Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

john grey

14 Aug 2005 14 Aug '05

22:27

Hi, I'm trying to install suse 9.3 into an old computer I have. It has a WD 60GB disk (with Windows) and a Maxtor 10GB disk, which will be used for suse. The Windows hd will be left untouched. The problem happens when yast reads the size of the hd and it only reports 1.9 GB instead of the 10GB it has. I have tried to delete it and reread and nothing happens. I'm still limited to 4091 cylinders, instead of the 19950 the hd has. I tried using hdb=19959,16,63 for boot options but yast seems to ignore them. BTW, windows has no problem reading this 10GB. If iI format it under windows, yast reports /hdb with 1.9GB and /hdb1 with 9.something GB. So this is very strange. Any help will be greatly appreciated. ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Kevanf1

15 Aug 15 Aug

15:52

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

On 14/08/05, john grey wrote:

...

Hi, I'm trying to install suse 9.3 into an old computer I have. It has a WD 60GB disk (with Windows) and a Maxtor 10GB disk, which will be used for suse. The Windows hd will be left untouched. The problem happens when yast reads the size of the hd and it only reports 1.9 GB instead of the 10GB it has. I have tried to delete it and reread and nothing happens. I'm still limited to 4091 cylinders, instead of the 19950 the hd has. I tried using hdb=19959,16,63 for boot options but yast seems to ignore them. BTW, windows has no problem reading this 10GB. If iI format it under windows, yast reports /hdb with 1.9GB and /hdb1 with 9.something GB. So this is very strange.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

It may not be relevant but have you ever used Partition Magic on this disk? I've known it screw up things badly for a Linux install. I realise that you may not be using PM this time but sometime in the past perhaps? I've suggested a low level format to another list member and it may help in your case. At least it gets you back to a factory condition drive. -- Take care. Kevan Farmer 34 Hill Street Cheslyn Hay Staffordshire WS6 7HR

Greg Wallace

16 Aug 16 Aug

04:36

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

On Monday, August 15, 2005 @ 7:52 AM, Kevin Farmer wrote:

...

On 14/08/05, john grey wrote:

...
Hi, I'm trying to install suse 9.3 into an old computer I have. It has a WD 60GB disk (with Windows) and a Maxtor 10GB disk, which will be used for suse. The Windows hd will be left untouched. The problem happens when yast reads the size of the hd and it only reports 1.9 GB instead of the 10GB it has. I have tried to delete it and reread and nothing happens. I'm still limited to 4091 cylinders, instead of the 19950 the hd has. I tried using hdb=19959,16,63 for boot options but yast seems to ignore them. BTW, windows has no problem reading this 10GB. If iI format it under windows, yast reports /hdb with 1.9GB and /hdb1 with 9.something GB. So this is very strange.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

...

It may not be relevant but have you ever used Partition Magic on this disk? I've known it screw up things badly for a Linux install. I realise that you may not be using PM this time but sometime in the past perhaps?

...

I've suggested a low level format to another list member and it may help in your case. At least it gets you back to a factory condition drive.

Here's another thing he could try. * Go to "Disk Management" under Windows. * From there, delete all partitions off of the drive. * Re-format it as one NTFS partition * Turn right around and delete that partition. At that point, all that should be left on the disk is maybe some trace of there having being a single partition on it from the NTFS format. He could then try a clean install on that. Greg Wallace

john grey

06:53

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

No Partition Magic has been used in this hard disk. It used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra 10 GB partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it. I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So there is something wrong in how the size gets read by linux, since for some reason windows can read it properly. So I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level format. Any linux tool that is very good at it? The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will be left intact. I just mentioned it for completeness. The hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a single 10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I went to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I went back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which of course makes no sense at all. Thanks for the help ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Andre Venter

07:04

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install No Partition Magic has been used in this hard disk. It used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra 10 GB partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it. I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So there is something wrong in how the size gets read by linux, since for some reason windows can read it properly. So I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level format. Any linux tool that is very good at it? The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will be left intact. I just mentioned it for completeness. The hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a single 10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I went to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I went back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which of course makes no sense at all. Thanks for the help Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the CMOS

Andre Venter

07:06

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Venter" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

...

