Cannot partition hard drive during installation

[avd238]

As I try to inslall debian testing from CD it halts at the step where you're supposed to partition the drive of my old desktop. Somehow I'm not allowed to create more that one partition. It says something like no LVM module. I even attempted to pre-partition using one of those light slacko live-CDs which has gparted. But the same problem happens with it: as I press Apply button the first partition (in my case the root one) remains "unformatted". What could be wrong with it? Thank you.

[debiman]

are you choosing guided or manual partitioning?

[avd238]

Either way it doesn't work. When I try to do it manually by allocating space, etc. It's not giving me an option to use it as ext4, only windows options are present (fat16, ...)

[GarryRicketson]

I think maybe some better details on this "old desktop" are needed. What are the specs, what kind of hd is it ? Also what OS , if any, does it have on it ?

On some older hardware that has Ms Windows on it, what I ended up doing
is format the entire drive using FreeDos, in one case just formatting it was not enough, I ended up installing FreeDos, after that when it would boot ok using freedos, then the installer for Debian was able to read the disk and partition as needed. On some really old hardware, the current Debian stable , just does not work, and I ended up using OpenBsd, but that would be another topic.

[avd238]

Thank you for your response.
It has 2G of RAM and 160G hd.
In fact, previously there was Ubuntu-Mate installed on it and running okay.
Until it had hardware problems and the motherboard needed to be replaced.
When I took it back from the shop they installed Win 7 on it. So I proceeded from there by wiping it up.

[GarryRicketson]

Your welcome,

Postby avd238 » 2018-07-04 02:22
As I try to install debian testing from CD it halts at the step where you're supposed to partition the drive of my old desktop.

I have installed the Debian Stable (currently stretch) with out this kind of problem, and on PCs that had windows 7, however with Debian testing, it could also be a problem with the installer, it is "testing" and sometimes things don't work as expected today, but next week, a new image and it all goes well.
Have you tried installing something else ? It could be anything, a current stable version of Debian, or FreeDos, or anything, for example if the current Debian stable, (stretch) installed ok, that would indicate that the problem is in the "testing" installer, after installing Stretch, you can upgrade it to testing later...
Like wise, if you install FreeDos,it will completely wipe the drive,and give you a good boot partition, the Debian installer should be able to work with it and install...assuming it works properly.
===

I even attempted to pre-partition using one of those light slacko live-CDs which has gparted. But the same problem happens with it: as I press Apply button the first partition (in my case the root one) remains "unformatted".

"One of those "slako" live-CDs which has gparted" is pretty vague, and could be the problem, gparted is ok, but sometimes I have had problems with it, and it is not clear,
What "slako" live CD" are you trying to use ? I have seen some that claim to be good tools, and they just don't work. You might do a search and look for "hirens boot CD", it has some good tools, and has always been reliable (for me,anyway).
Does the error message (if there is one) say the first partition is unformatted ? Then you need to format it first, if you are formatting it, but it still is unformatted, then something is wrong with the "gparted" on your "slako" live CD,...The debian installer should be able to format and write to a fat partition, if it really is a fat partition and properly formatted.
It is hard to say exactly, when one can not see exactly what is happening.
Do you have something with the 'fdisk' command on it, see :

Code: Select all

man fdisk

Try :

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# fdisk /dev/sda

(the # is not part of the command, but indicates you must be root, or use sudo to run the command.
then:

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 p (print partition table)

and show us what it says, please use code boxes.
It might not be "sda", that is just a example, but you can use the command
'lsblk' to see what it is.
'man lsblk' , show us the output of these, and maybe someone will have some ideas as to what it is.

[avd238]

Thanks, I'll try to use the stable branch.
The live cd I called "slacko" is Ubuntu Pup BB something 18.05 (small size, easy to download).

[debiman]

I even attempted to pre-partition using one of those light slacko live-CDs which has gparted. But the same problem happens with it: as I press Apply button the first partition (in my case the root one) remains "unformatted".

does this happen in gparted?

[avd238]

does this happen in gparted?

Yes, and in gparted as well.

[Caitlin]

I am aware of partitioning problems when there is an old version of Linux where you want to install a new one. You have to erase it, to keep from mixing new and old versions. I don't remember the exact technical reason for it, but what you do, in the formatting step, is erase the partition, delete it, then re-create it (which will cause it to be formatted).

Caitlin

[sunrat]

I am aware of partitioning problems when there is an old version of Linux where you want to install a new one. You have to erase it, to keep from mixing new and old versions. I don't remember the exact technical reason for it, but what you do, in the formatting step, is erase the partition, delete it, then re-create it (which will cause it to be formatted).

Caitlin

You should usually be able to reformat an existing partition without recreating it. Please search and tell us the exact technical reason why you think it's not so.

Last OP post here is 4 weeks ago so I guess they have lost interest.