Ubuntu install stops at comand line prompt

Hmmm, please tell us your cpu speed and how much ram you have. Also what family your graphics card is might be relevant, intel, ati or nVidia?
Thanks and regards from
Tom :)

Tom, thanks for the quick reply.
This is a new XFX 8200 GeForce motherboard with nVidia on board graphics engine. CPU is an AMD A64 X2 4400 processor running at 2.3 GHz and 4 Gig of DDR 2 memory. I built this system for the sole purpose of installing Ubuntu and learning to use Linux. One problem might be that I am using a reclaimed 80 gig hard drive with an old windows installation on it. It's the only old part. Everything else is brand new. I was hoping the live CD would reformat the drive and install Ubuntu as the sole operating system. I don't want to run a dual boot system. Of course, The computer will not boot the old windows because the configuration is different. I tried the repair option with an XP install disk but I don't know the Admin password so that did not work either. Nor have I been able to reinstall windows. I get as far as the ULA disclosure and then she locks up. I may need to somehow reformat the hard drive.

Did you MD5 check the ISO youu downloaded as well as verify the CD was ok once burned?

If the CD is garbaged your install WILL have issues. MD5 checking helps prevent this.

If the ISO and CD are ok you may need to use some extra boot options to diable fancy kernel abilities like ACPI and DMA

You can look at this for suggestions:

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

All this will net you nothing if the image and/or CD are not right. If the image is bad you will need to redownload it and reinstall.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

Normally i would say just download and try making a new cd but not this week! Re downloading might take a while so checking md5sum is definitely well worth doing.

Most of us retain a Windows as a dual-boot. Just installing Ubuntu (or another linux distro) can often repair the main troubles Windows was having in booting up. There is a fairly standard linux tool for resetting a Windows password to blank but i can't remember it. The "Trinity Rescue Kit" distro has it as standard on their Live Cd
 http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=trinity
although this LiveCd is purely command-line only. Their website is quite helpful and apparently it's fairly easy to figure it out. Anyway you can ignore most of the first part of these dual-boot instructions because "accidentally" hosing the Windows side wouldn't matter anyway. It's good to get practice/experience at setting up a dual-boot, just to get reassurance how easy it is.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
Also it's easy to delete the Windows side afterwards, perhaps with "shred" would be satisfying lol. Although repairing a Windows boot from linux can be quite satisfying too. Another good trick to learn would be moving your data and settings across to a separate partition. Or alternatively the old Windows partition could be used to test out other distros as this is a very fast way to learn a lot about linux. So i would recommend setting up the dual-boot to give yourself more options for later. It's no more difficult than a standard install either.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

You've got a pretty much top-end beast there lol. I still think the 32bit desktop edition is the best one to go for. Some experts disagree but that's exactly the main problem with it. It really takes a lot more experience with Ubuntu (or perhaps just linux generally) to get everything setup right. 32bit is much easier and friendlier. The main advantage of 64bit seems to be that it can address more than 4Gb of ram, lol. I've almost never needed anywhere near 2Gb Ram because linux is much more efficient with resources like that. Wine 32bit also seems to work much better although an expert could probably easily reconfigure it somehow. 32bit Ubuntu does all the multi-threading and good usage of multiple cpu's (dual, quad core etc lol)

Before even trying to install a linux it's usually best to try using the install cd as a LiveCd just to see if it all fits together well on your machine. So simply put the cd in the drive, reboot and choose "Try Ubuntu without making changes", this gets you to a proper working desktop that should pickup internet easily and on your machine should be able to play most movies over the network. If there's any trouble with any of that ask us and we'll try to help.
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion
It's seldom worth fixing any problems on a LiveCd but it's handy to know how to deal with issues that you'll face on the full install ahead of time ;)

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

64bit is no different to 32bit with installation and configuration. The software abstracts it all away, the only hardship you will have is with Sun's Java but everything else is exactly the same. There is a 64Bit flash plugin now so flash is no longer the headache it used to be under 64Bit.

A 64Bit OS can also run 32Bit apps if you install ia32-libs

lol

I have a similar problem. I have a copy of 8.04 that I received in the mail from the Ubuntu site and I have used it on a desktop computer with Vista Home Premium with success.

Now I am installing it on Vista Home Basic on a new laptop. I get the same results after "check CD for defects" and "install Ubuntu". Then I tried the "Try Ubuntu without making changes" and still got the same command prompt screen.

I own a Compaq Presario CQ60-211DX Notebook PC. Genuine Intel CPU 585 @ 2.816Hz, 2.0GM RAM, Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family.

Could it be something in an update of Vista that is interfering with the installation? Should i just format the entire drive before starting the installation?

Progress is being made. I got WinXP installed and reformated the drive. I downloaded and burned the Ubuntu v 9.04 image. Tried to run CD verification from the Ubuntu install disk and ran into the following error: "[50.438381][Firmware Bug]: Powernow K8: Your BIOS does not provide ACPI_PSS Objects in a way that Linux Understands...". This required a BIOS change in the Cool n'Quiet option which needed to be enabled. Tried to run CD verification again and Install stoped at: "Busy Box V1.1.10.2-2 ubuntu 7) built_in Shell (ash)
Enter "help" for a list of built_in commands.
(initramfs)"
I downloaded M5sum.exe and verified the hash of my ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso file was the same as the hash codes for that file listed at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes. However... I noticed on the same hash code table there is an ISO file listed as ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso. Hmm, methinks therin lies the problem. I downloaded and burned the ISO file on an Intel based machine and tried to run it on an AMD A64 based machine. I can only surmise that the download assumed ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso was the right file when I should have ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso. There doesn't seem to be any way to tell the download which file you need. It does it automatically. I will try to download the ISO file on the AMD machine and see if that works.

The fact that the ISO was downloaded on an Intel machine for use on an AMD machine doesnt make ANY difference at all, The file will still be exactly the same, even if you download it on an Amiga it will still be the same data.

If the system you are installing the OS on is an 64bit CPU and you want to take full advantage of it, use the 64bit ISO file

If you have checked the CD is ok (as you say) then I can suggest some bootoptions to get things rolling. Try also disabling things like LAN / sound etc in the BIOS to make the system as basic as possible

Boot options are found here:

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

Try diabling stuff like ACPI and DMA

You may even need them disabled for standard use but the installer is very basic and will complain if it meets anything weird. You may also need to use the alternative ISO to get going if you get no joy.

I still say the 32bit version is the better one to try to get working. We aren't all as skilful with Ubuntu as ActionParsnip or have his long and extensive expert knowledge and the 32 bit version is much easier to install and use. Good luck

@ HybridDefect
Most of us keep a working dual-boot and following these instructions rather than trying to install Ubuntu inside Windows usually works quite easily and makes a very strong, robust system. There should n't be any need to remove Windows
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

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

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

Hope this helps but if not then please post your question as a separate question as it seems very specific to a certain hardware set
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion
Hopefully someone at the front-desk should be able to help you
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)