how not to initialize HD

[JB]

Paul Cartwright <ale <at> pcartwright.com> writes:

> ...
> hm, fdisk -l just returns my prompt back, no entry shown.
> fdisk /dev/sda says it cannot open that.
> >
Paul,
please follow me:
- make sure you are signed in as root (su followed by root password)
  $ su
  ...
  #  <------------------ not the root prompt !
- give us the output (please do not cut/edit it; do not tell us that it said
  something ...; just copy and paste it for us, whatever it is !)  
  # fdisk -l
  # fdisk -l /dev/sda
  # cfdisk -Ps
- can you see a disply ?
  # cfdisk
  If so, just move cursor and hit Quit in menu
  If not, give copy the answer for us as above (even if only your bash prompts.
- output of your /etc/fstab
  # cat /etc/fstab

JB