# Ubuntu Resizing Partitions



## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

I have two problems when I'm installing Ubuntu. First, after booting Ubuntu from a CD and selecting "install ubuntu" my monitor goes blank and says "cannot display this mode". This is right after the orange progress bar is filled up. In order to solve this problem I have to boot in safe graphics mode, but I don't want this to be a permanent solution because it's not pretty.

Second, when I select "resize partition" as my partition option, I get a default error telling me basically that there was an error resizing the partition. Just for more information I have my PC booting from the CD drive first.

Thanks in advance for your help.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

Here is the solution to your second problem.

Please follow these instructions *line for line.* This will allow you to partition your hdd. You will need two things, an ISO file from 

Gparted, and a program that will allow you to burn a LiveCD. I would recommend CDburnerXP, or Finalburner. Unless you have a cd burner that will burn ISO files. A regular cd burning program won't work. It must have an ISO burning function.


Go to *GParted*, then download an ISO file for the *latest version.*
Download a copy of *CDburnerXP* or *Finalburner* or an ISO burner of your choice.
Burn a LiveCd

Let me know when you have that done and I will help you with the next step.


About your first problem. Do you have a graphics card by chance and what card is it, make and model. This has caused problems in the passed with some setups. 

Cheers!


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

Done.

Attached is my graphics card information. Figured it would be better to just take an sc than to write it all.


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Try this 
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/nvidia
It's an older guide, written for Ubuntu 7.04, but I don't think the process has changed. You still need to enable the nvidia drivers. Also, you need to be online to let it fix itself. So in your case you're going to have to install, even if the video looks awful, and have faith that you can fix it once you're done installing.

What wmorri is asking you to do is download/burn a bootable copy of the GParted LiveCD. After you've downloaded and correctly burned a bootable CD, you boot from that CD and partition. The nice thing about the GParted LiveCD is that it's an expanded version of the partitioner on the installer CD that you've been trying to use, so it'll look familiar to you.

I assume you're trying to dual-boot? Have you defragged the Windows data three or four times? If there's Windows data strewn all over the disc the partitioner might not be able to do the deed.

Are you running Vista? If so, you should use the Vista partitioner to shrink it.

Also, do you have four primary partitions?


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

I only have one partition.

I'm running XP on that computer.

I defragged it before trying to install ubuntu.

Thank you for the information on nvidia, I'll try that once I get ubuntu installed.


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

After I chose the language for GParted my screen went blank and my monitor said the same "cannot display this mode" error


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

I am guessing that it has something to do with your video card, I would try connecting your monitor cable to your onboard video female jack and see if that makes a difference.

Cheers!


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Artifice -
I'm sorry this isn't going smoothly for you.
I got out my Ubuntu laptop and tossed in the latest version of GParted that i have on CD.
It's a newer version, with GParted and Clonezilla combined. It's version 0.3.4-11. It opens to a long list of booting options where you can choose numerous GParted boot options and numerous Clonezilla options.
My Acer has never had problems running GParted CD's so I chose the default GParted option (auto-configuration) and it came up. It came up a little funny - the map didn't fill the screen and the toolbar was kind of odd, but it worked. Got back out and chose the "Force VESA driver" option. GParted got to a prompt and went no further, so that didn't work for me.
Got back out, tried "auto-configuration plus framebuffer" and that didn't work either.

Thing is, one of those options might work for you. Try downloading a recent version of GParted plus Clonezilla
http://gpartedclonz.tuxfamily.org/
and if it at least gets to that first window try "auto-configuration". Then try "Force VESA" if auto-config doesn't work.
If you get stuck with one of these paths, don't panic. Just push the power button and the PC will shut down, then restart.

You also might want to try an older version of GParted. I've been using a version from the middle of '06 that still seems to be the most reliable!


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

I'll try what you guys posted.

But to clear things up my monitor can't display gparted under "safe graphics mode" but under normal I get a display like the attached.
(It's sideways but you get the picture)


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Wow. That is seriously screwed up.

Do you have any other options for getting signal to your monitor? Onboard graphics? Another graphics card you could try out?
Is the GeForce 6800 an AGP or PCI-X interface?

One last thing - if you're using a flat-panel, do you have an old analog CRT monitor you can try?


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

No alternative monitor, but could I install linux on a portable HD?


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Yes, but how would that solve your video problem?


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

It wouldn't but I can't fix the video problem until I get linux installed right?


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

I'm going to toss in a couple of links - don't know if any will help

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=3366
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=909586&highlight=geforce+6800
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=905956&highlight=geforce+6800
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=905837&highlight=geforce+6800

OK, it looks like the 6800 card isn't the easiest, but if you can get Ubuntu installed, then get envy from the repos, then maybe problems will be over.

Do you have a spare HDD you can install? Pull your Windows drive out, plug in a spare, and see if you can install Ubuntu right off the installer CD, then fix the resolution. I realize this doesn't help you as far as your final goal, but it might give you some ideas and some practice.

Also, if you can use any other partitioner to shrink XP, then you could just pop the Ubuntu LiveCD in and tell it to install to free space. Once it's on there you can work on fixing the resolution.

I have one more suggestion, though this might be a waste of time. The "alternate install" CD might work better for you than the LiveCD. 

The alternate installer is just a simpler version of the LiveCD installer and has saved the day for some. It might be able to partition when the LiveCD couldn't.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate

I don't think I ever got an answer - do you have four primary partitions?


