In order to get over the problems with the errors during partitioning (i.e : The bootloader is installed on a partion that does not lterie entirely below 128 GB. The system might not boot if BIOS supports only lba24) , I have attached an external flash stick of 8 GB(Kingston Data Traveler 100) as (2nd HDD) \sdb for the \ =root , the program suggested automatic partitioning scheme and I installed openSuse 12.1 with automatic configuration . After hours of downloading the packages and rebooting…I have got nothing right…The system does not boot correctly …it starts openSuse …but the 8GB stick is not recognized at all…Failure I guess with GRUB !!!..I booted with the Live KDE CD and configured the Internet to talk to you guys …but I don’t have any idea how I can send you the information during the boot that appears on the terminal to let you know what happened …and try to help me…Any Idea please because I have two missed up OS on my machine…I cannot see windows either…just the C drive as \sda4 …I have tried to fix Windows with a bootable CD and try to repair with the image I have on a backup drive …but with no success…Suse 12.1 missed up the partition and the repair for windows 7 too…Please how you can help regarding this matter in clear steps if possible…

11

On 2012-08-04 08:16, hyperstallion wrote:

> I have got nothing right…The system does
> not boot correctly …it starts openSuse …but the 8GB stick is not
> recognized at all…Failure I guess with GRUB !!!..I booted with the
> Live KDE CD and configured the Internet to talk to you guys …but I
> don’t have any idea how I can send you the information during the boot
> that appears on the terminal to let you know what happened

Photos would help, for a starter. And the output of “fdisk -l”.

> …and try to
> help me…Any Idea please because I have two missed up OS on my
> machine…I cannot see windows either…

I was afraid that would happen.

IMHO, you simply can not install Linux together with SFS partitions, assuming that means the
equivalent of LVM. You have to reinstall Windows with plain traditional partitioning, as I said
before.

You may install on another disk, if that disk is the bios boot disk and you are careful. No,
sorry, I’m unable to explain all that in easy steps, I’m not that good.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

12
  1. As you have ‘corrupted’ the hard disc, partition table and probably the 100/200MB windows boot partition. I feel you have no option but to re-generate a useable MS Windows computer from your MS Windows DVD or (I assume you did it! If not problems) the 'back up DVD(s) you wrote from first start of MS Windows.
  2. Get the computer back to as “sold condition”, as a first step.
  3. Use ONLY a LIVE DVD/CD of Open SUSE (or a USB Live OpenSUSE) until you are sure about two things:
    3.1 Windows works OK, and you have then taken a back up IMAGE to restore machine to as sold condition.
    3.2 Machine works with Live OpenSUSE from USB key or from DVD/CD.
  4. Then wait till new 12.2 come out and repeat steps 3.2 with the new OpenSUSE 12.2
  5. Print out or get external record to your machine the original partition table and set up with Windows, and keep that image to restore MS Windows to as sold condition.

6 Personal note:
While I dual boot with desktops with two hard discs, i usually only use Linux within Windows by Virtual machine or as Live Linux from USB key (or DVD)
Only on laptops that have two hard discs (there are some out there) would I attempt to dual boot , but that is may caution as the windows side is necessary to earn my living.
Best wishes.

13

Thank you both Carlos and Eionmac for your kind help.

I was busy with my corrupted machine for three days now…I have partitioned my HDD of 750 GB using Gparted software to get red of SFS patitions as follows for my plan:
1- C : drive with (200GB) layout:simple, filetype:NTSF
2- D : drive with (250GB) layout:simple, filetype:NTSF
3- E : drive with (100GB) layout:simple, filetype:NTSF
and one extended drive with the following partitions (no labels and no file type) which I am planning for OpenSuse:
4- 10 GB for swap ( the Ram on my laptop is 12 GB)
5- 50 GB for the \ =root, and
6- 140 GB for \home .
I have installed windows 7.0 ultimate(64 bit) again, in addition to other softwares, and my machine is working fine now…but with some older programs which is running under XPMode virtual PC to be clear…I have noticed that there is no virtual drive ( of a round 2.0 MB) created this time when I installed the XP virtual machine…I think because I have resize the whole hard disk this time as a bove without any allocated space !!!..I am not sure to be clear where the stuff goes for the virtual machine for the XP mode.

The other things I have done:
-I backied up my machine on an external drive using windows backup plan. ( but this does not include the whole stuff on my machine as you know…). so…

  • I have created an Image file using ultraiso software for my computer, which I have saved on an external drive.
  • I have took the whole precautions necessary before I play with the Live DVD to install openSuse…!!!
    and I hope this time I will succeed to have a dual boot with two operating systems.
    I will let everybody know what happned with such steps, and the type of the errors I might face during the installtion.
    I will also wait untill I have a copy of Opensuse 12.2 to proceed.

Kind regards.

hyperstallion.

14

On 2012-08-09 04:26, hyperstallion wrote:

…

> I will let everybody know what happned with such steps, and the type of
> the errors I might face during the installtion.
> I will also wait untill I have a copy of Opensuse 12.2 to proceed.

Your plan looks good to me :slight_smile:

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 “Asparagus” GM (bombadillo))

15

[[b][u]Dear Carlos:
Thank you so much. Below the results of my attempt as a screen shot. looking for your comments

Regards form Hyperstallion[/u][/b][u]

System[/u]](http://forums.opensuse.org/init_hwinfo)

[ul]
[li]System: Dell Inc. - Inspiron N5110 (Not Specified) [/li][li]Processor: 8x Intel(R) Core™ i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz [/li][li]Main Memory: 12 GB [/li][/ul]
[u]Partitioning[/u]

[ul]
[li]Create extended partition /dev/sda4 (161.52 GB) [/li][li]Create swap volume /dev/sda5 (2.01 GB) [/li][li]Create root volume /dev/sda6 (20.00 GB) with ext4 [/li][li]Create volume /dev/sda7 (139.51 GB) for /home with ext4 [/li][li]Set mount point of /dev/sda1 to /windows/C [/li][li]Set mount point of /dev/sda2 to /windows/D [/li][li]Set mount point of /dev/sda3 to /windows/E [/li][/ul]
[u]Booting[/u]
The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB. The system might not boot if BIOS support only lba24 (result is error 18 during install grub MBR).

[ul]
[li]Boot Loader Type: GRUB [/li][li]Status Location: /dev/sda4 (extended), /dev/sda6 ("/") [/li][li]Change Location:[/li][LIST]
[li]Boot from MBR is disabled ([u]enable[/u]) [/li][li]Boot from “/” partition is enabled ([u]disable[/u]) [/li][/ul]

[li]Sections:[/li]+ openSUSE 12.1 (default)

  • windows 1
  • windows 2
  • windows 3
  • Failsafe – openSUSE 12.1
    [/LIST]
16

On 2012-08-09 17:56, hyperstallion wrote:
>
> '_Dear_Carlos:
> Thank_you_so_much._Below_the_results_of_my_attempt_as_a_screen_shot.looking_for_your_comments
>
> Regards_form_Hyperstallion_

Nothing to say, looks good to me.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.1 “Asparagus” GM (bombadillo))

17

Hi All,
With the above plan…I have installed OpenSUSE 12.1 correctly !.
Thank you all for the kind help.

Regards.
Hyperstallion.
:):):slight_smile:
18

On 2012-08-13 01:56, hyperstallion wrote:
>
> Hi All,
> With the above plan…I have installed OpenSUSE 12.1 correctly !.
> Thank you all for the kind help.

Good! :-))

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)