Ubuntu Linux

[Kevin_329]

Can anyone help me with installing ubuntu on an old box from Compaq? AMD Athlon 1200+, 128MB PC133 RAM, 20GB HDD. I've made a bootable disc with Nero. I got the file from http://www.ubuntulinux.org/. The file is called "ubuntu-5.10-install-i386". It seems to be in iso format. I put the cd in the computer and it boots to a black screen with white text. The screen asks me for A:/...

[Dexter Filmore · Accepted solution]

It sounds like you didn't burn the image properly. Here are some instructions on how to burn the iso image.

http://www.linuxiso.org/viewdoc.php/howtoburn.html

[Kevin_329]

I dont have any files called LinuxISO, Linux.ISO, or any thing like that. I have a few .cfg, .bin, .rle, .cat, etc. There is one called boot.cat.

[Dexter Filmore]

The file you would have downloaded would be ubuntu-5.10-install-i386.iso. This is the file that the instructions are referring to when they say "linuxiso" image or file (linuxiso is not the actual filename). I've successfully created the installation CD using these instructions in the past (not ubuntu, another distribution), so it should work. If you are still having trouble, let us know the steps you took to create the CD (as well as the CD burning software used) and we'll let you know if you are doing it correctly.

[Kevin_329]

That is what i did. I took the whole file and asked Nero to burn it to a bootable disc. Since you've done this before, what is it sposed to look like when you've put in the cd an booted off it. GUI?

[Dexter Filmore]

The image I downloaded was a knoppix live CD which boots and runs directly from CD. I got an initialisation screen (dos like screen) which then went straight to the GUI. Is it possible your boot order is not set properly? It could be bypassing the CD and looking to boot from something else e.g. hard disk.

[Kevin_329]

The boot order is set to CD first. I attempted to instasll windows from a bad CD a while ago. Cracked. When you try to boot with no CD it will say "NTRDL is Missing, Press ALT+CTRL+DEL".

[Dexter Filmore]

Has the drive worked since the mishap with the windows CD? Try using a different bootable CD - this way we can eliminate a faulty drive as the problem. Also you can try putting the ubuntu cd in a different machine (if available) to see if it boots properly. Good Luck.

[Kevin_329]

This is the different machine. I used the same HDD though. Thought the mobo in the other system was bad. I've ordered the CDs from their website. Free, and Free shipping. Thats nice of them to make at least one thing easy. Ill keep trying. Thanks.

[Karsten Breivik_1]

Could be that you made a bootable CD containing the .iso file. Which is not what you want.

Test the CD you burned. If you open the burnt CD in win explorer you do not want to see the .iso file. Instead you should see several other files on the CD. If you see the .iso file on your CD you made an error when burning it.

Try using this utility for burning ISO's. It utilizes the built in CD burn capability of XP. This has done the trick for me.

http://alexfeinman.brinkster.net/isorecorder.htm

It only burns ISO's, so I guess there are a few less things that could go wrong...

Just make sure you have the right pacth level of XP as stated on the site.