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

Ok I'll try all of the above.

No I have one partition.


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

One partition. Good.
So, if you can borrow or find some partitioner that works with your graphics card to resize XP, then you could just install Ubuntu to the free space and then try the various methods to get the resolution right once it's installed.

I hadn't thought of Knoppix - maybe that'll play nice with the 6800?
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/how-do-i-resize-windows-partition-with-open-source-software.html


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

About to try it wish me luck


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

So that one loaded but my mouse was invisible... I could sort of tell where I was when I moused over something or right clicked but you have no idea how annoying that was.

Anyway, I ran qtparted from the command window but I can't figure out how that little program works. It found my current partition but what am I supposed to do resize it? The only option I had was "create new partition table" or something like that with the warning "you may lose your data" so naturally I said no.

I couldn't make half this stuff up.


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

Yeah, I'm triple posting.

I tried the normal Ubuntu live cd again and guess what... it worked. It's installing now, so my only issue will be my video card. If the install continues to go without error.

Edit: Installed. 2 problems now. First, it cannot install the nvidia drivers because of a "404 not found" error when it dials out. Second, I restarted after it downloaded some updates and now it says system restart required at the top every time I turn it on.


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Hey, I've talked to myself on this forum more than once. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.
If you can get it installed it looks like the fix for the video card is relatively straightforward.
Dangit, now we have internet problems? What is your ISP? How do you connect? And do you have a router? A router solves lots of connect problems with Verizon, Comcast, etc.
It says system restart required every time you start it up? Are you sure it's getting the updates? 
Open Synaptic Package Manager and enable all the repos.


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

Looks like the problem was just that ubuntu needed to update alot and it wanted to do it's system updates before my video card. It's up and running with the driver installed, but I may run into a few more problems.

Thank you for your help though.


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

Great to hear that you have fixed your own problems. Please mark this thread as solved in the thread tools in the top right of the page. This will help us to know that we can move on to other threads. Please stick around and help out when you can too.

Cheers!


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Hey, glad to hear you're making progress!
Linux updates aren't like Windows updates. In the last six months or so I've seen Ubuntu get several huge updates, at least 30-40 MB. One was over 90 MB! You probably got a couple of kernel updates too, and it has to reboot for those. 

When you're ready, go into Synaptic Package Manager and do a search for "start-up manager". That gives you a neat graphic user interface that lets you pick which OS boots first, how long GRUB will wait before booting an OS, etc. After installing it, you'll find Start-Up Manager under System>Administration.

Also look into Medibuntu. I needed to install the package before it would play DVD's.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

If you have an HP printer look up hplip in Synaptic. This is a nice tool from HP that helps you access your printer tools, set-up, etc.

Play around with System>Preferences>Appearances to get it looking like you want. It's a bit confusing at first. I'm using the "Custom" choice, with Clearlooks as the theme and some blues for the colors. You can get desktop wallpapers from gnome-looks.org or several other places.

Have fun!!


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

When I search for start-up manager I get 2 results. gpe-appmgr and libdtools-ocami-dev. I figured the first one was the one I wanted to install but I get the error

```
gpe-appmgr:
 Depends: gpe-conf but it is not going to be installed
```


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

No, that's not it. I'm not online with the Linux machine so had to fumble around a little. Here's a decent guide...

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/10/10/ubuntu-tip-use-startup-manager-to-edit-your-boot-menu/

Searched start-up manager on Ubuntu Forums... 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=948737&highlight=start-up+manager

try the terminal instead of Synaptic if you'd like. With the PC online, just open a terminal and copy/paste/enter the command shown in posts #6 & #7.


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

That worked, thank you. Any suggestions on things I should download?


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

I'll get back to you after starting up the Linux PC later on. What do you think you want to do with it?


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

I installed the gnome partition editor and device manager. Not that I'm going to do any partitioning, just wanted to be able to look at the map quickly. Don't remember the exact names for these in synaptic.
Installed hugin, with the enblend add-on. hugin is a fun panorama tool that splices pictures together for you. There's an add-on for GIMP that will do the same thing, but hug-in does more. google it for some tutorials. You can make typical panoramas or bizarre ones that loop back on themselves, etc.
Installed VLC media player.
As mentioned, the Medibuntu packages for playing commercial DVD's.
Installed Picasa for Linux off the Google Picasa website. Picasa is not a native Linux application and I don't like that, but Picasa is so handy that I bit the bullet.
Sooner or later I'll probably install WINE just so I can play around with DVDFlick, an open-source video editing application. Maybe if I wait long enough someone at DVDFlick will write a Linux version...
Installed AptonCD, an application that's supposed to let you make a disc with all your updates that you can use to update an offline PC. Haven't done anything with it though so can't say how well that works.
Little things like the Adobe Flash add-on, etc., but the above list is most of the stuff I've added to the basic Ubuntu install.

I think I'll wait a few months before upgrading to 8.10.


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## Artifice (Sep 8, 2007)

Everything's working, thank you so much for your time.


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## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Hey, glad to see another Ubuntu user. Another thing - pop in a commercial DVD while you're online. Totem Player is the default application. When it sees a commercial DVD it should pop up with a windows saying that it needs some stuff. Let Totem get that stuff and it should be able to play the discs.
Also, if you download VLC Media Player, try watching movies with that. Totem will pop up as the default. Close it, open VLC (found in Applications>Sound and Video), go to File>Open Disc.
You can change the default application, but I'm not sure how. What a noob


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