FC3 Install Problem

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Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 00:26:51 -0500
To: For users of Fedora Core releases <fedora-list@redhat.com>

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

-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
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