[SOLVED] "No root file system" - on Toshiba with hidden SSD and RAID

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stumpie92
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[SOLVED] "No root file system" - on Toshiba with hidden SSD and RAID

Post by stumpie92 »

I am trying to install Mint on a Toshiba Satellite U940. The spec includes this:
Hard disk 750 GB
Solid State Drive 32GB (for system cache use only and not user accessible)

I can boot Mint Live (18.3 MATE) and I see the RAM HDD and Devices/T130984600A, click to mount.
This is the Tosh HDD, can see typical Windows C:\ drive layout, Windows files and user files, all accessible and making sense. I know it's formatted NTFS. The SSD is not visible in Devices.

When I move to install I get a screen not in the Install Guide headed Installation Type showing
Device /dev/sdc <<< the boot USB stick, and nothing of /dev/sda
Device for boot loader installation /dev/sda <<< HDD
Click to install

I assume this means put the boot loader onto /dev/sda (the other option there is /dec/sdc which seems odd), so carry on and get an error box "No root file system (as superuser) - No root file system is defined - Please correct this from the partitioning menu"
Quit

In my previous thread viewtopic.php?f=90&t=270964
@catweazel said
If that SSD is set as RAID in the BIOS then you've got no chance of installing linux on that machine without breaking the RAID and having a pretty much useless SSD.

and @michael louwe said
Your hybrid SSHD is problematic for Linux. IIRC, hybrid SSHD often uses proprietary Intel RST or SRT drivers = the SSHD cannot be accessed by Linux.

In the BIOS HDD and SSD are visible separately, but nothing visible about disk setup (AHCI, RAID etc modes)

Back to Mint, where I run lshw -short. fdisk -l, parted -l, wipefs (see output below).

It seems that the HDD and SSD are indeed set up as a RAID (from wipefs output), that the whole Windows installation is on the HDD, and that Mint can see all the disks. So my hope is that by reformatting the HDD and SSD as separate drives Mint can install OK.

I am peering in the chasm here - my only "Linux" experience was as a sysadmin on a Unix v6 on a PDP-11/45 in the 1970s! Since then Mac and Windows.

So some help would be appreciated on how to proceed. I'm quite happy to have the SSD not part of the setup.

lshw -short

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lshw - short
H/W path                 Device     Class          Description
==============================================================
                                    system         SATELLITE U940 (PSU6SE)
/0                                  bus            VCUAA
/0/0                                memory         64KiB BIOS
/0/23                               memory         512KiB L2 cache
/0/24                               memory         128KiB L1 cache
/0/25                               memory         3MiB L3 cache
/0/26                               memory         6GiB System Memory
/0/26/0                             memory         2GiB SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
/0/26/1                             memory         DIMM [empty]
/0/26/2                             memory         4GiB SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1600 MHz (0.6 ns)
/0/26/3                             memory         DIMM [empty]
/0/27                               processor      Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3317U CPU @ 1.70GHz
/0/100                              bridge         3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller
/0/100/2                            display        3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
/0/100/14                           bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/0              usb3       bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/0/2            scsi6      storage        USB DISK 2.0
/0/100/14/0/2/0.0.0      /dev/sdc   disk           16GB SCSI Disk
/0/100/14/0/2/0.0.0/2    /dev/sdc2  volume         15EiB Windows FAT volume
/0/100/14/0/3                       input          Optical USB Mouse
/0/100/14/1              usb4       bus            xHCI Host Controller
/0/100/14/1/1            scsi7      storage        Ultra USB 3.0
/0/100/14/1/1/0.0.0      /dev/sdd   disk           124GB Ultra USB 3.0
/0/100/14/1/1/0.0.0/0    /dev/sdd   disk           124GB 
/0/100/14/1/1/0.0.0/0/1  /dev/sdd1  volume         115GiB HPFS/NTFS partition
/0/100/16                           communication  7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1
/0/100/1a                           bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
/0/100/1a/1              usb1       bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/1a/1/1                       bus            Integrated Rate Matching Hub
/0/100/1a/1/1/2                     communication  Bluetooth wireless interface
/0/100/1a/1/1/4                     multimedia     TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD
/0/100/1b                           multimedia     7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller
/0/100/1c                           bridge         7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1
/0/100/1c/0              enp1s0     network        RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
/0/100/1c.1                         bridge         7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2
/0/100/1c.1/0            wlp2s0     network        Centrino Wireless-N 2230
/0/100/1d                           bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
/0/100/1d/1              usb2       bus            EHCI Host Controller
/0/100/1d/1/1                       bus            Integrated Rate Matching Hub
/0/100/1f                           bridge         HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller
/0/100/1f.2                         storage        82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode]
/0/100/1f.3                         bus            7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller
/0/1                     scsi0      storage        
/0/1/0.0.0               /dev/sda   disk           750GB TOSHIBA MQ01ABD0
/0/1/0.0.0/1             /dev/sda1  volume         449MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/2             /dev/sda2  volume         259MiB Windows FAT volume
/0/1/0.0.0/3             /dev/sda3  volume         127MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/4             /dev/sda4  volume         687GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/5             /dev/sda5  volume         449MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/6             /dev/sda6  volume         449MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/7             /dev/sda7  volume         349MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/1/0.0.0/8             /dev/sda8  volume         9355MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/2                     scsi1      storage        
/0/2/0.0.0               /dev/sdb   disk           32GB SAMSUNG MZMPC032
/0/2/0.0.0/1             /dev/sdb1  volume         11GiB EFI partition
/1                                  power          To Be Filled By O.E.M.
fdisk -l