----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

No Partition Magic has been used in this hard disk. It used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra 10 GB partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it.

I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So there is something wrong in how the size gets read by linux, since for some reason windows can read it properly. So I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level format. Any linux tool that is very good at it?

The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will be left intact. I just mentioned it for completeness. The hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a single 10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I went to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I went back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which of course makes no sense at all.

Thanks for the help

Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the CMOS

Enabled, Typo, Sorry

john grey

17 Aug 17 Aug

06:35

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

--- Andre Venter wrote:

...

----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Venter" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk

size during install

...
No Partition Magic has been used in this hard

...
used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra 10 GB partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it.

I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So

...
is something wrong in how the size gets read by

...
since for some reason windows can read it

...
I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level

disk. It there linux, properly. So format.

...
Any linux tool that is very good at it?

The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will be left intact. I just mentioned it for completeness. The hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a single 10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I went to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I went back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which of course makes no sense at all.

Thanks for the help

Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the CMOS

Enabled, Typo, Sorry

I forgot to mention that. LBA has always been enabled, so I even tried disabling it. No success. ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Basil Chupin

11:27

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

john grey wrote:

...

--- Andre Venter wrote:

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Venter" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk

size during install

...
No Partition Magic has been used in this hard

disk. It

...
used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra

10 GB

...
partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it.

I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So

there

...
is something wrong in how the size gets read by

linux,

...
since for some reason windows can read it

properly. So

...
I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level

format.

...
Any linux tool that is very good at it?

The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will

be

...
left intact. I just mentioned it for completeness.

The

...
hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a

single

...
10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I

went

...
to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I went back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which

of

...
course makes no sense at all.

Thanks for the help

Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the

CMOS

...
Enabled, Typo, Sorry

I forgot to mention that. LBA has always been enabled, so I even tried disabling it. No success.

I hope I am responding to the right person (the beginning of the msg has me a bit confused), if operating in Linux have a look at the Manual entries for fdisk, cfdisk and sfdisk to get an idea of the sort of mess one can get from DOS and DRDOS (on command line do- man cfdisk or man sfdisk, eg). You didn't say what brand of HD you are trying to install but there should be a utility on the manufacturer's website which will low level format as well as partition the HD. For my Maxtors/Quantums I used MaxBlast4 and for my Seagates I have the Disk Manager. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

john grey

20 Aug 20 Aug

06:57

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

--- Basil Chupin wrote:

...

john grey wrote:

...
--- Andre Venter wrote:

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Venter" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk

size during install

...
No Partition Magic has been used in this hard

disk. It

...
used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra

10 GB

...
partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it.

I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So

there

...
is something wrong in how the size gets read by

linux,

...
since for some reason windows can read it

properly. So

...
I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level

format.

...
Any linux tool that is very good at it?

The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will

be

...
left intact. I just mentioned it for

completeness.

...
...
The

...
hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a

single

...
10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I

went

...
to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I

went

...
...
back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which

of

...
course makes no sense at all.

Thanks for the help

Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the

CMOS

...
Enabled, Typo, Sorry

I forgot to mention that. LBA has always been enabled, so I even tried disabling it. No success.

I hope I am responding to the right person (the beginning of the msg has me a bit confused), if operating in Linux have a look at the Manual entries for fdisk, cfdisk and sfdisk to get an idea of the sort of mess one can get from DOS and DRDOS (on command line do- man cfdisk or man sfdisk, eg).

You didn't say what brand of HD you are trying to install but there should be a utility on the manufacturer's website which will low level format as well as partition the HD. For my Maxtors/Quantums I used MaxBlast4 and for my Seagates I have the Disk Manager.

Cheers.

