Hard drive will not detect in ubuntu 10 04

shagrath

July 20, 2010 5:50:20 AM

Alright let me start by saying im a total newb using ubuntu. I've worked on PCs for 7 years now so im pretty familiar with the inner and outer workings of windows but Linux is a different story. This is the second time to install ubuntu on a computer. The first time was smooth but i convinced my girlfriend to use it but now i hit this problem and idk what to do.

Now i have read some about this on other forums but i am clueless what to do with the information. I need a very strait forward way of fixing this.

The computer:
Cheep acer from bestbuy in the vista age
Aspire T180
AMD 4200+ x2
2GB Ram
nVidia Chipset. no option in bios for ahci mode. forced to use raid with single drive setup. will not install xp without floppy sata driver, installs vista/7 np.
160GB Western Digital Caviar Blue (new)
Sata DVD Burner

Now my file server i installed ubuntu on is setup similar, the drive was in raid, sata dvd burner, with no problems although it is running on an intel controller, but this one is being complicated.

Just need someone who can explain this to a microsoft savy person. because this ":~$ sudo dmraid -r
/dev/sdb: pdc, "pdc_bfehaige", mirror, ok, 976562500 sectors, data@ 0" looks like greek to me.

Thanks
Karl

More about : hard drive detect ubuntu

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

skittle

July 20, 2010 5:16:27 PM

Hi, by "will not detect" do you mean unmountable, or you just dont know how to mount it? Furthermore are you just trying to boot from the live cd and mount the windows file system? or trying to install and then it wont see it?

| Report abuse

linux_0

July 20, 2010 5:38:32 PM

Fakeraid's going to cause all kinds of headaches, why don't ya disable fakeraid and use sata or ide mode instead?

It wouldn't hurt to try updating the bios if there's a new one available from acer with ahci support.

Good luck

| Report abuse

shagrath

July 20, 2010 6:47:54 PM

linux_0 said:

Fakeraid's going to cause all kinds of headaches, why don't ya disable fakeraid and use sata or ide mode instead?

It wouldn't hurt to try updating the bios if there's a new one available from acer with ahci support.

Good luck

if it was that simple i would have alrdy fixed it. I installed the latest bios update and still no option to change the storage config. The bios is really gay and doesn't give many options at all. it forces you to use the raid configuration with no option for ide, or ahci mode. So if theres a way to make fake raid work somehow its beyond me. I'm starting to think this cheep acer just isn't worthy of Ubuntu.

| Report abuse

shagrath

July 20, 2010 6:53:24 PM

skittle said:

Hi, by "will not detect" do you mean unmountable, or you just dont know how to mount it? Furthermore are you just trying to boot from the live cd and mount the windows file system? or trying to install and then it wont see it?

I am booting from the x86 cd img. when the gui installer would get to the step to mount the drives it will detect and mount a flash drive but would not detect any sata hard drives. after reading more forums were the solution was to switch the sata port, insert some weird codes, still nothing.

| Report abuse

linux_0

July 20, 2010 9:27:18 PM

What kind of slots have ya got in this critter?

If you've got 20, 30, 40 bucks burning a hole in your pocket you could get a card like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... and use it in JOBD mode.

I'm not recommending that specific card just using it for illustration. [ fixed typo ]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...

If you want a really nice card, Areca and 3ware are some of the most linux friendly hardware cards.

They're mighty pricey tho.

The cheaper cards should work for ya in JOBD mode, Silicon Image chipsets are usually well supported. [ edit ]

Good luck

| Report abuse

xxallen

October 25, 2010 3:07:14 PM

shagrath said:

Alright let me start by saying im a total newb using ubuntu. I've worked on PCs for 7 years now so im pretty familiar with the inner and outer workings of windows but Linux is a different story. This is the second time to install ubuntu on a computer. The first time was smooth but i convinced my girlfriend to use it but now i hit this problem and idk what to do.

Now i have read some about this on other forums but i am clueless what to do with the information. I need a very strait forward way of fixing this.

The computer:
Cheep acer from bestbuy in the vista age
Aspire T180
AMD 4200+ x2
2GB Ram
nVidia Chipset. no option in bios for ahci mode. forced to use raid with single drive setup. will not install xp without floppy sata driver, installs vista/7 np.
160GB Western Digital Caviar Blue (new)
Sata DVD Burner

Now my file server i installed ubuntu on is setup similar, the drive was in raid, sata dvd burner, with no problems although it is running on an intel controller, but this one is being complicated.

Just need someone who can explain this to a microsoft savy person. because this ":~$ sudo dmraid -r
/dev/sdb: pdc, "pdc_bfehaige", mirror, ok, 976562500 sectors, data@ 0" looks like greek to me.

Thanks
Karl

Hey, would be able to share the XP SATA driver that you used to install XP with? I'm trying to find the correct one will very little luck.

Thanks.
-Brad

| Report abuse