Mageia forum

Hello --

downloaded MGA6 sta1 64-bit. Verified md5. dumped onto USB stick using dd. placed new Kingston DC400 SSD into a laptop as /dev/sda, old windows 8 HDD drive as /dev/sdb. Booted from USB into install. Started partitioning. At first the install would not even write the partition table to sda : would through an error. Then, somehow, it allowed me to write partition table. I wiped the EFI partition on the windows drive but "Auto allocate" in the MGA 6 installer would not create a EFI partition on SSD; just "/", swap, and "/home" after which I could not proceed because I did not have an EFI partition. So, I created EFI (512 MB), swap (4000 MB), and "/" (Ext4) where "/" takes the rest of the drive. Now, the system starts booting into MGA, but fails when it tries to mount /dev/sda3 (which is the "/"). I get: bad block geometry: block count 116057558 exceeds size of device (116057553 block).

Similar problem (reading beyond device limit) occurs if I format "/" as XFS.

What is the problem? (installer still using fdisk?).

How can I fix the problem?

Please, let me know if you need more info.

Mikhail.

mikeumo wrote:Started partitioning. At first the install would not even write the partition table to sda ....would through an error.
after which I could not proceed because I did not have an EFI partition.
So, I created EFI (512 MB),

There could be many causes for your troubles. Let's review some of them.

o If disk is msdos, boot liveusb and install in bios-legacy.
o If disk is gpt, boot liveusb and install in uefi.

To boot in uefi or bios-legacy, you may have to go to bios-setup (usually F2) or boot-setup (usually F8 - F12)
To recheck after install media is booted up, at terminal

Code: Select all

test -d /sys/firmware/efi && echo UEFI || echo BIOS

Output will show media is booted in uefi or bios

If above conditions not met, installation will fail.
So if disk is not partitioned properly (msdos/gpt), need to do this first, (use gparted, not drakedisk); note this will wipe everything in disk.
In gparted, use the device tab (on top of gui) and then select msdos or gpt.

Suggest you create partitions ready before installation (meaning not at installation - just better, not to say this will fail if not done but...) and so if uefi/gpt, create $esp in fat32 format first.

If uefi/gpt, make sure $esp has mount point as /boot/efi at installation.

Most likely, I think it is because your disk is of the wrong partitioning type (and you can check with 'fdisk -l').

ps: creating a fat32 /boot/efi partition in an msdos disk does not make the disk gpt.

Hello
As you have Windows 8 already installed, your HDD disk is probably GPT formatted and your SSD should be GPT formatted as well.
This page may help you
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_in_du ... 8_and_over

Lebarhon wrote:Hello
As you have Windows 8 already installed, your HDD disk is probably GPT formatted and your SSD should be GPT formatted as well.
This page may help you
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_in_du ... 8_and_over

Not necessarily, I have windows 8.1, and it is in msdos/bios-legacy.
Yup, read your link, somebody should correct it. But perhaps 'sold' here is operative.

Microsoft requires that computers sold with Windows use UEFI and a new feature only possible with it called Secure Boot...

Still, I've seen factory-installed Windows 8 on gpt/bios-legacy. That is also possible in linux but it's more hassle than it's worth. It will require a bios-grub partition and needed to be flagged (I've done this years ago) and there's no benefit other than the 2TB limitation.

To be sure, as said, check with 'fdisk -l'.

Thank you for getting back so quickly!

To clarify, the sda disk is brand new SSD, with nothing, not even a partition table on it. The other, original, disk, sdb, was a EFI Windows disk I but I wiped it during installation. The install was always UEFI (it stated in the first installer boot screen -- don't know if that's reliable)


So, as you expected, with no partition of any kind on sda my install failed. So, yes, I dropped into "rescue from USB", partitioned my disk with parted into 512 MB of FAT32 and the rest as "/" on ext4 (and in the process got rid of the swap). At this point, I could install Mageia but it would fail on the post-install reboot giving me the block count error when trying to mount /dev/sda2 ("/") partition. So, next, I made the "/" partition 10 GB smaller than the disk size would permit (i.e. I still have 10 GB unallocated). Tested by mounting it -- no problems, and successfully installed Mageia and rebooted into the new system.

I basically ran into two problems:

1) Mageia would not install on a disk with no partition table. This was solved by creating a GPT outside of the installer.

2) after installing Mageia, the "/" (/dev/sda2 in this case) partition would not mount because the block count was larger than the device limit. This "seems" to be solved by leaving some space unallocated after the partition. Does this mean there is a bug in parted/mkfs/fsck/mount? will I run into problems later?


Regarding #1: I read the Release Notes and Installation Notes but I did not see anywhere that install will fail on a disk with no partition table (or how to solve it). I may have missed it. Do you think it's worth emphasizing that in the Installation notes?

What do you think regarding #2?


Thank you for your help!

M.

P.S. Should I add {SOLVED} to the Subject?

gohlip wrote:

Lebarhon wrote:Hello
As you have Windows 8 already installed, your HDD disk is probably GPT formatted and your SSD should be GPT formatted as well.
This page may help you
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_in_du ... 8_and_over

Not necessarily, I have windows 8.1, and it is in msdos/bios-legacy.

I agree, I said "probably" because it is the more common.

gohlip wrote:Yup, read your link, somebody should correct it. But perhaps 'sold' here is operative.

Microsoft requires that computers sold with Windows use UEFI and a new feature only possible with it called Secure Boot...

Still, I've seen factory-installed Windows 8 on gpt/bios-legacy. That is also possible in linux but it's more hassle than it's worth. It will require a bios-grub partition and needed to be flagged (I've done this years ago) and there's no benefit other than the 2TB limitation.

Windows installation on gpt/BIOS computer is technically possible, but to have the right to write "Designed for Windows" manufacturers must install Secure boot. Look at this page (table 3):
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/librar ... 85%29.aspx
I didn't find it for Windows8, may be because it is no more for sale (for the general public).

"Designed for Windows" manufacturers must install Secure boot.

but if a user install windows himself/herself, he/she can do it without secure boot - any windows version.
Again, just a point; hopefully I'm not too pedantic.