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I have recently attempted to install ubuntu on my laptop, replacing windows 7.

The HDD was working fine with windows 7.

On my first attempt to install ubuntu it kept giving me an error that was saying it could not create the partitions needed for the installation.

I then tried to manually delete all the partitions that were on the HDD and then attempt the installation. Then it started saying that it could not create the ext4 file system.

So, then i tried deleting partitions again and found out that i had a bad superblock. So, then i tried the suggestions in this link. This did not solve the superblock problem.

So, then i used mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda to try and just format the whole drive. Everything seemed fine, and then the installation failed. It said it was unable to create the partitions again.

I am on the live cd and gparted does not detect any HDD any more.

I need to get ubuntu installed on this HDD. Can someone please assist me in getting this HDD to work again.

Let me know if you need any further details. Thanks!

Output from sudo fdisk -l:

fdisk: unable to read /dev/sdc: Input/output error

prolink007
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  • You said gparted does not detect you HD no more, have tried checking your bios to see if it's detected at boot time? if its not detected at boot time, make sure you HDD is attached properly also. ... – WeloSefer Jan 01 '13 at 07:48
  • As WeloSefer said.. If you do get past this part, if i recall, when you come to partition the drive during the install process there's a tick box to force a proper format of the partition. However if your machine cant detect the drive, it may be damaged. – FreudianSlip Jan 01 '13 at 07:51
  • Bios sees the HDD. I do not believe the drive is physically damaged. I just think that i have formatted the drive incorrectly. How can i format the drive so that it will be ready accept an ubuntu installation with an ext4 file system? – prolink007 Jan 01 '13 at 17:25
  • @prolink007 try disabling `SATA native support` from bios and try booting from gparted. If that doesn't work then can you include the output of `fdisk -l` with your question ? – WeloSefer Jan 01 '13 at 20:09
  • @WeloSefer: How do i disable SATA native support? All i see is `SATA Mode: AHCI Mode` and the second option for this field is `IDE Mode`. Everything else in the bios is `security and boot`. – prolink007 Jan 01 '13 at 20:28
  • @prolink007 Try switching from one to other to see if it helps... If you could find a way to include the output of `fdisk -l` it will be great – WeloSefer Jan 01 '13 at 20:53
  • Added output from `fdisk -l` in my original post. – prolink007 Jan 01 '13 at 22:34

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@prolink007 I did some reading regarding your problem and I found out that left over GPT data on the hard drive confuses GParted. SO, in order to fix the issue you have to use GPT fdisk aka gdisk try the following steps which might help. 

 1. Boot into Gparted and go to counsel    

 2. Type "gdisk /dev/sda" (change "/dev/sda" to whatever is appropriate to access your hard disk,
     if necessary). you can use gdisk -l to print out the info needed

 3. The program is likely to complain that it's found both MBR and GPT data, and will ask which 
    to use. It doesn't matter which you tell it to use.

 4. At the "Command" prompt, type "x" to enter the experts' menu.

 5. At the "Expert command" prompt, type "z" to "zap" (destroy) the GPT data.

 6. Type "y" in response to the confirmation about destroying the GPT.

 7. Type "n" in response to the query about blanking the MBR.

Hope this fix the issue. Let me now

WeloSefer
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  • I got the live cd of `gparted` from here http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/old-gparted-livecd/gparted-livecd-0.3.4-11/gparted-livecd-0.3.4-11.iso/download. I booted into the default selection and it is now saying a long error. The important stuff seems to be: `Write protect is off` and `Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA`. And it just says a lot of that on the screen. It did not bring me to a desktop or command prompt. – prolink007 Jan 01 '13 at 22:54
  • That's odd. Try resting your bios to default setting and try again. If that doesn't work, you HD is done. It might have some physical damage ie if you have dropped your laptop recently. =\ – WeloSefer Jan 02 '13 at 00:00
  • Never dropped it. It just started acting like this after i attempted to install ubuntu. I might try to put windows back on to see what happens. I will try your bios suggestion and the windows thing and let you know what happens. Thanks – prolink007 Jan 02 '13 at 00:33
  • The windows installation does not see my `hdd` either. – prolink007 Jan 02 '13 at 00:41
  • Now my bios is not seeing the `hdd`! Is there a way that i need to mount the drive or something? – prolink007 Jan 02 '13 at 00:43
  • No, the bios was suppose to pick it up if the hard drive is plugged in. The mounting part is OS job. Maybe the hdd is not sitting right in its fixed position... remove and dust the area and plug it back in. and try again... if that doesn't work, its most likely ur hdd is out service. =\ – WeloSefer Jan 02 '13 at 02:54
  • @prolink007 did you fix your problem ? – WeloSefer Jan 02 '13 at 16:05
  • Not yet, i was waiting to see if any others had suggestions and i was probably going to buy a new internal hdd for my laptop to see if that fixes it. – prolink007 Jan 02 '13 at 16:21