Unable to install Ubuntu 11.04
 

Hi,
This is the first time I'm trying to install Ubuntu. The specifications of my computer are i3-2100CPU@3.10GHz/3,91GB of RAM. I have Windows XP 64-bit on one partition and wish to install Linux on the other. I get the following error message when the installation fails:
"unable to find a medium containing a live file system"
I don't know what the error means or how to overcome it. I would be grateful for all suggestions.

Did you verify the download was good with the md5checksum? (see the link below)
Did you burn the iso file you downloaded as an image?
Do you get this error immediately after booting the CD?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

Hi yancek,
Thanks for your reply, sorry for my late response but I was away. I didn't download or burn a cd. The cd came with a reputable Linux magazine which cost me 8GBP.
Yes I do get the error immediately after booting the CD.

It's still possible the CD is bad. If you can, you might try downloading another Ubuntu iso. Googling the error you get comes up with a lot of hits so this seems to be a fairly common problem. You might try googling and checking some of the suggestions or doing a search at Ubuntu forums.

There is a menu item on the disk that allows you to check the disk for faults.

You need to hit the space or shift bar, can't remember which, when that first purple screen with the 2 cryptic icons on the bottom comes up to get to the real menu. Have no idea why Ubuntu choose to hide this. The check disk function is important, particularly with home burned disks.

The error you are getting is strange because it is obviously coming from the "medium (supposedly) containing a live file system". While I would boot the CD again and run that check, the advice given to try burning another disk is a good one. The disk check will check mainly for disk damage and obvious file system problems.

If the file system check says the disk is clean I would try getting to the Live Session again.

Another choice that should be in the main menu is the option to simply install. I would also try to boot to that. I would not do the install from a faulty disk but booting to it would help rule out a problem with your hardware.

There is the possibility that it is your disk drive that is having a problem. If you have an external you should disconnect/reconnect all cables a couple of time to clean any crud and insure a good connection.

unable to find a medium containing a live file system
 

I had this problem with several cover DvDs. Took me a while to realise what the cause was.
The PC I was using had two ROM drives a CD and a DvD drive, it was booting ok from the cover DvD (which I thought was drive 1) but when it came to the install it looked for the files on the second drive. It turned out the second drive was No.1. Because the BIOS was set up to boot from either ROM drive it booted OK to the DvD Menu but, having chosen what to install from the menu, the install prog defaulted to drive 1 - which was empty! I switched the cables over to make the DvD drive No.1 and it then installed OK.

Hope this helps someone.
Hal