[SOLVED] sudo blkid won't list My IDE Drives

[HilltopsGM]

I have a slightly older system that can run both IDE Drives and SATA drives.

I am trying to install mint on one of the IDE Drives, but I was going to zero it first.

I like to do

blkid

or

fdisk -l

to see what the system see's BEFORE I do anything.
the strange thing is that it won't list them.

I am booting from a 'Live' USB stick.
I can "Mount", navigate, and view the files in Live Mint I Os I just booted from, but terminal and the above commands refuse to list them.

I've looked around and can't seem to find much. The only thing that I THOUGHT might be part of the problem is that in the BIOS I can enable IDE, and, Sata controllers and list which is Primary, secondary, or just leave it in an 'auto' configuration. I have disabled the SATA control (just for the moment) and have only 1 IDE drive connected, and listed the IDE controller as Primary and set the drive to "Master".

Still no luck.

Does anyone have any ideas?

The MOBO is an ASRock AM2NF4G-Sata2

[HilltopsGM]

I find this very strange: I went ahead and did an install just to see if it would take, and it did.

I was hopeful that the issue would be resolved -- no luck.

when I open terminal and sign in to root as su and run the command, I have the same problem.

blkid and fdish -l don't return anything.

I don't know if that helps, but there it is.

[Orbmiser]

It's Sudo blkid you don't sign in as root. you just sign in to desktop and open a term.

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for orbmiser: 

/dev/sda1: UUID="5E0C4DA50C4D78D3" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="F680ECB580EC7E0D" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda3: UUID="92305B62305B4BFB" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="4b43462d-a633-429e-9a23-f306edaf698c" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="e1d33c90-b967-45c2-afdb-ca760127b136" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="09a551ce-677a-47d9-be27-71c14991b13d" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="697GB Drive" UUID="DEF0C326F0C303AD" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="320GB TOSHIBA" UUID="3E84B96484B91F79" TYPE="ntfs"

Also other HD commands to give drive info.

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5       7.7G  6.1G  1.3G  84% /
udev            1.9G  4.0K  1.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs           791M  1.1M  790M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            2.0G  1.4M  2.0G   1% /run/shm
none            100M   12K  100M   1% /run/user
/dev/sda6        14G  1.9G   11G  16% /home
/dev/sdc1       299G  280G   19G  94% /media/orbmiser/320GB TOSHIBA
/dev/sdb1       699G  649G   51G  93% /media/orbmiser/697GB Drive
/dev/sda3        73G   37G   37G  51% /media/orbmiser/92305B62305B4BFB
/dev/sda2        37G   23G   14G  63% /media/orbmiser/F680ECB580EC7E0D
/dev/sda1       8.3G  6.2G  2.1G  75% /media/orbmiser/5E0C4DA50C4D78D3

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ sudo fdisk -lu
[sudo] password for orbmiser: 

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160040803840 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312579695 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: 0x9d219d21

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    31260441    15630189+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2        31262490   108234187    38485849    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       108234752   261122047    76443648    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       261124094   312578047    25726977    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       261124096   277422079     8148992   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       277424128   305504255    14040064   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       305506304   312578047     3535872   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156372992 bytes
255 heads, 61 sectors/track, 94191 cylinders, total 1465149166 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: 0xa4b57300

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63  1465144062   732572000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 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: 0xafa44d28

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1              63   625137344   312568641    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

[catweazel]

It's Sudo blkid you don't sign in as root. you just sign in to desktop and open a term.

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ sudo blkid

There is no technical difference between:

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sudo blkid

or

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sudo su
blkid

or

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sudo -i
blkid

[anandrkris]

http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2013/03/1 ... d-to-know/ - Sharing for awareness.

[HilltopsGM]

It's Sudo blkid you don't sign in as root. you just sign in to desktop and open a term.

Code: Select all

orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ sudo blkid
[sudo] password for orbmiser: 

/dev/sda1: UUID="5E0C4DA50C4D78D3" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="F680ECB580EC7E0D" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda3: UUID="92305B62305B4BFB" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="4b43462d-a633-429e-9a23-f306edaf698c" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="e1d33c90-b967-45c2-afdb-ca760127b136" TYPE="ext4" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="09a551ce-677a-47d9-be27-71c14991b13d" TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="697GB Drive" UUID="DEF0C326F0C303AD" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sdc1: LABEL="320GB TOSHIBA" UUID="3E84B96484B91F79" TYPE="ntfs"

Yep - I've tried that.
Actually it was the first thing I tried (sudo blkid - when booting from a live cd)
I signed into root as simply an attempt to make it work AFTER installing the OS.
It is installed and it still doesn't work...I just get a flashing cursor - the same as what I get from booting from the live image.
. . . actually what I get is a flashing cursor for 15-20 seconds, and then it just stays solid (I am not sure if that is an indicator of anything).

