ok i downloaded 6.06 and burned it to a CD correctly (i assume) i then proceeed to boot my computer from the drive and run the LiveCD. but then after loading i get a message telling me the GUI cant load because of a problem with X Server.

and my thought is WTF?

also any hints on installing 6.06 to an external HD and setting up a system where i can boot to my primary Win XP SP2 drive or Linux drive would help.

I've had this same problem with Dapper. Download Breezy and do a dist-upgrade.

can i do an upgrade to a live CD, i want to see it run before i install it.

Try the check CD option when you boot the Live CD. That will verify a successful burn. From an xserver perspective it probably boots with a vesa driver which should work with any video hardware.

ok i will do that, i also burned Kbuntu today and that cd failed to work also. Im gonna check them both now and see what happens

im writing this from a Linux Desktop here. I am running the Live CD in safe graphics mode and its apparently fine

however i now want to install it to an external USB HD. i went to the installer and checked the external drive. when the partitioner started it just hung at 0% for like 15 minutes and then i cancelled it (the drive is a 6 gb) cause it wasnt doing anything. Any ideas why?

I think it has to be mounted before you can partition it...

If all else fails, open a terminal window and run cfdisk as root.

You should be able to, but you will have to do this every time you reboot to use Dapper instead of Breezy from the LiveCD.

im going to lookup what cfdisk is right now and try and install Ubuntu on the drive. If i cant i'll just stop worrying about it.

I've experienced the same problem -- in addition I had the following kinds of problems (with the live-CD, both Kubuntu and Ubuntu):

- programs crashing unexpectedly if X got started
- X crashing
- X not starting at all
- errors during bootup
- internet connection failing
- installer always failing before 100%, mostly in the beginning or during formatting

All of these problems were on the same machine. The install/live-cds ("desktop cd") were are perfectly ok, since I've installed to other PCs from the same discs and they worked perfectly. It seems it's a hardware issue, though I'm not sure which part of the hardware it is. The machine was basically an AMD Athlon (I think it wasn't Duron..pretty sure) ~1,2GHz, 384MB SDRAM (tried with 256 first), nVidia GeForce2.

The PC itself has worked flawlessly with Knoppix live-cd, so I think it's Ubuntu-related problem (unless it's a kernel issue, since Knoppix was a bit older). Also all the parts in the machine are "good" parts that should work well with Linux, as I've seen them work individually on other PCs (like nVidia GeForce2 gfx card). So, I really cannot say what it is..I tried a while taking hardware out and plugging in, to see if I had luck to find out if it was some specific piece of hardware that was bugging me. But no, no luck -- also, every error message Ubuntu gave me pointed me into different directions, claiming the reasons for a crash were different every time (so no "one reason" could be found out reading logs and error/crash messages). Really frustrating.

So, finally, I just gave up as nothing was found out -- I even tried asking around in IRC and from my friends who have knowledge, but nobody got a clue. Maybe it's just better I tried another distributions..since this is not the first PC that won't run certain distributions.

As an "answer" to your questions about this problem, all I can say is: unless you get hit by a big bunch of luck, you get out more easily by trying other distributions unless Ubuntu is really vital.

i've given up trying, i found a better use for my extra HD. I've formatted it FAT32 to be compatible with WindowsXP and use it as the location for all my Blender and Sketchup files. That way i can have those programs with me and all my models wherever since they dont cfit on my thumbdrive.

You found a solution that works for you. The Linux purists amongst us may gag at the thought of FAT32 but the best tool is always the one you use.