installer crashes with InstallStepError: HwDetect failed with code 1 on Dell XPS 1340

[Daniel Manrique]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

When trying to install Natty from the 2011-03-01 daily image, the installer pops up a window indicating it crashed. Analyzing syslog shows this:

Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu finish-install: Disabling CD in sources.list
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Exception during installation:
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 1458, in <module>
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: install.run()
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 55, in wrapper
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: func(self)
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 161, in run
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.configure_hardware()
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 637, in configure_hardware
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: raise install_misc.InstallStepError("HwDetect failed with code %d" % ret)
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py: InstallStepError: HwDetect failed with code 1
Mar 1 00:09:12 ubuntu plugininstall.py:

Steps to reproduce:
1- Perform an install with the daily Natty image from 2011-03-01 on a Dell XPS 1340.

Expected result:
- A complete installation.

Actual result:
- Installer crashes with a message indicating so.

I'm reporting this for a Dell XPS 1340, but it happened as well in a few other Dell systems, including a Latitude 2110, Vostro 3400, Vostro 3500 and Vostro 3700. If needed I can provide logs / file bugs for the other systems.

For this run I had debug-ubiquity enabled, the attached logs were produced with this option activated.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: ubiquity 2.5.19
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-5.32-generic 2.6.38-rc6
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-5-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Mon Feb 28 19:20:09 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20110228.1)
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Kent Baxley (kentb)]

Also seeing this on some Dell Latitudes as well. I'm attaching the /var/log/syslog and /var/log/installer/debug files.

This is also from Today's March 1, 2011 build of i386 Natty. Symptoms are identical to what's been reported already.

This may be related to the wireless card installed in the system. In my case, it is a broadcom 4313 adapter. If I disable the wireless via BIOS, the installation will run all the way to completion.

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Confirming Kent's observation, if I disable wireless on the system the installation completes successfully.

[Kate Stewart (kate.stewart)]

Reflecting priority against ubiquity so bug makes it onto the radar, and updating it to milestone alpha 3.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubiquity - 2.5.22

---------------
ubiquity (2.5.22) natty; urgency=low

  [ Evan Dandrea ]
  * Make apt-clone executable. D'oh.
  * Show the amount of space available for Ubuntu after resizing for
    each disk in the combo box.
  * Don't show the progress section when advancing to the manual
    partitioning page from the hyperlink for it.
  * Change 'Figure Out' to 'Detect' for reals (LP: #717500).

  [ Colin Watson ]
  * Deny requests from hw-detect to load firmware (LP: #727288).
 -- Colin Watson <email address hidden> Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:28:42 +0000

[Daniel Manrique (roadmr)]

Reporting back, I'm using the desktop image from 20110302 with Ubiquity 2.5.22.

Install completed successfully on all systems I originally observed this problem on, so the fix worked as expected.

Thanks for this!

[Kent Baxley (kentb)]

Same here! Thanks!