Also other HD commands to give drive info.

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ df -h
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5       7.7G  6.1G  1.3G  84% /
udev            1.9G  4.0K  1.9G   1% /dev
tmpfs           791M  1.1M  790M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            2.0G  1.4M  2.0G   1% /run/shm
none            100M   12K  100M   1% /run/user
/dev/sda6        14G  1.9G   11G  16% /home
/dev/sdc1       299G  280G   19G  94% /media/orbmiser/320GB TOSHIBA
/dev/sdb1       699G  649G   51G  93% /media/orbmiser/697GB Drive
/dev/sda3        73G   37G   37G  51% /media/orbmiser/92305B62305B4BFB
/dev/sda2        37G   23G   14G  63% /media/orbmiser/F680ECB580EC7E0D
/dev/sda1       8.3G  6.2G  2.1G  75% /media/orbmiser/5E0C4DA50C4D78D3

df -h was able to show me what you have above from the INSTALLED OS, but;
it does not register anything other than the USB stick that I am currently booting the live image from; the HD is not in the list.

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orbmiser@Winterfell ~ $ sudo fdisk -lu
[sudo] password for orbmiser: 

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160040803840 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312579695 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: 0x9d219d21

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    31260441    15630189+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2        31262490   108234187    38485849    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3       108234752   261122047    76443648    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4       261124094   312578047    25726977    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       261124096   277422079     8148992   83  Linux
/dev/sda6       277424128   305504255    14040064   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       305506304   312578047     3535872   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156372992 bytes
255 heads, 61 sectors/track, 94191 cylinders, total 1465149166 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: 0xa4b57300

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63  1465144062   732572000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 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: 0xafa44d28

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1              63   625137344   312568641    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I was not able to get fdisk -l OR fdisk -lu to work at all in either the live cd version OR the installed version.

[Orbmiser]

The only thing that I THOUGHT might be part of the problem is that in the BIOS I can enable IDE, and, Sata controllers and list which is Primary, secondary, or just leave it in an 'auto' configuration. I have disabled the SATA control (just for the moment) and have only 1 IDE drive connected, and listed the IDE controller as Primary and set the drive to "Master".

Still no luck.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Sorry the only thing I can think of is make sure drive is listed in bios first. Should show up there when bios polls it.
Also note that on older systems the back of the ide drives had a jumper for setting as Primary,Secondary or Cable Select.
There is usually a sticker on the drive that shows jumper configurations.
.

[HilltopsGM]

yes the drive IS listed in the BIOS.

Here is some more strange facts for you.

I tried this

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blkid /dev/sda1

and it DID list what it's UUID was!?!

but

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blkid 

by itself does not work

For the fun of it, I tried zeroing the drive using

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dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=8192

and it wiped the drive and the mint installation that was on it.

. . . this is very strange. Does this info give anyone any ideas?

thanks again for the help.

[DrHu]

... You say an older computer, but did not provide any hardware data: mainboard, graphics, nic, ahrd drives (modeles/brands), any of which (data..) would have helped..

If you are using an older system, likley means BIOS controlled/setup, so you can set all devices to auto mode, and look ate what the machine detects when the bios starts loading, it gives you the list of hardware detected devices
--you should alos be able to get into the BIOS and set hard drives to manual mode (LBA setup: Logical Block Address, for larger hardd drives or just as a general setting): when you jump screens (go to another bios setting), the hard drive devices should appear
--if they don't check you hardware, specifically any interconnects (cables to whichever hard drive, as well as any jumper settings (CS: cable select, historically an IBM develped abomination, to prevent users needing to set jumpers or MA (master) Sl (save) or some auto mode
--you may have the manual for the jumpers, if not they can be searched for on the internet
--you should basically also reset the power plugs for the drive: any interconnect (ribbon) or power plug may be bad (have a poor connection), so replugging may make it work, otherwise it becomes a matter of elimination to find good circuits

The dd command you used is doing exactly what it indicates, wiping the hard drive
http://www.noah.org/wiki/Dd_-_Destroyer_of_Disks
--nothing strange about that, and of course not something to play with, unless you ahve checked exactly what that command does: such info is easily available on an internet seach or the man files (your system) or internet
http://www-sbras.nsc.ru/cgi-bin/www/uni ... man-cgi?dd

[HilltopsGM]

... You say an older computer, but did not provide any hardware data: mainboard, graphics, nic, ahrd drives (modeles/brands), any of which (data..) would have helped..

