Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 46860
partitioning with fdisk, formatting swap with Druid
Last modified: 2007-04-18 12:34:21 EDT
Description of Problem: I was installing 7.1, and used the install program to partition my disk. I was using Druid, but when it came to formatting the swap space, the system would hang. So, I decided to use fdisk. The following was printed to my screen and I was told to report it at this website (file attached). Then, the buttons started getting really picky about what keys they would accept. Tab stopped working, arrow keys stopped working, an isolated return did nothing, sometimes these keys would print gobbly-gook to the screen. I finally found that <spacebar>+<enter> worked, and went back to rechoose disk druid. After I had gone through this error with fdisk, formatting the swap space via Druid no longer caused the system to hang, and I was able to complete the install. How Reproducible: I'm not really sure, I had some problems with my hard drive and it's partition table before trying this install. However, if the hardware is not a factor, then simply start the text install and try to partition a drive with fdisk. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Start an install of RH 7.1 on a system with a blank or corrupted partition table. Choose text or graphical mode, but use a system that does not have enough RAM to use the graphical. 2. When prompted, choose to manually partition a drive. Make at least one swap partition with Druid. When prompted, accept immediate swap formatting. This is where my system hangs. 3. Restart install, and repeat except try to use fdisk. If fdisk does not work then you have reproduced my bug. If it does work I don't know what to tell you. Actual Results: fdisk doens't work, and Druid only works after fdisk fails. Expected Results: That either fdisk or Druid will work the first time they are tried. Additional Information:
Created attachment 22367 [details] the file that was created after I acquiesced to the system request to save the error report to disk
You are having some very strange errors that makes me think that something besides fdisk could be wrong. When the installer crashes, can you press <Alt><F4> and see if there are any error messages?
Actually, now that I've got things installed, I'd rather not take the chance of messing it up again. However, I'm thinking of setting up a dual-boot system. If I do that I probably will re-install. If the problem re-occurs at that point I'll try Alt+F4, and let you know what happens.
Ok. Reopen if you still see problems.