Can't get ubuntu to load on PC

What computer is that? What version of ubuntu do you have in the USB stick?

Many thanks for the help!
The computer is a (about 3 years old) Dell running Vista.
The Ubunta is 10.04.

Try connecting the stick in a different USB slot.
If that is not the problem, reinstall the Ubuntu bootable image in the USB stick. What program did you use to make the USB stick bootable?

You can also burn a CD, and boot from it. Some older machines may have trouble booting form USB.

Again many thanks for the assistance!!
This PC will try to boot from the stick, but not from a cd.
I have the info on a cd, but can't boot from there for some reason.
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download is where I got the source.
I spent most of yesterday trying to get it to work.
At this point I will settle for a cd that I can buy that I can transfer to the usb stick.
I believe that if the data on the stick is correct, that will be my easiest solution.
All I really want to do is a ls -lat and possibly some rm.
I used Unix on a Cray for about 5 Years about 20 years ago.
I think Sun bought out Cray and Unix became Linux.
They look the same as far as I can see.

The most probable cause is the usb stick is not correctly created (it may not be your fault).
Try formatting the USB stick and reinstalling the bootable ISO image you downloaded following the instructions that appear when clicking the "show me how" button in that page.

If you have free space in the hard drive, you can also burn the ISO in a CD (see the instructions, too) and insert it while on windows. It will give you the option to install Ubuntu inside Windows as if it were a program without having to create a new disk partition. That may be the easiest way to install it.

I agree that the stick is not correctly created.
I tried it in another USB slot and got the same as originally mentioned.
I tried to load from a cd "within Windows", I get
There is no disk in the drive
please insert a disk into drive \device\harddisk\dr1
and three options
cancel, try again and continue
cancel and continue seem to do nothing
after hitting try again three times I get
the Ubuntu 10.04 Installer (which looks promising)
however it asks for a username and password
and all I try gives me
passwords do not match and I am stuck.
Can you provide me with a source for Ubuntu Linux on a cd for say $10 or $20?
Again many many thanks!!!

I can get you the CD for free
Ask for one here
https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

I think I saw that option yesterday.
Unfortunately it says it may take up to 10 weeks to get the CD.
I think I will go the "eBay route" which occurred to me after I asked you about it.
Sorry my old 71 year old brain just ain't what it used to be.
2o years ago I was the resident "vi master" and I even had unix on my old 386.
Many Many thanks for the assistance!!

Thanks Federico Tello Gentile, that solved my question.

Please use unetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ to make your bootable memory stick with Ubuntu on it.

I have always used it without any issue.

Hope this helps

Did you do a boot reorder?
Burn the OS that you want
to a blank CD. Then put
it in your CD ROM and
restart your PC.
When you start your PC
click continually on delete
till you go into PC bios.
Change the booting order
to CD ROM first.
hen F10 to save the changes
and reboot.
Then it will open a language
page choose your language
hit enter the the first thing
you should do is to check for errors.

No errors then when it takes you
to that language page hit enter
and arrow do to install it.

Then it will take you to the install
page. Select language then foreward
then choose your time zone then
set up your KeyPad then when
you get to Partition set up
Use erase and use all of cd dick.
Then put in your info then check
if your info is correct and then
install. When it is done it will ask
you to restart. Then it will open
up your CD ROM take the CD
out and close the door and then
press enter. Then when you start your
PC again hit delete till it goes into
your BIOS and change the boot
order to first floppy then click F10
to save changes and then it will
reboot and go into the OS you installed.

Make sure you know what bit you
need to install: 32 bit or 64 bit.
It makes a different's.

