Installing Ubuntu Netbook on Acer Aspire one with no OS, no password
 

So I just bought a used acer aspire one and the guy I bought it off said it just needed an operating system. So I installed ubuntu netbook onto a flash drive and then put it in the netbook, which has no operating system so all it comes up with is the first menu where you can press f2 for settings and f12 for where to boot from or something. So I'll put in the drive and if I go to F12 the pen drive will show up but I can't actually use it, it says not an operating system or something, the same thing will show up if I'm at the main screen. If I hit F2 it says I need a password which from what I've heard is the bios password. I'm pretty sure that's the key to doing this but I don't know the password. Thanks a lot!

Details on resetting the BIOS here.

Ok did that, then it says remove disks or other media and below that it says press any key to restart, so I removed the pen drive and it said a couple things, it came up with some things I hadn't seen before like ethernet version whatever etc and then it said media error insert boot disc, which I expected it to say. So I turned it off and hit f2 to go into the bios but it still asks for a password? So i redid the whole process and am now at the screen where it says remove disks or other media, press any key to restart. I have the whole Linux netbook edition thing on a 2 gb sd card. So can someone walk me through from here asap? Thanks a lot!

Anyone? I don't want to leave my laptop on this screen forever...

What model acer?
Some acers don't support usb boot. You need to check in bios to see if usb is an option.
Mine is a 3620 and it doesn't support usb boot. So you need to check to see if yours does.
If it doesn't download cd.

Flip it over...

Could you look on the underside of your Aspire and then post the exact model number found there? Is there a CD_ROM on this model?

Did you try to boot that Ubuntu USB on any other machine to see if it will boot?

Try to note exactly what happens at each step of whatever you try. Your description is too general and your use of terms not clear enough for us to be sure of what you are doing and what is happening. You are there; we are elsewhere and don't share your immediate experience.

Ok the model is ZG 5, no there isn't a cd rom. I haven't tried to Boot ubuntu before from usb, this is the first time I've used the os. Ok so I am going to catalog my exact experience w/ the laptop for you.
1. Purchase
2. Get home and turn on my Acer ZG 5
3. Press f12 and f2, check what comes up for both F12 comes up with a boot list that includes boot from drive and boot from network
4. Press f2 and see that I need a password.
5. Install ubuntu netbook onto a usb drive and plugged it in, If I go into f12 it says not a bootable drive f2 still needs password
6. I've removed the usb drive and erased all its memory to download this thing that will flash the drive, followed instructions exactly, and double checked
7. Plugged in the drive and did what it said to reset password, everything seemed to go correctly
8. Remove the drive, now it says no media cable please insert boot disc Pxe Error
9. Now I restart it with an sd card loaded with ubuntu plugged into a usb adaptor
10. I press f2 which isn't suppose to have a password now but still does
11. I've restarted it and pressed f12 to go to boot load menu, the usb memory reader comes up as generic usb reader or something, I try it and it says not bootable etc
So now I've flashed it again, and haven't turned it on, a couple notes: After I flashed it the screen after the main title screen was different, it had more information and said media cable error etc, not just insert boot disc, so I'm assuming some information was unlocked by flashing the bios.

This is where I'm at now, thanks a lot.

Alright need help, quick. So I put the Linux Os on another flash drive and it worked! Or at least it seemed to, It came up in the boot menu as cdd or something so ya, I pressed enter and its now on a blank screen with a - on the top left of the screen, I was assuming it was loading but its been like 20 min, how long should it take?

Hour later, and i turned it off and on its the Same? Line at top left blinking, no option for f2 or f12

???

very odd, I have the same netbook and installed Ubuntu without any issues.

The difference was, mine was pre-installed with Linpus, and there was no password set on the bios, or if there was it was one that it asked me to enter.

It sounds like you are trying the right things. This is the process Acer say you should follow:
http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/online-support

Could be a hardware problem :(

BIOS and OS...

As you have described your problem, the fact that your BIOS is protected by a password and that you cannot enter Setup is not connected to the problem you have booting a live linux from a USB flash drive using a one-time-boot keystroke.

If the Aspire starts the boot process, the F12 keystroke is functioning, but the menu of bootable devices may not include a link to the USB flash. If you can enter Setup, check what devices are bootable and the boot order. You might disable the PXE(network) boot. Of course, you may have to clear the BIOS password first to get in.

So, if your BIOS is still locked and you need to remove the BIOS password, try this.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd

It sounds as if you already might be able to boot a live-USB with F12 , but it is possible the USB has a problem with booting. As a test, try to make a Mint 9 live-cd on another system, start the boot, press "Enter" as it boots, check the media, then boot it. It is very easy to make a live-USB from a Mint live-cd. You should test that it boots, and then return to your Aspire and use it to try again. I recommend Mint 9 rather than Mint 10 since google tells me that Mint 10 won't install on a USB flash drive.

In addition, try to compose any reply using clear and exact language, in short, complete sentences, stating what is happening in sequence, using the correct terminology. That way, understanding what is happening is made much easier. You're improving, except for "cdd or something" that doesn't mean anything.

Ok I recently solved the problem. There were several things that were preventing this from working, the first as I learned, was that I was doing this on a Mac, and that it wouldn't correctly extract the files, or something along those lines. There is a way to do it on a mac but it is far more difficult. After that I Plugged a 1Gb flash drive into a windows comp, and proceeded to download as told by this website http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook/get/ubuntu/download. I followed the instructions and went to that pendrive linux site etc. And I think I was considering doin this a while ago but this only told how to do it with an op. system, not on a blank drive. This didn't work the first time, it came the drive didn't come up as bootable. After that I plugged in a sandisk 2 gb drive, which I followed the same instructions for. This time I went to the boot menu, I could either boot the drive as an HDD or a CDD, I chose HDD for well reasons I don't know, it don't think it would have made a difference which one of the two I chose. So now It works! But there's only one thing that puzzles me, when I first start it the screen fills with the message "Connection failed, Kill it" with some dashes etc in the middle. So besides not knowing why that is everything works great, I really like it, this is my first linux system. But can I add apps to the desktop? Like I have them on the sidebar but can I drag files etc to the middle? B/c you cant just drag and drop them.

Details...

What distribution of linux are you using and which desktop? I suggested Mint as a trial linux, but you might want a version of linux, or Mint, with a lighter desktop for a quicker system.

I can't tell you how to move things around a desktop if I don't know which one. In KDE, I open the Dolphin File Manager, and there I can drag and drop easily, since I can quickly split the screen into two copies of any file and move up or down the file tree on either or both sides.

linux is not like Windows, everything is a file and everything is arranged in a branching hierarchy under "root". The files that I would drag and drop would be in "/home", again arranged in order under one another.

Now that you can make a live-USB linux, you can try different distributions; there is a long list.

http://www.livecdlist.com/

Congratulations and Welcome to linux. Your written exposition is much improved.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...Ask_a_Question

Im using the netbook version of Ubuntu Linux.