amilo-forum.com

[mgyorgy]

Hey!

I have a pretty serious problem when I start ubuntu from the dual boot screen: it can't find my HDD. Here is the whole story:

I am using a:
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M6450G laptop and I am running Ubuntu 8.04 onit. (dual boot with xp)

First I experienced some problems with my internet the loopback didn't start automaticly this

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 sudo ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0

solved the problem temporarily.

Then I had this issue that I couldn't shut down my computer when I pressed the shut down button the panel on the top with the red button disappeared and I couldn't do anything but the computer didn't shut down. This issue some how disappeared for a while.

Then I constantly had trouble with my updates it always broke down during the installation process.

Also I had issues with Firefox somehow I couldn't browse even though the internet connection was fine cause all the other apps that required internet connection where working fine.

And then finally what happened is that after booting I get this:

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ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/78FC97CFFC978652 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v.1.1.3 (Debian 1:1.1.3-5ubuntu12) Built-in shell (ash)


etc ...

And of course XP is running!
I have been using ubuntu for about a year now on this machine so i am puzzled as to what the problem could be.

I'd be also more than greatful if someone could just even point me where to start here also having in mind that my linux and overall computer skills are probably much more inferior than your's.

Thank you!

[hikaru]

Can you please boot from a Live-CD, post the fstab of your installed Ubuntu and the output of

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tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | grep UUID

and repeat this for all the other partitions?

Your menu.lst would be interesting too.

And while you're at it, please install the smartmontools into the Live-CD and run

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smartctl -a /dev/sda

[mgyorgy]

Hi!

Thank you for your respons. Sorry I was very busy with work so I didn't have the time I was using a different laptop for the time being. Now I am on holidays.

So here are all the infos:

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8b3c4b64

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        2550    20482843+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2            2551        9729    57665317+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            2551        9729    57665286    b  W95 FAT32


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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | grep UUID
tune2fs: Permission denied while trying to open /dev/sda1
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda1 | grep UUID
tune2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda1
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda2 | grep UUID
tune2fs: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/sda2
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo tune2fs -l /dev/sda5 | grep UUID
tune2fs: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sda5
Couldn't find valid filesystem superblock.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


My menu.lst file seems to be empty after entering the following command I get an empty file:

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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst


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ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl version 5.37 [i686-pc-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Fujitsu MHV series
Device Model:     FUJITSU MHV2080BH
Serial Number:    NW78T5C27E0R
Firmware Version: 00000025
User Capacity:    80,026,361,856 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   7
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 4a
Local Time is:    Sat Aug  8 16:03:43 2009 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00)   Offline data collection activity
               was never started.
               Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)   The previous self-test routine completed
               without error or no self-test has ever
               been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:        ( 471) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:           (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
               Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
               Suspend Offline collection upon new
               command.
               Offline surface scan supported.
               Self-test supported.
               Conveyance Self-test supported.
               Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)   Saves SMART data before entering
               power-saving mode.
               Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)   Error logging supported.
               General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (  55) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   2) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   100   100   046    Pre-fail  Always       -       164675
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   030    Pre-fail  Offline      -       24576000
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3305
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       8589934592000
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   100   100   047    Pre-fail  Always       -       2721
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   019    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Seconds        0x0032   087   087   000    Old_age   Always       -       6558h+01m+04s
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   020    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1841
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       55
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   097   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       69854
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   100   055   000    Old_age   Always       -       49 (Lifetime Min/Max 18/69)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1419
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       454688768
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000f   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       17813
203 Run_Out_Cancel          0x0002   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       433736711126
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$




I am just curious do you think that having may be too much stuff on the harddrive could cause this?

Thank you for your help! It means a lot to me!

Take care

George

[hikaru]

According to fdisk, there is no linux partition on your hard drive. Did you overwrite it from within Windows?
Or did you install Ubuntu via Wubi?

[mgyorgy]

Hi!

Well I didn't overwrite it intentionally at least. But I don't recall doing anything that could have overwritten it. I installed windows first on my machine than ubuntu as a dual boot. Also I created a FAT32 partition so I can access data on that partition both from windows and ubuntu. I didn't use Wubi.

What do you think could may be following the instructions from here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recov ... ingWindows
resolve the problem? It seems that this is resolving similar issues.

Thanx!

[hikaru]

What do you think could may be following the instructions from here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recov ... ingWindows

No, this won't help you.
It addresses the problem if the partition is still there but Grub is missing. In your case the opposite is the problem: Grub is still there (and nagging) but the partition with Ubuntu is missing.

I assume that you created the Fat32 partition from Windows?
In this case it might have overwritten the Ubuntu partitions because Windows is unable to detect linux file systems and reports the corresponding partition to be unformatted.

[mgyorgy]

Aha I see!

I created the fat32 partition using ubuntu gparted. But I did all this like a year ago and the machine was working fine for a year or so. I didn't mess with the configurations for a long time now.

So basically a as for me I think a new install seems the only way out of this problem. I have read on ubuntuforums.org one guy had the same problem as me and no one really could help him with like 3000+ views showing...

What do you think?

Thanx!

[hikaru]

Theoretically it should be possible to recover your Ubuntu partition with Testdisk if the corresponding sectors haven't been overwritten yet.
But I think reinstalling it is the easier and faster option.

[mgyorgy]

Hi!

Ok I'm gonna look into that testdisk thing and see if there is may be something I can use.

Other than that thank you very much for all your help! I guess online communities are nowadays working well because of people like you who are willing to sacrifice time and energy to help other people. I hope one day I will be able to do the same and help other people like you helped me! Keep it up!

And thank you again!