Hi, I have been trying to install ubuntu on a laptop running win xp.
I've not installed an os before so please don't mock if i've done something stupid.

I booted up with the cd and selected install (first menu item). it all fired up fine but when I restarted windows loaded up again.

I then did the same again but this time form ubuntu i formatted the drive (in an attempt to remove windows). then i restarted, i let it do its thing again, lots of stuff going on, then it says something like "building the kernel" and it stayed for about 10mins and i assumed it had crashed to restarted. now I keep getting "Missing operating system".

I've googled it but all the advice is about botched windows installations.

What do I do???

Any help appreciated.

Hi,

And welcome to LQ!

And first of all - don't panic! :}

I don't know Ubuntus installer well enough to tell you what to
do in terms of breaking it down for you into bits; but generically
speaking you'll need to re-partition, tell Linux to create at least
two partitions, one for the OS, one for swapping.

I'll move the thread over to the Ubuntu-forum where you're bound
to get more detailed answers.


Cheers,
Tink

Sounds like your MBR is not being over-written - check your BIOS to ensure there aren't "virus protection" options selected. These might be in place to stop boot viruses (virii ???), and so stopping MBR updates.

That message is from the XP bootloader (in the MBR) complaining that it can't find ntldr - which, of course, disappeared when you deleted the XP partition.

I would suggest you partition your dard drive like this
Partition 1, shrink the windows xp partition
Partition 2, make a partition for Ubuntu (at least 5BG)
Partition 3, make a swap partition (equivalent to windows page file/virtual memory)

Then install as normal, and just let the installer run.
If you want a dual boot system (to have both windows xp and Ubuntu) then look at The Ubuntu Help page on dual booting.

When you install Ubuntu you will be taken to the partition program. Before entering it you are given some options like "use entire disk" or custom. Use entire disk should work. This is how it works if you already have a Linux OS and I would think it would be no different if Windows is found. There are many opinions on how to partition a disk but only two partitions are required. One for "swap" (size will be selected for you) and the other for "/" with the rest of the disk by default.

Hi, thanks for those replys.

When i start the computer after bios stuff etc it just goes straight to that error, ubuntu disk is in but i dont get the menu any more.

How do i get past this error to do the stuff you guys have said to do?

I know coming from a Windows Operating system a new Linux install can be kinda trival. Have you gone into your bios to set your boot sequence to boot the cdrom first. If its still set to the harddrive no matter how many times you try to boot its going to ignore the cdrom and try to locate the master boot record on the harddrive. Also are you trying to setup Unbuntu using the LiveCd or the alternative text install disk? I know alot of new linux users are more comfortable with a gui type install but believe you me. My experience with installing multiple OS's over the years. The ubuntu text install that came with 5.04 and 5.10 has a more straight forward approach to the setup. Like the other guys said, I would suggest something like GParted LiveCd to resize your Windows partition and then run the "text" ncurses based install from the alternative install disk and setup ubuntu from there. hope this helps you out. If you still having problems just write back to us and we will continue to try and help you out. Have a nice day.

Hi, yes i allready moved the cd-rom to the top of the boot sequence, it did not do anything, have tried using ubuntu and xp disks.

I think i may be using the live cd. i downloaded the iso from here: mirrorservice.org/sites/releases.ubuntu.com/6.06/HEADER.html
it was the link "PC (Intel x86) desktop CD".

Ok its detected the ubuntu cd again, yay!

I have selected the first option from the menu "Start or install ubuntu", which i have always chosen, and now its going trough the setup motions. My question now, is how do i get ubuntu to stay installed after i reboot?

During the install the grub boot loader will be installed and the default boot will be the Ubuntu you just installed.

Ok i've got ubuntu started, theres a big icon on the desktop "install" i guess thats how i install it...

my main problem now is that everything is running incredibly slow, i clicked on the install icon and after 10mins all it had managed to do was render an empty grey box in the middle of the screen, is this normal with live cd?

Running off a CD is very slow. I don't however recall the empty grey box. An hour or more to complete phase one from the CD would'nt be unusual. Phase two runs off you disk and checks for updates before final configuration.