I have formated Window Me off my c drive and have tried to install Ubuntu. The install appears to work perfectly except it keeps running from the cd drive. I have plenty of hard drive space.

It wont let me remove the cd when i am running Ubuntu but it I restart I can get it out but nothing runs then. I will just have a cursor blink in the top left corner of the screen.

Have installed it three times make sure I wan't missing anything...but I must be.

Any ideas?

When you re-boot without the CD do you boot into windows or Linux ?
Before installing Ubuntu did you defrag your Windows ME before re-sizing it for Ubuntu ?
During the installation phase did you create a swap partition ?
Did you create a / root partition ? and did you have grub installed to the MBR ?
Did you burn your unbuntu at a slow speed 8x and with the DAO option ?


If you can answer the above questions we might be able to help you.

I suggest you look at your /etc/fstab file to see if it lists your partition. If it does, try mounting it.

If you installed Ubuntu on your hard disk you'd normally get a grub menu when you power on, even if some problem prevented it from booting from the hard disk. Any chance that you when you changed your BIOS settings to let you boot using the live CD you didn't specify that it should try booting off of the hard disk if there was no CD?

When I installed Ubuntu off of a live CD it ejected the CD from the disk when it was done. How did you install it?

My son just formated the c: drive since the window ME was not running at all. He didn't defrag before hand.


We had the Dell window (it offers an F2 for setup) then the Ubuntu menu which had the option to install which it click, The CD whirls and then after awhile I get the Ubuntu desktop with the install icon.

I watched http://ubuntuclips.org/videos/18 on how to install. I noticed that their differed from mine. I did not get an option to erase my drive during the parition section. I received three option. To install with parition, use entire disk or manual.

I have tried both types and I have 40 gig showing.

When I boot up wi/o the CD it goes to a non-responsive blank screen and does nothing so after awhile I restart with the cd.

I only get the Ubuntu message if the cd is still in the drive during boot up.

Dell had a setup screen (F2) where it is suppose to check the cd 1st but if I remove the cd, it still come sup on a blank screen and the keyboard will not respond.

My son just formated the c: drive since the window ME was not running at all. He didn't defrag before hand.


We had the Dell window (it offers an F2 for setup) then the Ubuntu menu which had the option to install which it click, The CD whirls and then after awhile I get the Ubuntu desktop with the install icon.

I watched http://ubuntuclips.org/videos/18 on how to install. I noticed that their differed from mine. I did not get an option to erase my drive during the parition section. I received three option. To install with parition, use entire disk or manual.

I have tried both types and I have 40 gig showing.

When I boot up wi/o the CD it goes to a non-responsive blank screen and does nothing so after awhile I restart with the cd.

So there's no text on the screen when you boot w/o CD? It doesn't say "filesystem not found" or something else"?

Ok, from your response it appears you no longer have ME installed. Can you answer any of the above
questions ? without knowing the integrity of your burn it is not possible to provide help that would
move this forward.

Also in your next reply please give the model of your Dell computer, is this a laptop? some older
computers need to use a boot cheat such as noapic to work and this could mess you up but because you
are not able to simply install it to the Hard drive
It could be another issue with your Dell that has not been revealed yet, knowing what the model is might help for further insight.

it could be that your burn is not successfull
When you burn the .iso you want to do it with DAO options set and with 8x or less burn speed.
this is important as anything else can result with a install that has corruption built in.
I alwasy check the media after the burn too using the command md5sum /dev/cdrom compare it
to the md5sum from your Ubuntu download to verify it is correct.
also when you re-boot without the cd make sure there are no usb sticks or drives connected.

I think the OP description may have set us barking to the wrong tree.

I suspect the OP's installation ran into a video driver mismatch casuing a break down in the communication. With the installation CD he gets back only the Live CD version operational and not the installed version.

My suggestion to get over the problem is to try the following

(1) Remove the CD so the the hard disk boots up a Grub screen
(2) Select Ubuntu but do not press "return". Instead press "e" for editing. This should show up the 3 to 4 lines of instruction Grub has been asked to boot Ubuntu.
(3) Use the direction key to get to the line starting with "kernel", press "e" to edit this line and navigate to the end of that line and add the following
leave a couple of space before adding this parameter xforce. Then press return. This will force Ubuntu to use the standard driver "vesa".
(4) Press "b" to tell Grub you are ready and want it to boot up Ubuntu with the change added.

Can't guarantee success but worth a try. The above is exactly what you get if you press the second booting choice from the installation CD. Vesa is the basic/generic/standard video format supported by every graphic card.