The brand is a Maxtor. I got MaxBlast 4 and did a low level format to it. The problem remained. So I tried fdisk and sfdisk. They tell me that BLKGETSIZE/HDIO_GETGEO reports 4091 cylinders. When I tell fdisk to change it to 19590 (As reported by MaxBlast, not the previous 19950 I used that I got from Dell info) and save it, nothing happens. I tried sfdisk using /dev/hdb -C19590, and even added -f to force it and a buffer overflow happens. ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Basil Chupin

21 Aug 21 Aug

12:26

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

john grey wrote:

...

--- Basil Chupin wrote:

...
john grey wrote:

...
--- Andre Venter wrote:

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Andre Venter" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

...
----- Original Message ----- From: "john grey" To: Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 8:53 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk

size during install

...
No Partition Magic has been used in this hard

disk. It

...
used to be a Win98 and then became just an extra

10 GB

...
partition for WinXP. So I've never done anything beyond having a single partition in it.

I also tried Fedora Core to see if it was a Yast problem, but it also gets the same reading. So

there

...
is something wrong in how the size gets read by

linux,

...
since for some reason windows can read it

properly. So

...
I'm open to any ideas. You sugested low level

format.

...
Any linux tool that is very good at it?

The other hard disk with the NTFS partitions will

be

...
left intact. I just mentioned it for

completeness.

...
...
The

...
hd where suse will be installed already has no partitions. Before trying suse it used to be a

single

...
10GB NTFS partition. After I saw that problem, I

went

...
to Windows, formated it with FAT32 and when I

went

...
...
...
back to the suse install it showed a 10GB FAT32 partition (/hdb1) inside a 2GB disk (/hdb) which

of

...
course makes no sense at all.

Thanks for the help

Make sure LBA Mode is anable for this disk in the

CMOS

Enabled, Typo, Sorry

I forgot to mention that. LBA has always been

enabled,

...
so I even tried disabling it. No success.

I hope I am responding to the right person (the beginning of the msg has me a bit confused), if operating in Linux have a look at the Manual entries for fdisk, cfdisk and sfdisk to get an idea of the sort of mess one can get from DOS and DRDOS (on command line do- man cfdisk or man sfdisk, eg).

You didn't say what brand of HD you are trying to install but there should be a utility on the manufacturer's website which will low level format as well as partition the HD. For my Maxtors/Quantums I used MaxBlast4 and for my Seagates I have the Disk Manager.

Cheers.

The brand is a Maxtor. I got MaxBlast 4 and did a low level format to it. The problem remained. So I tried fdisk and sfdisk. They tell me that BLKGETSIZE/HDIO_GETGEO reports 4091 cylinders. When I tell fdisk to change it to 19590 (As reported by MaxBlast, not the previous 19950 I used that I got from Dell info) and save it, nothing happens. I tried sfdisk using /dev/hdb -C19590, and even added -f to force it and a buffer overflow happens.