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Disk /dev/loop0: 1.8 GiB, 1867780096 bytes, 3648008 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 /dev/sda: 698.7 GiB, 750156374016 bytes, 1465149168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: BA64EE21-F2AD-11E2-986B-C081D65CBA42

Device          Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048     923647     921600   450M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2      923648    1456127     532480   260M EFI System
/dev/sda3     1456128    1718271     262144   128M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4     1718272 1443418111 1441699840 687.5G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5  1443418112 1444339711     921600   450M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda6  1444339712 1445261311     921600   450M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda7  1445261312 1445978111     716800   350M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda8  1445978112 1465139199   19161088   9.1G Windows recovery environment


Disk /dev/sdb: 29.8 GiB, 32017047552 bytes, 62533296 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
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 4C4B78AF-3484-11E2-BE71-B888E31BBCD3

Device     Start      End  Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sdb1   2048 23523327 23521280 11.2G Intel Fast Flash


Disk /dev/sdc: 14.9 GiB, 16018046976 bytes, 31285248 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x568a6b74

Device     Boot   Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1  *          0 3757279 3757280  1.8G  0 Empty
/dev/sdc2       3744328 3748999    4672  2.3M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
parted -l

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Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size    File system  Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  473MB  472MB   ntfs         Basic data partition  hidden, diag
 2      473MB   746MB  273MB   fat32        Basic data partition  boot, esp
 3      746MB   880MB  134MB   ntfs         Basic data partition  msftres
 4      880MB   739GB  738GB   ntfs         Basic data partition  msftdata
 5      739GB   740GB  472MB   ntfs                               hidden, diag
 6      740GB   740GB  472MB   ntfs                               hidden, diag
 7      740GB   740GB  367MB   ntfs                               hidden, diag
 8      740GB   750GB  9810MB  ntfs         Basic data partition  hidden, diag


Model: ATA SAMSUNG MZMPC032 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  12.0GB  12.0GB               Basic data partition  irst


Model:  USB DISK 2.0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 16.0GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: unknown
Disk Flags:
wipefs

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[ /dev/sda ]
offset               type
----------------------------------------------------------------
0x200                gpt   [partition table]

0xaea8cddc00         isw_raid_member   [raid]

[ /dev/sdb ]
offset               type
----------------------------------------------------------------
0x200                gpt   [partition table]

0x7745d5c00          isw_raid_member   [raid]

[ /dev/sdc ]
offset               type
----------------------------------------------------------------
0x0                  mac   [partition table]

0x1fe                dos   [partition table]

0x8001               iso9660   [filesystem]
                     LABEL: Linux Mint 18.3 MATE 64-bit
                     UUID:  2017-11-24-14-47-32-00
[mood]Hopeful[/mood]
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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stumpie92
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Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2018 6:23 pm

Re: "No root file system" - on Toshiba with hidden SSD and RAID

Post by stumpie92 »

Solved as follows
Background/system info
1. Laptop has Intel® Smart Response Technology recognizes and automatically stores your most frequently used applications and data into a high performance SSD while giving you full access to the large storage capacity of a hard disk drive (HDD).
2. This is what is known as Fakeraid - not a proper RAID controller, but not all in software either. The disk controller operates in RAID mode.
3. LSHW shows
/0/100/1f bridge HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller
/0/100/1f.2 storage 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode]
The Toshiba BIOS does not give access to the 82801 mode. Some other laptops use this chip and do give access in the BIOS. It can still run independent disks.
4. The HDD and SSD are separate but the Toshiba drivers in Windows make them look like a single HDD.The disks in the RAID are identified by magic bits on them, WIPEFS shows them as "isw_raid_member [raid]"
5. It looks as thought the Mint installer sees the magic bits and discounts them as disks for installation.

Plan of action
6. Flush the magic bits
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda (on the relevant disks)
7. Check installer sees the disks, which it does
8. Install on the SSD (/dev/sdb in my case) which is big enough (32GB), leaving Mint to decide partition sizes.
9. Copy the new user's home to a temp location
10. Partition and format the HDD - I put two EXT4 partitions on it, mount a partion on /home for the user files, copy back the initial user.

This was successful.

All this took a lot of searching, on the mint and ubuntu forums mainly. There was a certain amount of duff information there amongst the useful.
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