Computer freezes during ubuntu install from live cd
 

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the Linux scene. My school computer has linux and it works great, and I'm trying to get into programming, so I figured it'd be good to switch over to Linux (plus I just got a new computer, so it's a good time).

But, I don't know much about how to install it. I've burned a live cd from sourceforge (actually 2: the newest version and one older). I shut off the computer and put the cd in the drive, and then when I turn my computer back on I get the expected menu. I choose my language, and then it brings me to a screen with a few options: "Try Ubuntu without any changes to your computer", "Install Ubuntu", "Check disc for defects", "Test Memory", and "Boot from first hard disk" (plus some options at the bottom of the screen). I've tried every option on the menu, with both cds, but whenever I select anything, it freezes up right away. I've let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and nothing happens, so I'm pretty sure it's not me being impatient :)

I've also put the disc in while windows is running. When I double-click on my D-drive (in my computer) I get the error message "No cd detected, cannot run cd menu".

I'd be content running a different version of linux, I'd just like to have linux running (although I want it separate from Windows, I don't want Wubi). I'd like to be able to dual-boot, but I'd be willing to give up Windows entirely too. So, any ideas? Anything I can try? Oh, and I'm pretty inexperienced at this, so ask me if you need more details, and please respond in basic terms :)

Thanks so much for your help!

Josh

Hello,
you should have something starting under windows, so I don't think that it is a hardware incompatibility or something. Maybe there's a problem at burning.
If your school has linux, maybe you should be able to find some enthousiast there who would be pleased to burn a live cd or give you an official one.

Hope you'll succeed !

If they all fail my guess is you have either a bad download or a bad burned disk.

Check download with md5 or such and burn at slowest speeds.

With live cd's / dvd's you can rather safely test on many computers. Might try a non-test computer to see if you can run memtest. It is 99.9999999% safe.

I made up that number but I think it is correct.


Another good choice is to use Virtual Machines. They really are the safe way to run linux distros.

I presume that you have downloaded Ubuntu 9.10 karmic koala which didn't work on my 2003 (6 year old) laptop, because it didn't like my BIOS (the hard coded start system that recognises the laptop's hardware, before any operating system is loaded).

Also, I wouldn't recommend the latest version of Ubuntu as it uses a new linux filesystem called Ext4 rather than the more common Ext3 filesystem, the problem here being that my other distros cannot read and/or write from/to Ext4.

Finally, Ubuntu now defaults to a 'bootloader' called GRUB2 rather than the more common GRUB, this is the program that sets up a screen immediately after the BIOS has run and it offers you the Operating Systems such as Windows, Linux, Safe mode startup, and memtest.

Neither of the foregoing provisos apply if you are only going to run the liveCD rather than try to install it.

Without knowing anything about the computer you have, it is difficult to determine what to suggest, however I would strongly recommend that you download and burn a Knoppix 5.1 CD, which is what I use to rescue both my machines and my brother's 3 windows computers.

Hope this helps

PS Welcome to Linuxquestions