Try that once see how it does>

Hi :)

If you really need to do this by usb-stick then try downloading the Ubuntu Netbook Edition/Remix as that is designed to be run from usb-stick.
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/netbook/get-ubuntu/download

If you want to get an official Cd to use as a LiveCd then try buying one from
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/desktop/get-ubuntu/cds
It doesn't cost much but is very much faster by post than the free ones. Alternatively you could download and make your own Cd to use as a LiveCd
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
I tend to find it useful to have a few extra Cds for when friends, colleagues or other people are interested and want to try it for themselves

Before trying to install a linux it is usually better to try a demo version of it as a LiveCd session just to check how easily it works on your particular hardware. Sometimes it will require a little work but usually just playing around with the "boot-options" is enough to get it working in the event it doesn't work easily (rare). If you do like the LiveCd then try installing it as a proper dual-boot alongside Windows rather than balanced inside Windows
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

I hope something here helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Thanks for your response!!
I'll give it a try, maybe tomorrow.
TYVM
-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of marcobra (Marco Braida)
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2010 12:55 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #115217]: Can't get ubuntu to load on PC

Your question #115217 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/115217

marcobra (Marco Braida) posted a new comment:
Please use unetbootin http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ to make your
bootable memory stick with Ubuntu on it.

I have always used it without any issue.

Hope this helps

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Thanks for the response!!
Every time I try the CD route, I get a username password request that I can't get past.
I ordered several Ubuntu CDs on eBay.
I'll try again as you suggested maybe tomorrow.
TYVM!!

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of oocevin
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2010 1:57 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #115217]: Can't get ubuntu to load on PC

Your question #115217 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/115217

oocevin posted a new comment:
Did you do a boot reorder?
Burn the OS that you want
to a blank CD. Then put
it in your CD ROM and
restart your PC.
When you start your PC
click continually on delete
till you go into PC bios.
Change the booting order
to CD ROM first.
hen F10 to save the changes
and reboot.
Then it will open a language
page choose your language
hit enter the the first thing
you should do is to check for errors.

No errors then when it takes you
to that language page hit enter
and arrow do to install it.

Then it will take you to the install
page. Select language then foreward
then choose your time zone then
set up your KeyPad then when
you get to Partition set up
Use erase and use all of cd dick.
Then put in your info then check
if your info is correct and then
install. When it is done it will ask
you to restart. Then it will open
up your CD ROM take the CD
out and close the door and then
press enter. Then when you start your
PC again hit delete till it goes into
your BIOS and change the boot
order to first floppy then click F10
to save changes and then it will
reboot and go into the OS you installed.

Make sure you know what bit you
need to install: 32 bit or 64 bit.
It makes a different's.

Try that once see how it does>

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Thanks for your suggestions!
I'll try the USB stick routine you suggested maybe tomorrow.
My PC will try to boot from the USB stick directly.
I purchased several Ubuntu CDs on eBay.
I tried to use the demo approach, but it wanted a username/password
that I could not get past.
TYVM!!

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of Tom
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2010 3:30 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #115217]: Can't get ubuntu to load on PC

Your question #115217 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/115217

Tom posted a new comment:
Hi :)

If you really need to do this by usb-stick then try downloading the Ubuntu Netbook Edition/Remix as that is designed to be run from usb-stick.
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/netbook/get-ubuntu/download

If you want to get an official Cd to use as a LiveCd then try buying one from
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/desktop/get-ubuntu/cds
It doesn't cost much but is very much faster by post than the free ones. Alternatively you could download and make your own Cd to use as a LiveCd
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
I tend to find it useful to have a few extra Cds for when friends, colleagues or other people are interested and want to try it for themselves

Before trying to install a linux it is usually better to try a demo version of it as a LiveCd session just to check how easily it works on your particular hardware. Sometimes it will require a little work but usually just playing around with the "boot-options" is enough to get it working in the event it doesn't work easily (rare). If you do like the LiveCd then try installing it as a proper dual-boot alongside Windows rather than balanced inside Windows
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

I hope something here helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

hi :)

When you want to reply to emails from Launchpad could you instead use the links to visit the Launchpad website. At the moment we are getting duplicates and you are also sending us a copy of what is already in your thread here. It is all getting very confusing! You will see what i mean when you visit the Launchpad thread. Don't worry, most of us did something like this when we first started using Launchpad.
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/115217

