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Question

Cannot fix hard drive partitions or install linux

Jan 22, 2015 8:19AM PST

Hey all,

I'm putting together my first computer and it's given me loads of trouble. I'm using an ASRock z97 Extreme6 mobo with an i7 4790k processor, 8GB of Corsair RAM, a 3TB Toshiba HDD, and a TP-Link TL-WDN4800 wireless card. When I first set the system up, I mistakenly chose to use an MBR partition table, which didn't allow me to use all 3TB. I ignored that for the time and had my system set up with Windows 7 Ultimate. It ran fine for a time, but I started getting blue screens that I determined were due to the wireless card (when I removed it or started in safe mode without networking, they stopped).

At this point I decided to start fresh. I went to reinstall Windows, and deleted one of the small partitions it had made during the previous install. However, I didn't have a way to change the partition table to GPT, so I decided I'd boot Ubuntu from a flash drive and fix the partitioning there. When I went to do this, I was able to select the option to run Ubuntu without installing, but then the computer stuck on a loading screen. I tried several times and this happened every time. I was also unable to just install Ubuntu for the same reason. I then put GParted Live onto a USB drive to boot that. I was able to select the default boot option for GParted, but upon selecting it my computer restarted and brought me back to the same screen. None of the options I tried allowed me to move past this, and none of the guides on GParted mention that this could happen. At this point I have no idea what to do. Nothing seems to be working the way it's supposed to. I just want to wipe my hard drive and set it up with GPT so I can do a fresh install of Windows 7, can anyone help?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
a number of things here
Jan 22, 2015 8:35AM PST

if this motherboard is UEFI, then you should use 64 bit, but not necessary if you use Legacy Mode/CSM.

A GPT disc should be used with 64 bit systems, not 32 bit. The latter can be installed to them, but problems can result where the disc isn't converted to MBR.

So, use 64 bit linux distro, not 32 bit. Turn off Secure Boot.

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64 Bit
Jan 22, 2015 1:14PM PST

Everything I've been running is 64 bit. I downloaded the 64 bit version of Ubuntu and I have the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate. I didn't see an option to download a 32 or 64 bit version of GParted; there wasn't a distinction.

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(NT) GParted is included in the LIVE DVD or USB
Jan 24, 2015 9:55AM PST
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Answer
more
Jan 22, 2015 8:43AM PST
" When I first set the system up, I mistakenly chose to use an MBR partition table, which didn't allow me to use all 3TB. "

That's only true for windows, Linux can run 4K sectors allowing up to 16 TB drives using MBR.

"However, I didn't have a way to change the partition table to GPT, so I decided I'd boot Ubuntu from a flash drive and fix the partitioning there. When I went to do this, I was able to select the option to run Ubuntu without installing, but then the computer stuck on a loading screen. I tried several times and this happened every time. I was also unable to just install Ubuntu for the same reason. "

MBR is stored at front of a disk, but GPT is stored at both ends of a drive, the one at end being the backup. If you run gdisk from Rod Smith site will restore the GPT from the backup copy.

A 64 bit version of Linux such as ubuntu should have a newer GParted which will create a GPT partitioned disk. Teh 32 bit versions of course wouldn't need such. If those versions want to convert a GPT to MBR, they can use the "dd" command to overwrite the beginning and end of the disk and then put in MBR at front of disk.
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I did that
Jan 22, 2015 1:16PM PST

I have a 64 bit version of Ubuntu. The problem is that I can't get it to run. When I try to boot from the USB, I'm able to select whether I'd like to try without installing, install, check the disc for errors, run a memory test, etc. Selecting any one of them leads to a loading screen that never progresses. I have tried two different USB drives, each more than once. I have tried rewriting the same drive. None of it changes anything.

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what version?
Jan 24, 2015 9:53AM PST
"check the disc for errors"

Did you run the disk check? It's not to check the hard drive but the DVD or USB LIVE to be sure all the md5sums in the program match the md5sum.txt file. It should give "OK" on all of them, or the disk was either not burned correctly (or USB installed correctly), or the original file was a bad download and needs to be done again. Always run md5sum against the downloaded ISO file first, then either run the disk check on the LIVE system on bootup, or use terminal on another computer with following command to check the burned DVD.

you go to the media folder, keep using cd command to get to the DVD and ls to show the files, one which will be md5sum.txt That will save you from needing to add a path statement to the command first.


md5sum -c md5sum.txt
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Answer
similar thread
Jan 22, 2015 8:57AM PST