Trouble installing Ubuntu on Toshiba A505 laptop, Win 7, Intel Core i3

I have 4 GB RAM and is 64-Bit.

Hello Joe,

Try to get the output of the build. For that when the machine boots press Esc key so that you will see console output. When the boot hungs what is the last strings you see?

Stand by and I will reboot to give an answer.

Here's the last line:

[0.607322] [<c0104087>] kernel_thread_helper+0x7/0x10

I'm trying to install 10.4.

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded?
Did you check the CD for defects?
Did you burn the CD as slowly as you were allowed?
Did you test your RAM for errors?

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded? No, I "assumed" it was fine since it burned with no problems.
Did you check the CD for defects? There are no defects.
Did you burn the CD as slowly as you were allowed? My software auto selected the burn speed.
Did you test your RAM for errors? No, brand new computer with OEM RAM.

No, the burner will simply read the data and feed it into the burner. It doesn't do any checks and will just use the data as it is. The data may have become garbaged in transit. Get it checked.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

You should use the SLOWEST speed when burning bootable disks, accepting defaults isn't such a good move here but is fine for everyday stuff.

How did you check the CD for defects?

I'd test the RAM. the system being new means nothing and bad RAM can easily be shipped in new PCs.

MD5 checked good.

RAM checked good.

Maybe a misunderstanding on my part, but I just physically checked the CD for defects.

Yes you misunderstood. CD burners use moving parts and may fail. Boot the CD, when you see the stickman at the bottom of the screen, press space then select "Check CD for defects"

a human looking at the CD surface is no sort of CD check at all.

Rebooting, stand by.

Reboot, MD5 on CD caused it to hang at the same string.

Sounds like a bad disk. Reburn the ISO but as SLOWLY as you can

Is it possible for it to be a hardware issue, other than RAM (which is good)?

Reburned CD, still no luck. Hanging on the same string. I'm beginning to think that Linux won't work on this laptop. I tried another version of Linux a few days back and had the same issue.

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

Unfortunately I only have Toshiba Disc Creator and Windows Disc Image Burner to work with. I wished I had Nero, but I don't. Both of those programs verify the disc before finalizing...

Ok, finally made some progress. I ended up having to change ACPI from "on" to "off". I was able to load the demo and decided to load the full version. Now, I'm back to square one where it hangs up at the same string. I checked the disk and MD5 said it was good. And, I can't even get the demo version to load, it just hangs at the Ubuntu screen and won't load the desk top.

I'm sorry, but I am brand new to Linux (mainly Windows and a novice Mac). Is there a command I can type to set the ACPI to off since it seems that is my issue?

Use the same method and add the boot option. You can also boot to root recovery mode and add the option in /etc/default/grub

Do I type "acpi=off" at the end of the line that begins with Linux? There again, I'm not used to Linux, so all this looks foreign to me.

When I select root recovery mode, I hit 'e' and it brings up the window with all the commands. I'm struggling to find out where I type the command, and how it needs to look.

I'm decent with DOS and Oracle, but Linux is kicking my rear end. I'm wondering if Linux is a little out of my league right now. I would like to get this solved because I know it is more stable (virus free) and the software is far better than Windows based programs.

put it in the quotes after:

quiet splash

you will then need to save the new file then run:

sudo update-grub

to actually apply the setting

When I go to edit the boot to recover mode, this is what comes up

recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0.5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set p5db6e73-240d-4867-a59e-ba6e769e8\
1db
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=f5db6e73-240d-4867-9\
59e-ba6e769e81d6 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img -2.6.32-21-generic

I was able to find quite splash under the normal boot mode. However, when I went to grub> and typed in sudo update-grub, I got "error: unknown command 'sudo".

Hold shift at boot, then select recovery root console, or is that what you are doing?

I was waiting till the list of OS's were shown (Windows, Linux, etc...) then I was selecting the recovery boot option. Once I selected that, then I hit "e" to bring up the commands to be ran prior to booting. Then, I see the commands listed in my last post.

You may have to boot to liveCD to then chroot to the installed system

actionparsnip,

Thanks for you time and patience. I have tried several unsuccessful times to get it to work but no luck. Maybe Linux isn't for me, or maybe just my laptop. I almost lost my Windows install, so I'm calling it quits for now.

Thanks again,
Joe

Try a different distro, see if it flys. Ubuntu isn't the only distro, neither is it the best or worst.