xubuntu groovy - ubiquity appears stuck formatting partition

[Chris Guiver]

Watched kettle never boils?

QA-test install on
dell [optiplex] 755 (c2d-e8300, 8gb, amd/ati radeon rv610/radeon hd2400 pro/xt)

I'm attempting to replace a QA-test install of 18.04.5 with a groovy install, I used manual partitioning to select sda5 (an install alongside in the bionic.5 cycle), and told it to mount as /, use ext4 and format.

It's been over FIVE hours now and it's still not progressed. It's stuck

busy are systemd-udevd, udisksd, & parted-server..

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.10
Package: ubiquity 20.10.9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-42.46-generic 5.4.44
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-42-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu44
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CasperVersion: 1.452
Date: Sun Aug 23 06:46:16 2020
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed maybe-ubiquity quiet splash ---
LiveMediaBuild: Xubuntu 20.10 "Groovy Gorilla" - Alpha amd64 (20200822)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm-256color
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=C.UTF-8
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1892617

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

The machine has been left on & it's remained the same.
The install has NOT progressed

The prior `journalctl` report starts at

Aug 23 04:12:19

A recent/near-last `journactl` entry is at

Aug 23 09:30:58

but installed has NOT progressed for 5_ hours, HDD still flashing almost constantly on.

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

Following morning and I repeated the install..
attempt to re-use and install sda5 with format on same box (d755-8 as I list it)

Same/identical result... it was left ~two hours

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

dmesg for re-try following morning, see comment #8
2hrs ~15 mins and will end test (dmesg was saved to file awhile ago though)

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

I wrote another update for this last night, but I must have closed browser before hitting POST sorry.

I needed a Lubuntu 18.04 for support; so used that partition (sda5 on d755-8) to install to, and the Lubuntu 18.04.5 hung too (2+ hours).
Looking, it looked identical (message wise in journalctl & dmesg)

I rebooted, ran `badblocks` across sda1 & sda5 without issues.
erased sda5 & created a new sda5 using `gparted` (no issues)

Tried again to install Lubuntu 18.04.5 (amd64, last daily/RC) iso and it hung for ~two hours.

I don't know how to query iso.qa.ubuntu.com to scan for all my d755-8 install alongside, replace partition, manual partitioning for more detail, but that box is used heaps for QA-testing.

[Chris Guiver (guiverc)]

I ran a Lubuntu groovy install (not the current daily, it's a few days old so won't be found on iso.qa.ubuntu.com on same d755-8 box) and selected

replace partition (sda5)

and it completed without issue.