When all the steps are completed with the program it tells me its ready. So I reboot and change boot priorities. The only options are CD/DVD, HDD and "removable (something or other)." The last one would be including USB, right?

Well, I made the USB the #1 boot priority. As soon as the computer boots up it waits just 2 or 3 seconds while my USB card lights up showing that it is being read.

And then..... normal boot up commences. No Ubuntu 13.04 installation, no error message -- nothing. It's as if there was nothing to be read at all from my 32GB Kingston DT101 G2 USB. Is my USB stick defective or is the program not compatible somehow? I've never even used it before. (And yes, it was listed as a FAT32 during the steps as well.)



If it helps, I have an Asus G51vx laptop with a G60vx motherboard. I was really looking forward to trying out Ubuntu tonight... but it looks like my 2 and a half hour late night adventure came up with absolutely nothing

I finally solved the boot mystery, for anyone else out there that may encounter it. The USB was considered a HDD. Therefore, I had to set it as the priority over my actual HDD. Again, that was separate from the boot priorities page.

......But, as is typical of my luck, a new more serious problem has arisen. At first, it seemed to be loading just fine with the Ubuntu screen. At least it was clear and visible. I got my hopes up. Unfortunately, it was a mirage. The Ubuntu screen just kept loading forever in a slow fashion. So, I tapped enter a couple times and the screen went black. I waited for about 10 seconds before rebooting because nothing appeared. The second time around, the Ubuntu screen seemed to load more smoothly, but then it abruptly crashed with an error message. Every subsequent reset has produced this result.

The error read on a black screen -- I remember hearing of bugs on 13.04 -- particularly with the boot up crashing -- in reviews on youtube.... Would anyone mind trying to dumb down the solution for this novice? I lack all experience when it comes to programming.

I'm particularly worried now because, after setting bios back, I tried to launch Linux Mint 11 (which I run for my everyday activities), but Mint had a very glitched appearance at the login screen and could not go further due to some sort of "failed installation." I didn't choose to uninstall Mint (though that was the plan) or give any orders to Ubuntu except to boot up. "Thankfully," Vista is working just fine.

Am I doomed to be stuck with Windows Vista?

You are not doomed but you have done what millions of linux users have done for decades. You did one or more of a few issues. One is you didn't read what the installer was saying. Two is the installer didn't tell you enough.

Since both are failing, my assumption is that you set both bios and loader to wrong settings. I think you installed grub on the internal hard drive.

So the fix??? Well, maybe boot to a mint cd/dvd and see what is on your hard drive first maybe. Look for dates and such that may give you a clue to what you have left. See if the filesystem is intact and see what the grub files might say or suggest. This is a peek only mission, don't edit.

Some other forum readers might have a more direct way to discover where you stand.