System Installation – Fix Ubuntu Installer Not Detecting Hard Drive

hard drivesystem-installation

I have a new computer with a Seagate ST500DM002 SATA internal hard drive.

I am trying to install Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit on it but the installer does not recognize/detect/see the hard drive. When I reach the Installation type step, the panel which is supposed to show devices and partitions looks empty.

sudo fdisk -l shows only /dev/sda1, the USB drive from which I am running the installation. I have already tried the following two solutions without any success:

  1. sudo apt-get remove dmraid
  2. Switch the SATA mode in the BIOS from IDE to AHCI

I am sure it's not a hardware related problem as I have already successfully installed another operating system on the same computer.

The output of sudo lshw -class storage -class disk follows:

  *-ide UNCLAIMED         
       description: IDE interface
       product: ASMedia Technology Inc.
       vendor: ASMedia Technology Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: ide msi pm pciexpress cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: ioport:d040(size=8) ioport:d030(size=4) ioport:d020(size=8) ioport:d010(size=4) ioport:d000(size=16) memory:fe400000-fe4001ff
  *-storage
       description: SATA controller
       product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 1f.2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
       logical name: scsi1
       version: 05
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: storage msi pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated
       configuration: driver=ahci latency=0
       resources: irq:44 ioport:f0b0(size=8) ioport:f0a0(size=4) ioport:f090(size=8) ioport:f080(size=4) ioport:f060(size=32) memory:fe705000-fe7057ff
     *-cdrom
          description: DVD-RAM writer
          product: DVDRAM GH22NS70
          vendor: HL-DT-ST
          physical id: 0.0.0
          bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
          logical name: /dev/cdrom
          logical name: /dev/cdrw
          logical name: /dev/dvd
          logical name: /dev/dvdrw
          logical name: /dev/scd0
          logical name: /dev/sr0
          version: EX00
          capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
          configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
  *-scsi:0
       physical id: 1
       bus info: usb@1:1.2
       logical name: scsi6
       capabilities: emulated scsi-host
       configuration: driver=usb-storage
     *-disk
          description: SCSI Disk
          physical id: 0.0.0
          bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0
          logical name: /dev/sda
          size: 14GiB (16GB)
          capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
          configuration: signature=0004e5a4
  *-scsi:1
       physical id: 2
       bus info: usb@1:1.3
       logical name: scsi7
       capabilities: emulated scsi-host
       configuration: driver=usb-storage
     *-disk
          description: SCSI Disk
          product: Storage Device
          vendor: USB Mass
          physical id: 0.0.0
          bus info: scsi@7:0.0.0
          logical name: /dev/sdb
          capabilities: removable
        *-medium
             physical id: 0
             logical name: /dev/sdb

Any idea on what I could do to fix this problem?

Best Answer

As workaround I went in the BIOS and set the SATA Mode to "IDE" and the SATA3 Mode to "AHCI". After doing this the installer did detect the hard drive and installed Ubuntu alongside the other operating system.

I called it a workaround and not a fix because the other operating system won't load with the SATA3 Mode set to AHCI, so every time I need to switch OS I am forced to go in the BIOS and change the SATA3 Mode.

Another problem I had after applying the workaround was that the boot loader didn't show up on the next boot but the other operating started booting without any prompt. I've fixed this other problem by identifying the Ubuntu partition with:

sudo fdisk -l

(which was sda6) and then running:

sudo mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
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