Install Issues
 

Hello, all -

I've been interested in using linux for a while now and came across an used, free desktop with nothing to lose so I thought I'd check out Ubuntu.

......Most frustrating two days of my life... I love what I see running it from the CD but can't seem to get the darn thing to install on the HDD. I've tried almost everything I can find on google, other forums, etc... but can't seem to get the right generic fix. I was wondering if someone might be kind enough to just start at square 1 with me and "leave no stone unturned". I'll be happy to provide any information needed and I've become fairly comfortable with the terminal so I'd hope I'll be able to get what anyone may need info wise.

Here's and overview of where I am:

0. Installed (so i thought) ubuntu (latest version found here) over an existing Windows XP OS.

1. removed disc and reset boot order to boot from HDD.

3. the first time i got an MBR error

4. second time it looked like it was trying to bring up the Windows boot screen but would last for a few frames and then instantly flash off and the boot cycle would restart...

5. went back through the installer on ubuntu's desktop by running it from the CD and on the partition selection it said there was no operating system on the HDD.

6. Installed again, restarted, then was asked if I wanted to start windows normally, safe mode, etc... (after ubuntu said no OS existed???)

bottom line - i'm just plain confused. anyway, there's no big priority riding on this or anything. yeah, it'd be nice to be completely open-source as i'm a heavy blender, gimp, inkscape user but this is mainly for exploratory purposes. again, i dig what i see from running the cd and would love to be able to use the desktop (faster than my only other computer, too) it's going to be installed on but if you guys have any other users with actual, pressing issues i won't be offended if this takes some time.

thanks a lot in advance

Not sure what you are taking for options but if you want only linux, have you used the options that say use the entire hard disk during installation? If not I would try that. That should wipe the whole drive and make it a linux only machine.

also can you provide some exact errors that you are seeing?

Welcome to LQ! What kind of machine is this? If you could provide vendor (e.g. gateway, dell), model number, motherboard, CPU, RAM, and any other specs you have it would be a good place to start. Also, if you boot into the liveCD, open a terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal), type and post the results here, that would help as well.

wow - most impressed with the quick responses!

brucehinrichs -

HP d530c, pentium 4, 2.66 processor, 1.5Gb RAM. what specific information do you need about the motherboard (excuse the elementary nature of the question...)

here are the results of the command line you suggested:

jstephens84 -

I'll try the reinstall over the whole disc now.

Thanks a lot

I've reinstalled with selecting to use the entire disc, set my boot order back to HDD as first device and these are the following messages:

I then follow the instructins and select "Restore MBR' in my setup and restart.

I'm then brought to the black, command-prompt style screen which apologizes for windows not starting correctly and gives me the options of starting normally, last good configuration, safe mode, etc... I selected "Boot Windows Normally" to see what would happen but it just went back into the boot loop as before.

Thanks and let me know what else you need.

If you don't know the motherboard info, no sweat (for now). I was asking for any info you might have. I don't see anything that looks odd so far, so I would try reinstalling (as jstephens84 said). Give it another try, and post back.

brucehinrichs -

I actually just tried the reinstall again but to no avail. is it possible i could have downloaded the incorrect version or something? i followed the links right on the front of ubuntu's page but could there be something else I missed? i just can't figure out what's making it crawl through the install as if it's actually writing files and then acting like nothing's there...

really appreciate you guys helping out

ok lets do this. When you boot into the live cd, open up a command prompt / terminal. You can get to the by going to Applications->Accessories->Terminal. once you get their type in
if that doesn't work then type in

Here is what I get when I type it in.
what you want to look for is the Disk that corresponds to your hard drive size. The rerun the fdisk command

once you are there delete all the partitions then write the partition table back. then exit the terminal and try the install again.

I think something in the BIOS is reconstructing your windoze mbr. I haven't heard of this before; hopefully someone else has. I'll do some looking and check back.

jstephens84 -

here's a snapshot of my terminal with both attempts:

should i go ahead and delete the partition table and try again anyway?

thanks

brucehinrichs -

thanks a lot for doing that. i'll keep an eye out.

When you get to that prompt if you can type p to print out the list of partitions if you can? but yes go ahead and delete All the partitions.

what this should do is clear all data off the partition. if that does not work we will go the the last resort which will be to use the dd command to write zeros to the whole hard disk which will make it as if it was straight from the factory.

jstephens84 -

on it.

also - here are the results of the "p" selection (sorry - probably should've derived that on my own)

just initiated install after creating a new partition table. it told me i needed to have a root partition so i only added that before continuing. hope this was ok

Yes that is what you want. The root partition is the top partition. or when / as most people know it. Sounds like things are progressing better.

upon completion of the reinstall on the blank partition i'm presented with the same master boot record error from before. should i go into setup and restore it or is there something else i should try? of course last time the error was thrown i wasn't on a new partition so is there a chance that a restoration could solve it this time? just want to be sure before proceeding