Install Problem

didnt get to this screen either

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

didnt get to this screen either

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

thanks in advance

actually if you run the ubuntu installer from within windows then it installs inside of the NTFS partition using wubi. 10 GB is not very much room. can you free up some more room on your hard disk? then do a scandisk, then a defrag. Once you've freed up more room boot from the ubuntu CD and choose the first option to run ubuntu without making any changes to your hard disk.

after ubuntu is loaded go to System->administration->partition editor to shrink the windows partition to make room for the ubuntu installation.

if you didnt even make it to the menu on the installation cd, then use the alternate CD instead:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate

just went on to Dells website , my pc cant boot from CD for some reason, it says drive not ready or something. I also cant hear it spinning

The alternate cd can that install Ubuntu and i can have Xp aswell to switch between? How does it work as i know the boot cd gives you the ability to access both.

yes with the alternate CD you can still dual boot. it just doesnt have the LiveCD where you can use ubuntu right from the CD, and it uses a text based installer for older systems. if, however, your system is unable to boot from a CD thats a whole separate problem. can you boot from a USB key? if so you can make an ubuntu installation usb thumbdrive with:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

or if all else fails you can install ubuntu inside of the window's NTFS partition with wubi:

http://wubi-installer.org/

Does your laptop have a floppy drive? There's some way to use the floppy to set up a bios to boot from cd - and i'm not talking about updating the bios as i think that's already been done or wont improve this situation. Something to do with the 'smb' file on the Ubuntu cd. Sorry i'll try to get back to you if i can remember.

Good luck and regards from
Tom

installed again and it hung again on the dos looking screen after the ubuntu slider!!!

I freed up 20gb of hard drive space and used the installer to install to windows!!

Hmmm, does this help?
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

Alternatively do you have a floppy disk drive on your machine?

yes i have a floppy drive

Ok, somewhere there is a guide on how to get your machine booting from Cd via using the floppy drive, but i can't remember where. Once we find it following this guid would be much better than installing inside Windows

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

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

ok i tried restarting again then press ESC when selecting UBUNTU from dos like screen, then chose to start Ubuntu in like safe mode, but it hung again after the slider!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, i think i found what i think you need. From what you're saying the machine itself doesn't have the capability of booting from Cd but it's almost certainly able to boot from floppy-drive, in which case this guide should be superb

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

Hopefully you can still find blank floppies somewhere. I've got a few but that's not much good to you

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

If you are still having trouble with this then please post it as a new question. Only the most recent questions tend to get looked at so posting/reposting a question just before america arrives online after work/school gives the best chance of getting a good few answers.
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

If the problem has been resolved then please follow the link to the forum thread and mark it as Solved.

Good luck and many regards from
Tom :)