Can you run Lubuntu from a live CD or USB flash drive? You gonna need this to fix your problem, but before that,
lets find out if the system is running, looks like it is probably just a X(graphical environment) problem. Press ctrl+alt+F1(it goes from F1 to F6) if you
get into a text mode login screen it is a really good thing. So if you can get to there, here 2 things we need to find out where the problem lies: dmesg and Xorg.0.log and post the output here with the 'code' tags.
So if you can get to the text mode login then type there:
This will create a file in your home directory. If you manage to get to this point, now is time to boot with your live cd or USB flash drive and access the file you have created, also mount the hard drive and search for the Xorg.0.log under /var/log/ and then post here in the forum the content of both files.
I hope this helps.

Regards

1 members found this post helpful.

Ok sounds good I will give that a try. Do I press ctrl, alt, F2 during the boot??? I thought this was strange because the install went without a hitch. I am using Lubuntu 12.04 by the way if that makes any difference. Thank you for your help everyone. All I am trying to do is find a stable, fast, Linux OS to run as my primary OS on my laptop. I am trying to get back into programming in Python. I have previous experience in Visual Basic years back and I want to break back into it. All suggestions appreciated. Thank you.

Also if anyone has advice on the best Linux distribution that I can get that will be fast, and run smooth and stable. Is Lubuntu the answer. Please comment. Thanks in advance. You guys are great here.

It's up to you! Though most of the OS are compatible with your H/W so, go with the OS that you are most comfortable with and have experience. That is the best one for you.
Well, I love Sun Solaris the most, and in Linux, I'd love to go with RHEL or Ubuntu, because these are widely used operating systems and in case if you have any problem, then you can easily get help from their experts. Their patches/packages are easily available, as well as you can easily get application that are compatible and specially designed for them.
On the other hand, to be honest, I never come accross Lubuntu or any other such flavors, so I think there're less people know it and work on these OS... and which means you'll get less help!
But again I'd say, go with the one, you're most comfortable! Good luck!

1 members found this post helpful.

The keys should be pressed all together ctrl+alt+F(1-6) after the boot, that is to switch to a text mode console.

Regards

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks shivaa. If i dont figure out what happened with Lubuntu then I may just start over with a clean install of Ubuntu. Ukiuki thanks for your advice. Also how do I mount the hard drive. Thanks for all the help.

That's not the lowest spec that I have seen people successfully use - usually the limitation with older machines is not enough ram, and with 2G you should be relatively well placed.

You probably really wouldn't want kde or gnome, because they would probably like a bit more processor power to be responsive, but away from the heavyweight GUIs, you should have some chance. In that sense, the LXDE of Lubuntu was a good choice (...if it had worked...) as would be XFCE or Enlightenment. Basically, from the use of resources point of view, worry about the GUI first and then the distro (there may be some fine tuning to get rid of any spurious processes that are running, but using a light GUI is the first thing and sticking to lighter apps might be good too, but you can worry about that, if necessary, once you have something working).

The easiest way to prove something out is to try a live CD; if you have a live CD that works with your hardware, you should have a pretty good chance that the installed version would function. You also get a chance to see whether you like it, before you commit to the install.

If all else fails, you could try something like Puppy or DSL - these are normally used on machines that make yours look like a supercomputer, so that might be going a little further down the scale than you want to go (and I'm not even sure if DSL is still under any kind of development).

1 members found this post helpful.

Its in dormant state, the developers moved on to Tinycore.
The easy way to do it is with the live CD running just open the file manager you will see the drives there, click on it and it is done.
Or from the terminal with the command mount, you need to specify the device and the path where you want to mount it,example:
Regards

1 members found this post helpful.

Ok so I went ahead and went with Puppy Linux Slacko 5.3.3 and it works great and is nice and fast on this laptop. BUT now I have another issue with the internet to work out. I will start a new post for that one and mork this thread as solved!!!! Thank you everyone you all were really helpful and patient.

Hello friend,
Well, I am adding this reply just to share a tip that if you're not sure about which OS will be best for you, then you can install a VMware workstation on your PC and then you can create virtual machines, install different OS (typically any OS) and test/compare their performance, looks, way of working and all pro and cons. It will help you to choose the best one for you. Good luck!