I may state something below which is already bleeding obvious to you so just pass over it or I may state something which may be just me flapping my ears so tell me that I am wrong :-). Linux wants the BIOS to be in control of the hardware but what almost everybody who installs M$ does is answer YES to the question in the BIOS setup which asks if a PNP System is installed. Go to your BIOS and change that to NO if it is set to Yes. Windows is too stoopid to know any different and just goes and works anyway. You mentioned that the HD was used with Win98. Am I to assume that it is being/to be used on an older machine (of the Win98 era)? This may or may not be relevant of course but still interesting to be aware of. How is the HD setup- as a Master, Master with Slave or as Cable Select (CS) in which case is it connected to the correct connector on the IDE cable? Is the BIOS able to auto detect the drives and if so how does it read the HD (correct size, CHS?). I pointed you at the fdisk, cfdisk and sfdisk in Linux not really to have you trying to use them to alter the geometry of the HD but for you to read what a dog's vomit DOS and DRDOS fdisk can do to the partitions and that if you are going to format with Linux then you have to zero out the first 256 bytes of the (new) partition. And as it is stated, best to format the HD with DOS fdisk for Windows OS and use Linux fdisk for Linux OS. What I suggest you do is this- you have already low level formatted the HD with PowerMax (which is inside MaxBlast4) so no need to do this again - unless you want to; put the HD into the XP setup, making sure first that it is jumpered correctly as M or S or CS, and using Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tasks/Disk Management select the HD and DELETE all partitions on that drive then CREATE a new EXTENDED partition out of the whole 10GB and make that a LOGICAL DRIVE; once this is done FORMAT it while still in Disk Management as Fat32; reboot and see what is showing up back in Disk Management. When you go to install SuSE (which version, BTW? I cannot install 9.2 on my computer :-( ), at the beginning of the installation, where you have to select the Language and the Partitions and Software, in the Partitioning section select 'Expert' mode and when the table of all the partitions comes up select (?)Expert (bottom RH) and choose REREAD THE PARTITION TABLE. When this is done highlight the 10GB partition just created and formatted in XP, DELETE it and then CREATE it and do the normal thing about choosing to have it formatted as reiserfs (or ext3 if that's your scene) and being the / partition. Then carry on with the normal install routine. Oh, there is one other thing - to do with the BIOS. For reasons only known to itself the BIOS sometimes gets into a flap and causes no end of headaches which may take ages to solve or, more likely, not get solved at all. What I suggest - as was suggested to me a while ago and it works! - is to reset the BIOS to its STANDARD DEFAULT SETTINGS not the Optimised Settings, reboot, DEL back into the BIOS, reset some of the essential parameters (like using AGP vs PCI, activating USB etc) and see if this fixes the problem. I should have stated this earlier above I think but you mentioned that you used Linus fdisk to reset the number of cylinders. This is where the BIOS comes in. If you use MaxBlast4 and examine your HDs you will see that there are 2 figures given for CHS (?or at least for CH). One of the set of figures are INTERPRETED by I think the BIOS (or is it by the chipset onboard the HD?) and this interpreted figure is what shows up in the first GENERAL menu when you bring up the BIOS at boot time. Using fdisk you probably were trying to feed in the wrong cylinder count - I wouldn't mess around with this approach as you could do some permanent damage to your HD. See how you go with the above. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

john grey

23:05

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

I tried disabling the PnP OS option inside the BIOS and I Linux still gets the wrong geometry. The BIOS gets the correct hard disk size (although it is lame enough that it doesn't show CHS, just size. This BIOS even doesn't have a choice to enter those values manually) because it shows 10GB as the hard disk size. I reset the BIOS and that didn't help either. The problem when creating the partition inside windows and then going to Yast is that it still believes that the hard disk is only 1.9GB even though it still shows a inside it a 10GB partition. If I delete the partition and try to create a new one, I'm limited to those 1.9GB. I'm pretty much giving up on this. I'm simply going to get another HD and go from there. Thanks everyone for your help. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

Basil Chupin

23 Aug 23 Aug

10:22

New subject: [SLE] Yast gets incorrect hard disk size during install

john grey wrote:

...

I tried disabling the PnP OS option inside the BIOS and I Linux still gets the wrong geometry.

The BIOS gets the correct hard disk size (although it is lame enough that it doesn't show CHS, just size. This BIOS even doesn't have a choice to enter those values manually) because it shows 10GB as the hard disk size.

I reset the BIOS and that didn't help either.

The problem when creating the partition inside windows and then going to Yast is that it still believes that the hard disk is only 1.9GB even though it still shows a inside it a 10GB partition. If I delete the partition and try to create a new one, I'm limited to those 1.9GB.

I'm pretty much giving up on this. I'm simply going to get another HD and go from there. Thanks everyone for your help.

While I just love a good challenge, there comes a time when walking away is a more prudent thing to do. I think you are right to simply get a new, more modern, HD and retire the 10Gb as a backup repository for M$ stuff. Cheers. -- The first myth of management is that it exists.

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Andre Venter
Basil Chupin
Greg Wallace
john grey
Kevanf1