1 Topic by Kirak (edited by Kirak 2013-01-21 00:42:58)

  • Kirak
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Topic: Libparted Error when Creating Partition Table.

So, here's the full rundown of my problem:
I was downloading a game from steam on my new (Week old) Windows 7 Desktop, when I get a error about write failed, so I go and run chkdsk. I leave it on overnight thinking it'll be finished by the time I get up. It wasn't. It got stuck on Step 5/5  ~37%, and I read it's safe to reboot your PC if it's in stage 4 or 5, so I did.
Then the BIOS says "disk boot failure... insert system disk and press enter". So I do. Windows 7's install disk loads up, so I run startup repair. 3 hours later it's still "Attempting to repair". So I just opt for a clean reinstall, since it's basically a brand new PC with not much on it... Well, When I get to the part to select a disk, I can see 1 partition, 900~ GB of space, so I click "New", since all the other options are greyed out. This gives me "there are no partitions on this disk to show" and a little ! box appears and says Windows can't be installed to this drive. I open the recovery console. /sfc scannow can't run because "There is a system repair pending" Bootrec can't find a Windows install, and something about "A device attached to the system is not functioning".


Now's when I get gParted.
I grab the live USB image, burn it to a spare USB drive I have, and boot up through USB on my desktop.
It says something about a disk I/O error and a lot of udevd Timeout while booting, and eventually ends up in the GUI and starts scanning all devices.
After a while, it says "I/O Error on dev/sda", then starts Searching /dev/sda for Partitions.
When it finished that, it shows up with a partition labeled "unallocated" with a filesystem of "unallocated. With a Warning of input/output error during read on /dev/sda. /dev/sda: unrecognized disk label. So, I decide to scrap everything and redo the partition table..

Then.. It says "Libparted Bug! Input Output error during read on /dev/sda", And "Error while creating partition table..."

Is my brand new HDD in need of an RMA? I'm at my wit's end here..

2 Reply by class413

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Re: Libparted Error when Creating Partition Table.

I'm afraid that the hard drive is defective.
I had myself a similar issue with a brand new hard drive that I tried to install in my computer. After trying 3 days, I sent it back.

A first sign of problem is if the BIOS takes very long to find and display the hard drive. Normally, this can take 1, 2, 3 seconds maximum. Sometimes, a drive with no partition table at all can take 5-10 seconds, that's all. If this takes 15-20 seconds or more, something goes wrong.
In my case, it "worked" with long delays the first time. Creating a new partition and filesystem (quick format) took 12 minutes instead of 4-5 seconds. I tried a partition copy that took several hours and was terminated with error. I did restart all this and then I had the fatal error in seconds.

As I bought 2 hard drives (same model), I tried the second and everything was normal, with no problem. So, I was sure that there was no compatibility issue (sata3 drive on sata2 port).
I had the bad drive replaced and the new one works with no problem.

What you can do, before returning it back, is to boot the GParted usb, open the terminal and run the command

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

(if the drive is detected as /dev/sda). This reports the S.M.A.R.T. info on this drive, i.e. the internal info that the drive firmware keeps.
I forgot to do this on my drive, as I was already sure that the drive was bad.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by reticent

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Re: Libparted Error when Creating Partition Table.

Kirak wrote:

new (Week old) Windows 7 Desktop...

Couldn't help reminiscing about the last time I got a new computer, had troubles, took it apart, and found several plugs loose.

4 Reply by Kirak

  • Kirak
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Re: Libparted Error when Creating Partition Table.

Hah, I did check all the cables, they all seem to be connected. I also did RMA the HDD and a new one is on it's way.