You are correct, that was my fault.
Hardware Info:
Mobo: ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2
Using onboard video, Audio, nic
CPU: AMD Sempron 3000+
HD: IDE Seagate 320GB 7200 Set as "Master" and plugged into the correct end of the IDE Cable.

If you are using an older system, likley means BIOS controlled/setup, so you can set all devices to auto mode, and look ate what the machine detects when the bios starts loading, it gives you the list of hardware detected devices

The Drives are being detected properly.
If they were not then I would have thought that the installation would have had trouble.
It didn't. It installs perfectly. Partitions mount perfectly.
Everything works except the Terminal command line codes mentioned above.
It makes no sense.

--you should alos be able to get into the BIOS and set hard drives to manual mode (LBA setup: Logical Block Address, for larger hardd drives or just as a general setting): when you jump screens (go to another bios setting), the hard drive devices should appear

Are you saying I SHOULD manually set the drive in Manual Mode (LBA)?

--if they don't check you hardware, specifically any interconnects (cables to whichever hard drive, as well as any jumper settings (CS: cable select, historically an IBM develped abomination, to prevent users needing to set jumpers or MA (master) Sl (save) or some auto mode

It is just a standard installation - single drive, I DO have the jumpers set to master, but I don't think that that would affect Terminal commands from 'seeing' the partitions. Do you?

--you may have the manual for the jumpers, if not they can be searched for on the internet

All Mobo Jumpers have been checked against the manual - which I still have. The are in the right spot.

--you should basically also reset the power plugs for the drive: any interconnect (ribbon) or power plug may be bad (have a poor connection), so replugging may make it work, otherwise it becomes a matter of elimination to find good circuits

I have disconnected and reconnected them a number of times, and used different molex power plugs. Still not working.
Besides, if it was that, wouldn't it have caused problems with the installation of the OS? That works perfectly as far as I can tell - mounting, dismounting partitions, etc, etc.
Again, just the terminal commands don't work.

The dd command you used is doing exactly what it indicates, wiping the hard drive

..... that really is my point. I can issue the command - The system KNOWS where to go when I give it the

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of=/dev/sda

command . . . so WHY would it not LIST the partitions when I ask for them if it KNOWS where they are?

[HilltopsGM]

It has got to be some sort of incompatibility between Mint and the Hardware.

I just booted from a GParted usb stick and opened terminal and typed in

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blkid

and the list pops up instantly.

This is bizarre.

I have never NOT been able to do that from a live boot or an actual installation.

Does this give anyone any ideas?

[HilltopsGM]

Ok. I am not sure if this a problem with the cinnamon version of Mint or not

I've downloaded the KDE version and booted from the live cd image.

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Blkid

does not work when booting from the live cd image, but using

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sudo fdisk -l

will bring up the information after about 10 seconds.

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blkid

DOES work after you have installed the KDE version (after inserting your password in terminal or if you sign on in terminal as root) and fdisk -l works as well.

I've checked the Hash values of the ISO's when I downloaded them AND reinstalled the Cinnamon version to the USB drive -- still no luck. It just will NOT work.

Does this help?
Would this be considered a 'bug' of sorts?

[HilltopsGM]

Well, you are NOT going to believe what it was!

I had to go into the BIOS and make sure that the "FLOPPY DRIVE" was Disabled!
That's right - make sure it is not set to 1.44 or anything else (and why not - I don't think there is anyone really using that any more - but by default it is usually on).

I came across the solution completely by accident.

I was moving on and was trying to install on one of the partitions my Win 7 OS
The damn thing was hanging (or so I thought) at the setup screen.
Nothing was happening. It would just appear to stop dead.
(The same symptoms that appeared when I'd type in the -- sudo blkid -- command in terminal, it appeared to stop dead)
I'd type the command in terminal, the cursor would flash for a couple of seconds and then just stop flashing - like nothing was going on.

When searching for the solution for the Win 7 OS install hanging issue, I found that others had the same problem.
The solution to the Windows 7 installation hanging was to disable the Floppy Drive in the BIOS.
As soon as I did that the installation went off without a hitch.

hmmmmm . . . .
So I tried booting from the Live USB ISO image and I got my -- sudo blkid -- results INSTANTLY!

It had nothing to do with the IDE Drives at all.

WOW! What a Pain in the A$$ figuring that out was.

Hopefully this helps someone else.

Thanks for all the input everyone. It was much appreciated.