Ubuntu 9.04 final/9.10 daily on a G50V(t) -- install stops at 90%

i think this would belong in this board, since it im sure others out there have gotten it to install.

9.04 x86/amd64 sometimes error out with squashfs, sometimes the installer seems to "crash" at 90%. can't get any logs once the I/O error 5's start happening. yes, i have checked and verified and burned the disc at 2x. yes, it happens in both sata and compatibility in bios.

9.04/9.10 alternative say that no installable kernel is found after scanning apt sources -- probably the same reason why the installer closes at 90% in the desktop builds.

if someone's managed to install it,
- ext3 or ext4?
- size of the partition
- separate /boot (and partition type for it)
- grub> geometry (hd0)

or if i can get my hands on a log, it would help a lot (syslog or klog)

 

Hm, it hangs with an I/O error? That's not right...

I run Debian on my G50V but it's RAID 0 so my partition scheme won't help you much. I'm running ext3.

I'd stay away from 9.10 at this point since it's only in alpha. Could you post the output of the I/O error from 9.04?

Edit: Also it'd be good to know which drive the I/O error was happening on. If it's the SATA DVD maybe you can try a net install CD instead so that it doesn't have to read from the CD except for the very beginning of the install.

 

Code:

SQUASHFS error: squashfs_read_data failed to read block 0x186ee31e
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read data cache entry [186ee31e]
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 186ee31e, size 8d88
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read data cache entry [186ee31e]
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 186ee31e, size 8d88

different addresses/sizes every time. they happen randomly during install, sometimes before anything is mounted, so i'm inclined to say its because of enhanced + dvd drive (a lot less frequent when its set to Compatible/IDE in bios). after the stream of hundreds, everything fails to launch with E: Read error - read (5 Input/output error) (including cd, ls, sh, reboot).

edit: doesn't seem like ubuntu has a net install (i can see why debian does though). i'll try with /boot on its own ext3 partition.

my disk layout, if it matters
primary
sda1 - windows xp
sda2 - win 7 7100
logical
sda4 - backtrack4
sda5 - target for ubuntu
sda6 - /home
sda7 - old /boot
sda8 - storage
sda9 - truecrypt partition 1
sda10 - truecrypt partition 2
sda11 - image of xp
sda12 - image of bt4

 

Ubuntu just calls it the Minimal Installer or whatever... instead of netinst for Debian: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD

You can install from USB though to avoid the CD, if you have a USB stick. UNetbootin is good for making bootable USB sticks from ISO images. I'm not sure it's your DVD drive that's the problem, it could be the media.

Edit: Is it failing installing GRUB (at 90%)? Are you installing GRUB to your MBR or /boot? Maybe /boot has some bad sectors.

Edit 2: There are some boot options that *could* help installing from DVD... hit TAB at the boot screen for the installer and type in the options and hit Enter. They are irqpoll and cdrom-detect/cdrom_hdparm=-d0 to disable DMA or cdrom-detect/cdrom_hdparm=-d1 to force DMA.

Edit 3: Also 9.10 is using GRUB2 which is not quite finished, and it doesn't support booting other OSs at the moment. So I'd stay entirely clear of the 9.10 alpha

 

upgrading 8.10 -> 9.04 and converting to ext4 works.

i tried with and without ide=nodma and cdrom-detect/cdrom_hdparm=-d0 (while using compatibility mode).
9.10 failed, 9.04 installs with ext3. works with both installing grub to mbr or /dev/sda5.
most likely ill copy over the kernel&initrd to my common /boot (backtrack and windows boot fine off of it, no errors on fdisk), and just keep ext3.

at 90%, but it happens near the scanning apt sources part. the alternative discs install says it can't find an installable kernel, so i would assume thats also happening on the normal desktop disc.

forgot that you change the parameters with tab maybe f6 just didnt work.


also noticed that 9.10 doesn't have the grub package (or it's in /sbin without sbin being on the path, or the binary is grub2)


to summarize it;
Enhanced
|-9.04 fails at random with squashfs/io errors, sometimes makes it to the actual installing
|-9.10 same as above

Compatibility
|-9.04 intalls with ext3, fails with ext4 (90%)
|-9.10 fails on both (90%)

 

I tried installing 9.04 the other day, the installer kept throwing 100 errors. Trying 8.10 again and going to see what happens.

 

Did you need cdrom-detect/cdrom_hdparm=-d0? Sorry I couldn't tell from reading your post

 

worked with and without (i can't remember if i also used acpi=off, noapic and/or nolapic).

typing gets hard after seeing the same stuff 30 times

 

some good news and bad news,

deleting something inside a logical partition in windows7 deleted the whole logical container (good bye photoshop/work since gr8/pr0nz/everything not windows). i know i can use something like photorec, but it's not that big a loss.

using default (compatible in bios) setup and launch arg's, ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 dailys install perfectly. checking again, it even worked in the logical container.
so for those who are still having problems, check your partitions.

my old table when it didnt work:
sda1 - 40GB - win xp
sda2 - 55GB - win 7
sda3 - logical container
sda4 - 15GB - backtrack 4
sda5 - 20GB - ubuntu target (full?)
sda6 - 60GB - storage
sda7 - 22GB - win xp backup image (full)
sda8 - 4.5GB - bt4 backup image (full)
sda9 - 200MB - /boot
sda10 & 11 - truecrypt volumes

table when it did work:
sda1 - xp pro
sda2 - win 7
sda3 - logical container
sda4 - ubuntu 9.10

everything works (other than what i lost). i also shouldve mentioned that gnome-settings kept complaining the backup partitions were full, but didn't think it mattered. good chance that was the reason it didn't install.