1 Topic by legendarysock

  • legendarysock
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Topic: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Hi, here's the deal.
I've been into Linux for a few months on an older computer, and now I think I'd like to install it on my newer computer so I'll use Linux more often. I've been using Windows on my newer computer for the passed year or so. A few days ago, I found some lovely Linux videos which showed how to use GPartEd to resize your NTFS partition and make partitions for a new installation of Linux. I backed up all of my data to an external hard drive just in case the worst happens. I grabbed the newest copy of GPartEd from sourceforge and burned it using Nero.

Here is where my troubles began. After rebooting with my newly created GPartEd CD, it locked up on boot. I received a few errors including:

SQUASHFS error: zlib_fs returned unexpected result 0xfffffffb (or 0xfffffffd, google is making me doubt b because everytime I search for the error it returns do you mean 0xfffffffd)
SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block bf29b, size7f5d
chroot: /lib/libc.so.6: unsupported version 0 of Verdef record
Kernel Panic - not syncing: attempted to kill init!

Bah. So I reboot my computer back into Windows and get on the net searching for help. A few minutes on google give me some boot parameters and a newer version of GPartEd which already includes those parameters, which are by the way:

noapic initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=20000

So tralala I'm thinking I'm so smart fixing the problem, slowly booting back into my newly burned "fixed" copy of GPartEd... What is this? DAMN IT! I'm receiving the same SQUASHFS error as before. BUT the chroot and kernel panic problems are gone. I'm in this!!!

Back into Windows, I continue searching for answers. I find another boot parameter! mem=768M... hmm. OK, I reboot back into GPartEd and pop that in. I'm praying it works and suddenly...Bam another error... My unlucky day.

Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (3, 9)
VFS : cannot open root device "<NULL>" or unknown-block (3, 9)

So now I return to Windows once again searching for a solution, but this time I'm done. I can't find anything of use, most problems dealing with this aren't using a livecd and I'm just so tired it all looks like mumbo jumbo. So that has basically summed up my experience with GPartEd thus far. Later on, I tried reburning GPartEd with Alcohol 120%, then tried redownloading it and checking the MDHash but still, no avail. The same problems persisted.

Thats it. No more reading. I spent the whole day working on this (Linux noob, so I couldn't really help myself out much). If anyone has a solution to these problems, your help is GREATLY, GREATLY appreciated.

2 Reply by Patrick Verner

  • Patrick Verner
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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

I can't do anything if you don't tell me about your hardware. The first rule of reporting a problem.

There are some issues with dvd writers with the current version. You should check the bugs page to see if your issue exsists first. Try this test version I posted lastnight. The problem is most likely a dvd writer issue. It's the same stuff the other 10,000 people told me about. ;-)

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd_t … -04-06.iso

Patrick Verner's Website

3 Reply by legendarysock (edited by legendarysock 2006-08-06 16:09:12)

  • legendarysock
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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Yeah, I realized last night after I turned off my computer that I probably should have given my computer's specs and details. My computer is a Compaq Presario SR1475CL Desktop PC.

Specs:
Asus K8S-LA Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU
512 MB of PC 3200 RAM
128 MB of SiS 760 Integrated Graphics
SiS 7012 Audio Device
Seagate 200GB HDD, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100 (ST3200822A)
Asus DVD-E616P3H (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
HP DVD Writer 640b (Which I used to burn the CD)

Thats it, if you need anything else that I might have forgotten, just ask. Thanks for helping me with this problem. I am already using that ISO image you gave me, I checked the bugs list before for help. I'll try redownloading it and reburning it, but I hope you can help. Also, before resizing my NTFS partition, what should I do? I guess I should run disk defragmenter and chkdsk, but is there anything else? I'm worried about losing my data. Again, thanks for your help, I look forward to your reply.

4 Reply by Patrick Verner

  • Patrick Verner
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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Try it from the other dvdrom.

Patrick Verner's Website

5 Reply by plors

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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

legendarysock wrote:

<snip>

Also, before resizing my NTFS partition, what should I do? I guess I should run disk defragmenter and chkdsk, but is there anything else? I'm worried about losing my data. Again, thanks for your help, I look forward to your reply.
<snip>

just resize it..
gparted will take care of the defrag and will schedule a chkdsk the next time you boot windows. Of course it never hurts to first run defrag and chkdsck from windows smile

6 Reply by legendarysock

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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Hi, I'll try GPartEd with my other optical drive now. plors, I have a question about disk defragmenting and chkdsk themselves if you are willing to help. How do I properly check my disk for errors? I just want to be assured that everything has been checked well. I right clicked on my C drive and entered into the disk checking utitility and selected the option "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Should I also have checked the other? I'll run chkdsk again if you say so. Also, when defragmenting my C drive, it ends saying it cannot defragment certain files and the final result is still fragmented.

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/5528/diskdefragpa0.jpg

I tried running disk defragmenter from safe mode too and I received the same results. Will this affect the resizing of the partition? I'll look around on the internet for a solution/explanation, but if you could help, I would be grateful. Thanks again.

7 Reply by plors

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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

it's safe, just go ahead and resize the thing with gparted.

have fun smile

8 Reply by legendarysock (edited by legendarysock 2006-08-07 19:21:50)

  • legendarysock
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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Alright, thank you plors and patrick. I was able to get gparted (the test iso one) working with my other optical drive. I'm going to resize my NTFS partition and make a few for my new Linux install. Wish me luck, and I hope nothing goes wrong!

EDIT: I ran the GPartEd live CD, which is working fine for me now, and I proceeded to resize my ntfs partition. However, it locked up at the "run simulation" stage for about 10 minutes, then it said that the process couldn't be finished because of an error or something. I rebooted back into Windows and the Windows install was fine, but the partition wasn't resized. I tried again and received the same results. I would post the log file, but I don't exactly know how to from the live CD. Again, thanks for your help with this matter, I hope to hear from you soon.

EDIT2: Nevermind big_smile I got it working. It said to free up less space (ERROR: Extended record needed (1088>1024) not yet supported, please try to free less space). I shrunk the partition down by 15 gigs rather than 20 and now my Windows system is working fine and I have 15 gigs to use for Linux. Thanks for all the help and I have to say, GParted is amazing. Its free too, compared to crap like Norton PartitionMagic. Have a great day!

9 Reply by plors

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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

glad it worked wink
And yes, that's where the progressdetails are for, finding out what went wrong and what to do about it. It's good to see people actually using that functionality wink

10 Reply by seans potato business

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Re: Very Frustrated, ANY Help is GREATLY Appreciated

Since the original subject is over now, I'd like to hijack a little and ask if, since, the legendarysock's drive couldn't be fully defragmented, does this mean the Linux partition created wasn't contiguous block? I thought partitions had to be contiguous.

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