r/archlinux • u/JcWh2245 • 2d ago

SUPPORT Installing Arch Issues

I'm currently trying to install Arch on a old laptop, I've done it before and assumed it would be fairly easy however I'm having issues with partitioning disks. Lsblk will show me sda which is the USB stick and nvme0n1 which only sometimes contains partitions already otherwise it shows 0 bytes. Even though it says nvme0n1 exists when I try to use fdisk/cfdisk it says cannot open invalid argument or no such file or directory. I'm unsure on what I can do to fix this as every solution I search for doesn't work. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding of it or something

1 Upvotes

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3

u/C0rn3j 2d ago

Anything in dmesg/journal about this?

otherwise it shows 0 bytes

That sounds like the NVMe has gone the way of the saber-toothed tiger.

Try booting Gparted live ISO and doing your partitioning there.

If it finishes and you do not have them anymore after rebooting, that SSD is 99.99% deaded.

1

u/JcWh2245 2d ago

I forgot to mention that the nvme currently has windows on it, I can't do anything else tonight but I will try again tomorrow

2

u/ang-p 2d ago

currently has windows on it,

That was pretty obvious.

0

u/JcWh2245 2d ago

I mean not really, It could've had another distro or nothing at all on it as I did say it read as 0 bytes

1

u/ang-p 2d ago

So you don't know if the drive even works or can even try to boot the other OS - windows or whatever?

1

u/archover 1d ago edited 1d ago

Give laptop make and model, please. I can compare to my 6 and 8yr old Thinkpad daily drivers, and share ideas and experience. Good day.

1

u/ang-p 2d ago

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Partitioning#Troubleshooting

#LoveTheWiki

I try to use

How about

try

ing to post the exact commands you are

try

ing?