Need help partitioning when reinstalling Ubuntu 14.04

Posted by Chris M. on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Chris M.
Published on 2014-05-18T13:00:09Z Indexed on 2014/06/06 3:41 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 256

Filed under:

I upgraded to 14.04 about a month ago on my HP Mini netbook (about 16 GB hard disk). A few days ago the system crashed (I don't know why but I was using internet at the time). When I restarted the computer, Ubuntu would not load. Instead, I got a message from the BIOS saying

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key 

I took this to mean that I needed to reinstall 14.04.

When I try to reinstall Ubuntu from the USB stick, I choose "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" but then I get a message:

Some of the partitions you created are too small. Please make the following partitions at least this large:

/ 3.3 GB

If you do not go back to the partitioner and increase the size of these partitions, the installation may fail.

At first I hit Continue to see if it would install anyway, and it gave the message:

The attempt to mount a file system with type ext4 in SCSI1 (0,0,0), partition # 1 (sda) at / failed. You may resume partitioning from the partitioning menu.

The second time I hit Go Back, and it took me to the following partitioning table:

Device          Type      Mount Point    Format       Size      Used      System
/dev/sda
  /dev/sda1     ext4                     (checked)    3228 MB   Unknown
  /dev/sda5     swap                    (not checked) 1063 MB   Unknown

  + - Change                                       New Partition Table...     Revert

Device for boot loader installation:
/dev/sda ATA JM Loader 001 (4.3 GB)

At this point I'm not sure what to do. I've never partitioned my hard drive before and I don't want to screw things up. (I'm not particularly tech savvy.) Can you instruct me what I should do.

(P.S. I'm afraid the table might not appear as I typed it in.)

Results from fdisk:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 4294 MB, 4294967296 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 522 cylinders, total 8388608 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdb: 7860 MB, 7860125696 bytes
155 heads, 31 sectors/track, 3194 cylinders, total 15351808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0009a565

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2768    15351807     7674520    b  W95 FAT32
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ 

Here is what it displays when I open the Disks utility (I tried the screenshot terminal command you suggested but it didn't seem to do anything):

4.3 GB Hard Disk /dev/sda

Model: JM Loader 001 (01000001) Size: 4.3 GB (4,294,967,296 bytes) Serial Number: 01234123412341234 Assessment: SMART is not supported

Volumes Size: 4.3 GB (4,294,967,296 bytes) Device: /dev/sda Contents: Unknown

(There is a button in the utility that when you click it gives the following options: Format... Create Disk Image... Restore Disk Image... Benchmark

but SMART Data & Self-Tests... is dimmed out)

When I hit F9 Change Boot Device Order, it shows the hard drive as:

SATA:PM-JM Loader 001

When I hit F10 to get me into the BIOS Setup Utility, under Diagnostic it shows:

Primary Hard Disk Self Test Not Support

NetworkManager Tool

State: disconnected

Device: eth0 Type: Wired Driver: atl1c State: unavailable Default: no HW Address: 00:26:55:B0:7F:0C

Capabilities: Carrier Detect: yes

Wired Properties Carrier: off

When I run command lshw -C network, I get:

WARNING: you should run this program as super-user. *-network description: Network controller product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY vendor: Broadcom Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0 version: 01 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0 resources: irq:16 memory:feafc000-feafffff

*-network description: Ethernet interface product: AR8132 Fast Ethernet vendor: Qualcomm Atheros physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0 logical name: eth0 version: c0 serial: 00:26:55:b0:7f:0c capacity: 100Mbit/s width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.1-NAPI latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair resources: irq:43 memory:febc0000-febfffff ioport:ec80(size=128)

WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.

© Ask Ubuntu or respective owner

Related posts about partitioning