what command can I use in dos to activate ubuntu through my usb?

How is this an Ubuntu question?? Can you please clarify the question.

Thanks

I'm trying to use Ubuntu that I have on my Usb drive to re-activate my laptop. When I turn it on, it doesn't automatically register that I have a usb drive with ubuntu. Is there a command for dos to recognize this?

You need to tell your BIOS to boot USB first, or you can press F12 then select USB to boot

tried that. when i load up the laptop. it says: No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found! then 'boot:' and whenever you type anything in it responds: could not find kernal image:

tried that. when i load up the laptop. it says: No DEFAULT or UI configuration directive found! then 'boot:' and whenever you type anything in it responds: could not find kernal image:

sounds like you don't have a good copy of ubuntu on your usb drive.

what were you doing when the power went down? were you installing ubuntu?

what were you using "windows cleanup" to do?

do you have a backup of your xp system?

i already had ubuntu installed as an alternative to win xp media edition. my internet was not working on either op system and it was becoming flooded with viruses. i was trying windows cleanup and then shutoff the laptop, because i realized i left some valuable files on the hd. it erased everything and i dont have a direct backup of win xp media. i tried a copy of a few win xp discs. these did not work as well and didnt register.

sounds serious.
you can get access to another computer to download another copy of ubuntu and try to start up your laptop with that? if you get it started up, we can help you retrieve your files.

okay. trying. hard to get anyone to help me with that. you cant even burn it at the library.

Did you do a md5sum check on the .iso you used to make the bootable usb & compare the hash to the one listed here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes. How did you make the bootable flash drive w/ Ubuntu on it? For example, if you made the bootable flash drive using usb-creator on Karmic with a Maverick .iso file, there have been issues where the earlier version of usb-creator will create a config file, "/syslinux/syslinux.cfg", that prevents booting up to the start menu on some pc's. If you open syslinux.cfg in syslinux folder of the flash drive you've created and there is a "ui" entry, delete "ui", save syslinux.cfg and reboot from the usb/flash drive. You should be able to boot up to the start menu.