Re: Why does partition type 83 become Amoeba after using XP?
- From: tinkering@xxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:17:50 -0500
Stefan Patric wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:33:48 -0500, tinkering wrote:
The partition setup on the subject rig is
1 slackware
2 XP
3 XP
5 vfat data
6 swap
7 suse
8 suse
9 debian
X reiserfs data
Whenever I boot XP the next boot into linux will have fdisk showing
Primary-1 changed from type 83 to Amoeba. I've seen this before when no
linux was on any primary (XP would then sometimes change the first fat
logical to Amoeba). On this setup booting 2 or 3 changes 1 to Amoeba
every time.
What is doing this? I mean it shows up after an XP run but that doesn't
point the finger. Why is it doing it? Most importantly is there any
possibility of disk damage? I'm getting VERY loud clicks out of the
drive and it looks like it may have to do with this subject but I'm not
sure, just beginning to investigate.
Appending the partition table and the boot menu
[snip]
Yes, XP could be messing with your First Primary partition. That's the partition that ALL Windows OSes like to live. Put it somewhere else, and you'll have problems. Or your drive could be going bad. Besides the loud clicks, does it chatter, too?
Sometimes, but the drive checked out 100%.
So, first, I'd recommend that you back up all your important data, then use the HD manufacturer's (or a third party's) hard drive checking software to check the drive. If it checks out okay, then run filesystem and badblock checks (the non-destructive read-only kind) on all your partitions. Also run cleanup and defrag your XP partitions. Check for viruses, etc., too. Then, put your primary XP install on hda1, the C: drive, a primary partition, and set the boot flag for that partition only. Adjust your other installs and partitions accordingly.
Also, does the other XP partition (partition 3 in your list) contain another instance of XP or is it just a data partition? If the former, this could cause the first XP to get confused. Windows is set up to always think it is the only OS on the computer, and other partitions are data or unused.
However, if your tests indicate a failing hard drive, don't wait, replace it immediately while the old drive is still working. Makes it easier to transfer things over.
I have seen this before but have never managed to nail it down, not even this time, at least not conclusively. Trying to provoke it is time consuming and potentially costly. You're right about windows wanting the first primary by the looks of things. I repopulated
primary-1 with XP and sofar no Amoeba. But as I said I've seen this before, with multiple XP's in the primaries including #1 so
I expect to see it again. It may also be unrealated to the disk problem.
Meanwhile another instance of what I call disk-suicide symptoms
came up. I had just transposed abuncha partitions and it was under very light load and without X during an attempted launch into an openSUSE rescue session off the install DVD (just to reinstall grub
and I think it started with giving grub "root (hd0,4)"). The racket was SICKENING! I had a hunch that at this stage bios limitations might still be involved because of the installer having crashed out into ncurses just before.
I was trying to install grub with the stage files and menu parked
on a vfat logical #5 but this time it was too big a partition for bios. At least that's my guess. I've since split the vfat data into a dos bite sized one under 2gb partly for this purpose and a bigger one for other general use. For now the problem is gone.
What I cannot understand is how a disk can be abused or can abuse itself so much, I mean if something doesn't want to work than that
should be no more than matter of an errior message and the end of the story. This was on a 60gb Toshiba A70 laptop and I thought the drive was gonna jump out of the case :-)
Here's the new table
/dev/sda1 * 1 367 2947896 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda2 368 741 3004155 1b Hidden W95 FAT32
/dev/sda3 742 1253 4112640 1b Hidden W95 FAT32
/dev/sda4 1254 7296 48540397+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1254 1502 2000061 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 1503 2477 7831656 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda7 2478 2606 1036161 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 2607 3337 5871726 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 3338 4554 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 4555 5771 9775521 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 5772 6138 2947896 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 6139 7169 8281476 83 Linux
/dev/sda13 7170 7296 1020096 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Like I said, instead of an answer I have what seems to be evasion of the problem. Thanks for your input.
.
- References:
- Why does partition type 83 become Amoeba after using XP?
- From: tinkering
- Re: Why does partition type 83 become Amoeba after using XP?
- From: Stefan Patric
- Why does partition type 83 become Amoeba after using XP?
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