Installing ubuntu woes

I would think it would be a fairly straight forward installation, but when I try to boot it up, I get a MSDOS screen(it scrolls too fast for me to read), I only recall the word 'Caldera' that zips by. In the end I get a A: MS DOS command line, and I'm stuck there.

I've done a bit of research and the ubuntu screen should load, but I haven't gotten that. I also tried gparted before, same screen and results. I had to bum off a copy of PM to partition my HD.


Help?

 

Can you boot from the LiveCD fine?

 

Nothing works right now. I couldn't boot from neither gparted livecd nor ubuntu installer.

 

What version of Ubuntu have you got your hands on? Either 6.10 or 6.06.1, I hope. Make sure you burn the ISOs at a low speed to ensure accuracy (I did mine at 2x).

I'm not quite sure of the issue at this point, because Ubuntu will never give you an A: prompt. I hate to ask this, but is the computer set correctly to boot from CD?

 

Yeap, I did every precaution, 6.10, burned at 4x(the slowest for me).

The BIOs is set at my optical drive, Mat****sa as the main boot, then USB, then HD.

 

When you downloaded the .ISO file, did you check the md5sum to make sure you didn't get a corrupt download? Because a proper download and burn should atleast give you the LiveCD menu screen.

 

Yeah, sometimes Ubuntu won't boot on some computers. I've had the problem on a few of my old machines. I don't really know what to suggest besides checking out on the Ubuntu forums. But as Lysander said, you should never get an A: prompt from Ubuntu; it sounds like you have another problem somewhere.

 

I'm re-downloading again. Though I'm out of CD-Rs(who buys them nowadays anyways), what other options do I have for booting that?

 

I recall reading somewhere on some asus laptops + linux list that someone else ran 6.06 Kubuntu without a problem. So I support the double checking the download for the iso =)

Hope it all goes well. Its a fun experience.

 

Well, to make sure you have a good ISO, you could always try Ubuntu out in VMWare. Of course, you wont get video acceleration, but its a nice way to see how Ubuntu does things. Atleast until you grab some more CDs. I just have a half dozen CD-RWs that I update along the way.

 

How do I check the md5sum again?

 

If you are using Windows, you'll need to download it. Then you can run it via a command prompt. Usually its just "md5sum whatever.iso".

 

I've got a MS utility that can also do CRC on a physical disc if anyone wants it. All you do is type in 'crc <drive letter>:' and it will check the disc. Do it once on the iso and once on the disc and if they match then you have a good burn.

 

I have no blank CDs at the moment, so I don't think I'll be testing out Linux for a while, blahh.

 

Well, that's a shame...

We'll be here for a while though, and we're always willing to help.

 

Yeap, thanks guys. I don't want to buy a whole spindle just to use one.

I'll see if my sis has any, but that's when I visit her...in a few weeks

I checked the md5sum, matches both the .iso and the CD. Hrmmm...

 

It's also a good idea to test the .ISO file on MS Virtual Machine if you don't want to keep wasting CDs.

You will not be able to fully test the Live cd, but atleast you can see the install/boot options screen. Then you'll know it's not the .iso file itself thats the problem.

Also try loading the non-working disk back in your PC and type one of these words at the ms command prompt........

setup, install, run, boot.

try differ directory letters too c: d: e:

if none work then type dir ....

You will see a long list of words, try to look from the word that you think will run the cd. Then type it at the commend prompt.

 

Mmmm, the boot CD works now. Though I don't think I've installed it, the screen was at 800x600 res, wireless doesn't work(I use an Atheros card), so I couldn't grab help. So I restarted through the desktop for ubuntu, and then it froze, had to push the button.

So now, time to hunt for drivers?

edit: okay, I'm here using ubuntu atm, gparted is still preparing the partitions, I'm trying to mark my fat32 40gb parition as /share but I can't figure out where to mark one of my partitions as a shared drive(so both XP/ubuntu can access it).

Mmm...

 

Mark the shared one as a media partition. Not share. Share will put some Linux files in there in due time, whereas media will leave it for storage.

 

I don't have that option, I'm still on the gparted screen preparing partitions

edit1:

hda1=swap
hda2=XP
hda3=shared drive
hda4=to be for linux

edit2:

Well, it just crashed/froze for me, not sure why, perhaps I was in gparted for too long(5 hours? lol) or something.


I'll keep doing my research and try again later.

 

@cori - I would do all the gparted work via the gparted Live CD. Have you already completed the Ubuntu install?

 

Nope, I haven't started as I can't seem to mount anything. I already have everything partitioned up, 30gb for XP, 20gb for ubuntu, 2gb for swap, 36gb for the shared drive.

 

Hey Cori... check this out:
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2006/05/08/dual-boot-laptop.html

It should be of some help.

 

I got that printed out already

I'm gonna give it another go once I make dinner.