Ubi-partman failed with exit code 141 [closed]

Question

I was using Windows 7 and I installed Ubuntu on it without an error then I installed Windows 8 and used installed Ubuntu for some time. When I decided to install Ubuntu (12. 04 version) on my pc again I faced this error "ubi-partman crashed".

"ubi-partman failed with exit code 141. Further information may be found in /var/log/syslog. Do you want to try running this step again before continuing? If you do not, your installation may fail entirely or may be broken. "

After that I tried to install it on my dell inspiron laptop that runs Windows 8 and I have the same problem. But I was really amazed when I installed it on my hp probook 4530s that has Windows 7 and I didn't see that error anymore.

Note that this error didn't appear when I tried to install Ubuntu 12. 10 but I need to install Ubuntu 12. 04 for some reasons. Another thing is that error shows up in installation and before partition choosing list.

Answer 1

I have a Windows 7 OP on the PC as well, so with that I could erase the Linux partition, then I restarted the ubuntu installation, and it worked. Windows was needed since virtual Ubuntu could not see the hard disks using 'fdisk'. So I recommend to start your PC with a live OP, then erase the linux partition.

Answer 2

I think this is a bug, as similar behaviour is described on launchpad here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/945027

From the bug description, looks like, problem is, when Ubuntu is installed on system, where are 2 OS and one of them is Ubuntu. Workaround could be to remove the old Ubuntu partition before you install a new one.

There are free partition managers, which can help you to do it.

Answer 3

Make sure you are using the very latest 12.04 image (currently 12.04.4, released in February 2014). There was a bug in the ubiquity installer that shipped on earlier 12.04 releases, and which was only fixed in July 2013.