Hello,
I'm attempting to install Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, but there are issues
when attempting to partition the harddisk I'm using a standalone Maxtor
Ultra ATA-133 60GB HD connected to a Hightpoint HPT372 IDE-RAID
controller (I used to have two drives mirrored, but one was crapping
out, so I pulled it). The floppy boot disks I'm using are from the
'bf2.4' flavor, and they are using linux-2.4.18-bf2.4 as the kernel -
this is the only Debian installation kernel I've found that supports my
Highpoint IDE-RAID controller. I've already got Windows XP installed on
the first partition of my harddisk, which takes 40GB.
When I boot off the floppies and come to the installation menu, I
attempt to re-partition the hard disk. These attempts appear
successful, but after writing the partition table, I can no longer read
from the drive until after a reboot. Once I reboot and go back into the
partition table editor (cfdisk) the table is incorrect, except for the
primary partition, which is still intact.
I thought I'd give 'fdisk' a try, instead of 'cfdisk'. Here are my
results:
1. I start out with fdisk, and partition the drive how I want it -
this is what I see when I'm done my work:
{{{
Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/hde1 * 1 5099 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hde2 5100 7299 17671500 5 Extended
/dev/hde5 5100 5163 514048+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde6 5164 5227 514048+ 83 Linux
/dev/hde7 5228 5358 1052226 82 Linux Swap
/dev/hde8 5359 6378 8193118+ 83 Linux
Command (m for help): W
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. // Side-note - this call
to ioctl() takes roughtly 30-40 seconds.
Syncing disks.
#
}}}
So, thus far everything looks OK. I've not used all of the extended
partition (hde2), but that was on purpose. Now, if I run fdisk again
directly after writing the partition table, it complains that it can no
longer read from the drive. With no other alternative in mind, I reboot
the machine.
2. Once I reboot, I open fdisk again, just to find the partition table
is not how I wanted it:
{{{
Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/hde1 * 1 5099 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hde2 5100 7299 17671500 5 Extended
/dev/hde5 5100 5163 514048+ 83 Linux
}}}
It seems that the other three partitions have simply not been written.
In other attempts (in cases with cfdisk) I've actually come back to
find that it's removed all the Linux partitions completely, and replaced
them with two 'Win95 FAT16' partitions of completely different size and
alignment than previous partitions I had created (the primary partition
was never touched, however). Does anyone have any ideas on why this
might be happening, and/or how to solve it? I'm considering that the
size of the drive may be an issue, but I can't say for sure. It's also
possible that the drivers for the HPT372 controller are pooched, but I
don't have anything to compare to. Any help is appreciated!
Thanks very much for your time,
-David Fuchs
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