When you boot up the from the Ubuntu Cd to "Try Ubuntu without making changes to the machine" (or whatever that top option is) it 'shouldnt' ask you for a username and password but i have seen it happen before
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD#Logging%20in
Hopefully that link should help?
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Well, I tried again (maybe 6 or 7th time) to make a usb stick for bootup
using a different online suggested address.
download okay, on the step to make USB stick -
It said can not access xxx as an arhive (xxx is the downloaded file).
Why download it to a place where the next step can't access it?? (been here before)

Anyhow I tried loading from a cd that I had made (also time 6 or 7).
Anyhow I got to the username/password screen.
This time I tried entering a password and repeating the password on the next line also.
This got me past that point.

Now I am to the point where on boot up, I get a screen that asks me whether
I want to bootup in Vista or Ubuntu. (Could it work this time????)
Vista is highlighted and Ubuntu is on the next line.
It says use arrow keys to select system. (Seems pretty straight forward)
You get about 15 seconds or it boots up in the highlighted selection. (Which is Vista.)
I tried (in vain) hitting arrow keys (both places).
I was unable to move the highlighted selection to Ubuntu.
Anyone got a guess on how to make the arrow keys work
when I am not really in Vista or Ubuntu.
or how to move the highlighted selection to Ubuntu?
Gee I wonder where I am, in MS-DOS????
TYVM!!

Right on!! I had a "wireless" keyboard that I was trying. I plugged in a USB keyboard and it works fine!! I had a similiar problem about three years ago so I had a USB keyboard literally "at my knee". I guess my 71 year old brain just isn't what it used to be.
Many Many Thanks for all the Assistance!!!

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.

Superb !!! :)))
Glad to hear you solved that one. I am not sure why the wireless would not work. Possibly something to do with the x-server but now that "xorg.conf" (it's configuration file) gets ignored this has become slightly more a specialist subject. Possibly you might be able to give xorg a healthy shove in the right direction by messing with the keyboard settings in

System - Preferences (?)

or is it

System - Administration (?)

Anyway, i would add a second keyboard (i think) in there and see if i could nudge it into accepting the wireless. Rather than rebooting to test-drive settings you could just "switch user" to yourself again. I think that should do the trick.

To be honest i would either give-up fast or else hunt around about xorg & keyboards or even better just post as a new question here
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Ed please note that install Ubuntu using Wubi isn't the best you can do, nothing wrong, but installing a secure operative system Ubuntu into an unsecure operative system using Wubi is not the better choice you can do: problems that come in Windows might be damage your Ubuntu installation.

Wubi does not install Ubuntu directly to its own partition.

So you are free to try Ubuntu in this way but if you want perform a regular Ubuntu dual boot mode installation, to have Ubuntu partitions isolated from Windows partitions: please made a new question.

Here more detail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_(Ubuntu_installer)

Thank you and welcome to Ubuntu.

Hi :)

I am not cerain that you are using the Wubi but it sounds a bit like it. Anyway, many people get lucky and run it for years with no problems. The bi clue is the number of options you get at the boot-menu. If you get lots of options for booting into Ubuntu and various other choices too then you have done the full proper dual-boot install but if you only get 2 choices then it's the Wubi.

I wouldn't worry for a couple of weeks but it would be better to enjoy the stability of a linux platform properly at some point
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How%20do%20I%20migrate%20to%20a%20real%20partition,%20and/or%20get%20rid%20of%20Windows%20entirely?
It is probably well worth asking a few questions about this !

