[Ruzihm]

Hello. I've been convinced to install Vista. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done for me, apparently.

My system specs are below. Please tell me if you need any more info:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad (x86_64 architecture)
Currently installed OS: Ubuntu 7.10 x86_64 (Gutsy Gibbon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R link
Hard drive: WD Caviar SE16 320 GB SATA link


I seem to have come across a conundrum. When I try to install, everything seems to be going smoothly until I hit the screen to select a partition. I thought I was prepared and had previously partitioned around a 90 gb partition in ntfs format. Surprisingly, the setup informs me that it is not the right format, and needs to instead be ntfs. I figured the version of ntfs format Ubuntu had used was outdated (if that is even possible...) and just continued. Then, after formatting that partition again, I find that "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation", the same error here.

"I suppose I just need to go get the SATA driver", I think to myself. I then go to the motherboard driver site here and see that the drivers (SATA and chipset), are all binaries, in .exe format.

Go figure. I can't run the driver updaters from setup, apparently. Drivers are expected in some other filetype. I tried running the EXE files in WINE (a windows binary interpreter for linux) and it spits out a few files, but I try loading them in the setup, and they aren't "compatable with your hardware".

The funny thing about this is that the hard drive is automatically detected in BIOS, and all of the other partitions are shown in setup. Anyway, it's probably a driver issue. Anyone have an idea of where to look for a NON-BINARY driver or something that might actually help?

Thanks in advance,
Some guy who is beginning to realize why many people switch to Linux after using Windows.

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I know it's usually bad practice to double-post, but I feel this may help some people who considered this puzzle unsolvable:

I hit shift+f10 in the setup to access a command prompt, and ran notepad.exe . I saved a txt file on the C: drive. I then rebooted the computer and did the same thing, this time using notepad's open dialog to view the contents of the C: drive. The file was still there!

Does this still seem like a driver issue? I am so confused!! x.x

Thanks again,
Confused guy

[Ruzihm]

I know it's usually bad practice to double-post, but I feel this may help some people who considered this puzzle unsolvable:

I hit shift+f10 in the setup to access a command prompt, and ran notepad.exe . I saved a txt file on the C: drive. I then rebooted the computer and did the same thing, this time using notepad's open dialog to view the contents of the C: drive. The file was still there!

Does this still seem like a driver issue? I am so confused!! x.x

Thanks again,
Confused guy

[Ruzihm]

Aha! I got it. I needed to turn on the boot flag for the partition I make in Ubuntu. I found the hint here, in the comments. The partition I made was the correct NTFS format, but it was considered not proper criteria because the boot flag was off. After turning that on in gparted (linux partition manager), It was straightforward. No drivers were needed.

Unfortunately, Vista killed Grub, my boot manager. I guess the next step is fixing that up. Oh well, I think I can handle it.

Thanks anyway,
Some guy who out-geeked the Geeks to Go

[happyrock]

you might have looked here BEFORE TRYING TO DUAL BOOT...

[Ruzihm]

Thanks, but that article doesn't cover the boot flag problem I had anyway.

Believe me, I was looking around for information the whole time I was trying to set it up. Especially prior to the whole event.