FC3 Install Problem

[Edward Dekkers]

Mike McCarty wrote:
> Celeron 2.1 GHz with two Western Digital 80GB drives.
> 
> This machine has been running Win NT 4.0 Service Pack 6
> for a couple of years with no problems. Recently,
> the first disc was wiped and reformatted as 40GB FAT32
> and the rest unallocated. Windows 98 was installed in
> the first (and only) partition.
> 
> I booted Kanotix (Knoppix variant) and
> 
> # fdisk -l
> 
> Disk /dev/hda: 80GB, 80026361856 byte
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9727 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065*512 = 8225280 bytes
> 
>    Device  Boot   Start  End  Blocks   Id System
> /dev/hda1   *         1  4865 39078181  c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> 
> Disk /dev/hda: 80GB, 80026361856 byte
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9727 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065*512 = 8225280 bytes
> 
>    Device  Boot   Start  End  Blocks   Id System
> /dev/hda1   *         1  9729 78148161  7  HPFS/NTFS
> 
> I reboot, using the FC3 install disc 1, and test all media.
> All complete test, and pass.
> Select English Language, Selece U.S. English keyboard
> 
> A message box pops up with a blue bar in the top with
> the word "Bug" in it. In the bottom part is the text:
> 
> Assertion (heads < 256) at disk_dos.c:486 in function
> probe_partition_for_geom() failed.
> 
> There are two clickable buttons, one saying "Ignore" and the
> other "Fail" (I think, I'm sure about the "Ignore").
> 
> I click "Ignore" and another comes up. So I click "Ignore"
> a total of four (4) times, and am asked whether I wish
> to auto parition or manual. I select manual, so Anaconda
> will show me what it thinks the disc setup is, and I get then
> have to "Ignore" the same message six (6) more times.
> 
> Then I get a description of the disc from Disk Druid's
> point of view.
> 
> 
> Drive /dev/hda  (76317 MB) (Model: WDC800BB-00DAA3)
> 
>   Free
>   76316 MB
> 
> Drive /dev/hdb (76317 MB) (Model: WDC8007B-00CRA10
> 
>   hdb1
>   76316 MB
> 
> 
>    Device      type       size    start    end
> /dev/hda
>    /dev/hda    vfat       38162       1   4865
>    Free        Free space 76319       1   9730
> 
> /dev/hdb
>    dev/hdb1    ntfs       76317       1   9729
> 
> 
> So, it appears that Disc Druid thinks that the
> unallocated and the allocated space overlap. It
> also seems to think that the unallocated space
> is larger than the whole drive.
> 
> As a note, before I started all this, I ripped the MBR
> from the first disc and stored it in a file on a floppy,
> using
> 
> # dd bs=512 count=1 if=/dev/hda of=/mnt/floppy/mbr.bin
> 
> I then transferred the floppy to a handy Windows machine,
> and used debug to look at it. It had the 0x55 0xAA boot
> signature on it, and a cursory look at the disassembly
> looked like startup code, and the strings present in it
> looked like reasonable error messages from an MBR
> about invalid partition tables, etc.
> 
> I don't have that floppy here, but I can get it, and
> give a hex dump of it for perusal of the PT if it
> is deemed necessary.
> 
> My questions:
> 
> Is this really a defect in Anaconda/Disk Druid?
> If so, where/how should I report it?
> If not (or even if so) what should I do to finish
> the install? So far, I just backed out, and verified
> that Win98 still boots with no problem, and shut down.
> 
> Mike

Type that error in to google. This is a problem I've had on two occasions.

There's a recursive partitioning command I can't remember I think based 
on sfdisk that re-sets the partition geometry.

I haven't kept it, but each time the search on google pulled up the 
right advice.

On each occasion it's fixed the problem for me.

Regards,
Ed.
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