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Well gang, I must say that this old guy really learned a lot along the way!
First I had problems with Ubuntu Linux, won't load from USB stick, my PC had to have a USB keyboard, when loading from cd, it asks for a username, password and then a blank line for password again (but that line was unlabled), then I ran into a power failure that ran my UPSes out of juice and the beeping nearly drove me crazy (a short trip) and I was "off track" trying to turn off the beeping via a UPS program, back to Linux, I got to the "dirty superblock" point, the solution to which is a menu reset and removing the HD-DVR just as the LEDes go out.
HOWEVER, after all that I did something like
sudo mkdir /mnt/pnta
sudo mount -t xfs -o rtdev=/dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb2 /mnt/pnta
ls -lat /mnt/pnta
cd /mnt/pnta/mw_data
ls -lat
and i got the directory which showed (among other things) the various lines of recordings, their size and the date they were created.
THAT IS WHAT I WANTED ALL ALONG!!!!
Many Many Thanks for all your assistance!!

OMG, i dont understand any of what you just said between "usb keyboard" and "That is what i wanted" lol!! Ok, i just about got the bit about a LiveCd asking for a password which shouldn't happen but sometimes does.

Hmm, now i look closely i can see that you mounted an xfs file-system from somewhere (possibly sdb2 or sdb3?) but i don't know xfs, it's not an Apple format is it? Presumably it's the default file-system for the Directv eSata? The "ls -lat" restricted the linux equiv of the "dir" command (which also works but is not as good) to files with "lat" in the title?

Fantastic that you solved the various problems in there! Thanks for letting us know you solved it, feel free to add any links to help people in the future solve similar troubles with the Dircetv eSata and then edit the original title of the thread to help guide people using the same equipment and having the same troubles or alternatively (and possibly better) please feel free to write a Community Documentation page about this :)

Whatever you choose to do, many thanks, congrats and regards from
Tom :)

PS WoooooHoiooooo :)))

Well I guess I confused things a bit by going off on the tangent about the UPS. I was just trying to give a excuse for taking so long.
I don't know anything about xfs either, but I gather it is a dynamic real time system used by DirecTV (ie almost continually writing "something" to disk).
Since there is almost continual writing, you must get the system to stop writing and at that moment get the disk. That is the menu receiver reset and leds off and remove bit.
The ls -lat comes from "an old man's memory" of 20 years ago using Unix.
"ls" is a directory command and "-lat" says which parameters of the files to display.
I wanted to see size and date of creation which showed by using " -lat".
(I'll bet the "t" says show creation times) (no guesses on the rest)
i think all you get is file names and permissions otherwise.
User group world are the three areas of permissions rw? (execute maybe) and sometimes it is coded 1 for read, 3 for read and write and 7 for all permissions.
if you can read the file 1
and if you can write to the file 2
and if you can execute the file 4
1 + 2 + 4 = 7 which says you can do all of these functions.

Since we are lsing a bit and again from my 20 years ago,
Some folks were having a problem about mount points.
I did a ls -lat /mnt/* which says show me all the directories in the current (default at this point) directory that begin with /mnt
That would tell you if the mount point you are trying to use exists or if you have to create one using mkdir /mnt/anewmountpoint (although linux eliminates vowels traditionally).
and I'm sure it would look like /mnt/nwmntpnt.
I hope that cleared up a few points!!
Many Many Thanks for all Your Assistance!!
ed

Ed, thanks :) "ls" on it's own just gives a list of the files and folders/directories in a folder with no extra info about permissions or anything. With most linux commands you can add the tag "-h" or "--help" to get a list of the tags you can use with the command and a brief of what they do, so

ls -h

could have helped me work out what you did but i found it interesting to hear that your Unix experience was directly useful! Good to know :) I had not really noticed the lack of vowels as being a linux thing but now i notice it everywhere. I was brought up partly in Arabia where vowels are omitted and then got used to txting language on mobile phones lol

Thanks for letting us know how you solved the problems in a bit more detail. I think people might find that useful if this problems happens elsewhere. It took me a while before i was able to move across to linux almost completely (about a year because i put no effort in) so don't worry about achieving some non-existent target lol

I am currently in Fedora13 using a gnome desktop that looks almost identical to my Ubuntu. I'm still using grub2 as the dual-boot boot-loader and suddenly started appreciating grub2 a lot more :) Grub2 find the different kernels available in the different OSs and adds them all into the menu. Makes it sooo much easier to update the other OSs :)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)