I ran the CD and everything was fine. I then installed Ubuntu. When I tried to start, I got GRUB Error 17. I tried to find an answer in BIOS, but the same error message kept coming up. I thought of re-installing. But the computer won't read the Ubuntu CD. It just goes to the GRUB Error and stops. I can no longer get to the desktop.

Should I erase the installation and try again? If so, how? Can I teach my computer where to go to find Ubunto on my hard drive? How?

I like what I've seen so far, but am so frustrated trying to clear up this problem for hours!

Lorraine

It's possible that while you were in the BIOS, you may have changed the boot order: the order drives are polled for a bootable OS. Check the BIOS, make sure that cdrom is first; hard drive second.

In re Ubuntu not booting, since it's a fresh install, I suggest booting Ubuntu liveCD (if the above suggestion fixes that problem) and reformat the partition you installed Ubuntu on. The partition should be unmounted when you do it. Use the mkfs command to re-write the Linux filesystem to the partition.

Then re-install Ubuntu, taking special care in re the bootloader installation options. If you get error messages, write the down and report them here.

Are you trying to say you ran the Ubuntu cd live and everything was ok and then tried to install and you are ending up with the grub error 17? If so from live cd go to konsole and as root type " fdisk -l " and give us the results. If this isn't the case tell us what (I ran the cd and everything was fine) means.

Bigrigdriver, Puleeze!

I'm a newbee. I can't find a place where the order is listed. Chapter and verse, please. What would they be listed under?

Lorraine

Larry,

I am saying that I downloaded the Ubunto disc and played with the desktop, opening icons, etc. Then I decided to install it, clicking on install on the desktop. When it was finished, I restarted, and it never got past the GRUB loading, citing error 17. I went into the bios, looking for something that would choose the partition I wanted. I changed some things, asked for defaults, but nothing worked. I thought I would try to uninstall Ubutu and reinstall it...but it won't read the disk. It just starts booting and hangs up on GRUB loading.

Lorraine

bigrigdriver is probably right, I'm going to post a link with a couple of articles from ubuntu forums. There is no way to make this real simple, you may have to get some help with the definitions and instructions. If you make changes to the bios and choose save default it will change all your changes back the way they were originally. On the second page (most are called ADVANCED) will be something called "boot sequence" or "boot order". Set the cd to boot 1st and hd second. Once this is done click on Save & Exit and Yes when it asks are you sure. Here is the url to the article : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=442945

OK, if you have an older computer, your BIOS probably looks something like this:

http://content.answers.com/main/cont...up_Utility.jpg

As a first step, you should try resetting BIOS to failsafe values (that's in the right-hand column in the picture - your BIOS may be different). Then locate the heading that covers boot order. It lists the bootable devices in your system (hard drive, floppy, cd, any other). Make sure that cd is the top one. If not, select the top item, press Enter and select cd. If you find that it is already set to use cd as its primary bootable device, you should have a look at this post:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=442945

This particular post refers to editing hard drive definition, which is usually under a different heading (usually the first one in BIOS). Experiment with the settings for the drive: try AUTO if it is set to use LBA - or maybe the other way round.