I am trying to install ubuntu 10.04 on a new computer with no OS on the hard drive. "Prepare Partitions" ... I cannot do anything in this screen.

I have double checked all my hard drive connections power & IDE cable and both are secure. And Jumpers are set to master and this is a 10gig hard drive formated in FAT 32.

I sometimes hit problems at the partitioning stage. Try deleting the partition on the hard drive before you install, i.e. wiping it with a windows cd. That solved it for me.

Hope this helps

hello
if i understand you properly, you should do these:
1. delete 10 gib fat32.
2. other place fill with "ext3fs", set its mount point "/".
3. make a "swap" partition with size more than your ram memory size.. read about that, i do not know properly: http://www.google.ru/search?hl=ru&q=swap+partition+size&lr=&aq=f

I have to find a Fat 32 set up I've been using Fat 16 more to come.

Have you tried the guided install after you've completely wiped the disk. I would suggest trying that before setting the swap partition up manually. Also, I've had problems with FAT in the past, you'd be better with ext3 which is the default unless you're dual booting and need windows to write to the disk.

Ben

So try to install on without having the hard drive formatted?

Yes. If you're hard drive is unpartitioned to start with then once you start the installer it will format the hard drive for you, allocating a space for the main install and the swap partition. I've always found this to be the best way to do it.
Hope this helps.
Ben

Fat 16 deleted and still can only use from CD still haven't been able to install on hard drive. I will work on this more tomorrow. But what I have seen on the disk is great and will keep trying to install the whole system on my hard drive. This will be the only system on this drive and I look forward to having a computer running this system. I thank all for your input today and will keep you all inform of my progress.

Thanks

Greg C

Ben

I seen the system installer create a partition but at page 4 I still can not type in anything and it did not show a partition. I thought we finally had it but still same problem.

Thank for your help!

Greg C

Here is the error message.

No root filesystem is defined. Pleae correct tis form the partitioning menu.

How do I do this?

Greg C

I'm not at all sure why it's saying that Greg. The system installer doesn't create the partition until it's gone through all the 'pages'-then it will give you a summary before starting the installation and partitioning. It sounds like it just isn't recognizing when you have selected which hard drive you want the filesystem installed on but you have, no idea why though. Sorry I can't be of any more help. Have you tried clicking the manual set up button in the page where you select from the options of which hard drive you want to install on and the size of filesystem you want? (sorry I can't be more specific but I can't remember the wording, it's the last option I think).

ben

Ben

I should double check my typing. "LOL" I'm not seeing a manual set up button or a option to choose which hard drive. It dosen't seem to on even see a hard drive at all. I've watched numerous screen casts on the installation and they walk right throught it & I'm doing the same thing that they are. How do I format to a ext3? Sorry, I'm a windows person and never heard of this type of format before or what program one would use to create it. I will only have limited time to play with it this week but I'm on vacation starting this Friday and all next week and will have more time to work on this project. I do appreciate all the help and tips you have given to me!!! I know we will get this sooner or later and your messages bounce to my email when I'm not logged in so I can tell when you have more information for me. I will also keep checking back here too for your replies. I look forward to ruuning this operating system as this looks great and easy to use.

Greg

Hi Greg, I'm really unsure as to what you can do now. You're hard drive is definately connected ok yeah, you can see it in the bios? You could try and install the partition editor gparted and use it merely to check the presence of an unpartitioned disk. Once in the program go to the tab at the top called gparted then devices, your hard drive should be listed there.
ext3 is the format that linux uses. The procedure (if you're starting from a blank unpartitioned hard drive) is usually just to click the install button and then you will eventually get to a page which should ask you which hard drive you wish to install ubuntu on. The installer will then partition the hard drive for you before it installs the operating system.
If you want to to try and format the hard drive before you start then you can use gparted to format your hard drive to ext3, however if you can see a blank disk in this program then you shouldn't have to do this. If you are having problems with the live cd being too slow or you have a small amount of ram then you could try a distro like linux puppy which is designed to run with limited resources and comes with gparted installed on the live cd.
Have you tried installing an ubuntu derivative such as xubuntu or kubuntu. From my experience (which I admit, is quite limited) problems seem to occur in one derivative which wont in another so it might be worth a try.
Apart from the above I really have no idea why it's not letting you past that place in the installer.
Ben

p.s. stick with it, linux really is worth it.

Are you using the manual partition option on step 4? If so, you have to manually point / (i.e. root) to a partition or you will get the "No root filesystem is defined. Pleae correct tis form the partitioning menu" error. It is not overly obvious how to do this. There should be an edit option after you create the partition and then you can select a partition for /.

However, it is probably better to use the automatic resize option or if the disk is empty just choose it on step 4 and let the installer set it up.