Partition failed with the error: MediaKit reports no such partition

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Please Help! Mac OS X 10.6.1 intel Core 2 duo. Here is what I did initially. I used boot camp to install ubuntu, the latest version they have for a mac. I followed all the instructions to install it. for some reason, after installing it. it will only start up with ubuntu. than it would freeze and didn;t want to restart and than i was getting only gruber error: ....only. black screen with gruber error.

i reinstalled it with my mac installation dvd. and everything came back to normal, except for few things.

when i go to the disk utility, i see at least 3 partitions. boot camp, disk04, disk05, and the mac HD. i try to delete and erase these partitions so i can just use the mac HD and nothing. all i get is this: Partition failed with the error: MediaKit reports no such partition

all i want is to reformat everything. start brand new but it doesn;t let me. i can install it into my mac HD brand new. but the other partitions still exsist and i get errors if i try to erase them or alter them.

i used bootcamp to delete them and all i get is this : The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.

can anyone help me please!!!!
 

chscag

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I don't know why folks insist on installing Linux Ubuntu using Boot Camp when it's so easy to do it with the free VirtualBox VM software. And no danger of overwriting your Mac boot sector with GRUB.

It looks like the Ubuntu install also created a Linux swap partition in addition and so now you have 4 partitions on the drive. MacIntosh HD, Boot Camp, Linux, and Linux Swap.

Try this: Boot the machine with your Snow Leopard DVD. Do not reinstall SL but select "Utilities" "Disk Utility" from the top menu. Select the drive on the left side (top selection which gives size). Now select the partition tab. Select each partition in turn (not your MacIntosh HD) starting with the last and press the minus button at the bottom. After they're deleted, grab the partition line of your MacIntosh HD and drag it until it fills the entire partition dialog. Press the apply tab.

That should get you back to one partition - the MacIntosh HD. Reboot.

If the above doesn't work, post back.

Also - Moving this thread to the proper forum.

Regards.
 
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So basically OS X doesn't recognize file formats like ext3, ext4, etc., meaning it doesn't know how to modify its partition table when one of these partitions' sizes are changed without OS X's knowledge. It does however know how to use its own file formats, so just reformat each partition for HFS+. Then, delete them.
 

chscag

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That's not necessary. Disk Utility can erase partitions formatted to another file system.

Regards.
 

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