Problem to Boot on Live-CD

Hi ihai
i'm just having the same problem with a friend's laptop - also a latitude. the problem is that no harddisk is found and the system starts fully in the memory..

during startup try F1 and the nwith F6 enter the boot string with options
it is required to enter cylynder/head/sectors option for starting the Harddrive

 - i'm still trying to find more Information in the Internet.. perhaps someone knows how to get this info in windows or dos ? i also would appreciate.

Hi ihai
i'm just having the same problem with a friend's laptop - also a latitude. the problem is that no harddisk is found and the system starts fully in the memory..

during startup try F1 and the nwith F6 enter the boot string with options
it is required to enter cylynder/head/sectors option for starting the Harddrive

 - i'm still trying to find more Information in the Internet.. perhaps someone knows how to get this info in windows or dos ? i also would appreciate.

still searching..
some sources say the the max. for CHS (Cylinder-head-sector) is 1024x16x(63x512) and it's possible to enter smaller values than the effective hw-address, but there's also a risk to harm the disk. and then there's also E-CHS..

Ive tried with the options of the cd help, bur unfortunately I have still the same problem.
About the CHS, how I sshould know, what are the best values for my configuration ?

Try the "alternative" cd. It contains a text-mode installer.

Gte it here http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Just remember to click on checkbox at the bottom of the page.

Do you have a card reader in affected laptops? My LG LM40a may hang of some program tries to acces the inserted SD card. So check that you do not have any cards inserted while installing.
What are the model numbers of Dells?

No I dont have any card inserted during the installation.
And what do you mean by "the model numbers of Dells?" ?

My brother has Dell Latitude *D610*.
What are yours?
By knowing the model number you can find the model number for the hard disk. Googling for hard disk number may lead you to known solutions. Also you should google for the number of your external CD drive.

Also you can try to install from a USB stick
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/01/25/usb-x-ubuntu-610

hi again... been @ my friend's place.. unfo i forgot to take the liveCD with me.. BUT

i took out the HD (slider-box on the side - you have to remove the screw and then pull)

there are many many numbers on it - on the very bottom there is (on my friends) 13424Cylinders.15Heads.63Sec.
with this Information in the reffering Boot-Option i will try next time i'm there.

(unfo also an updated A14 Bios won't take usb)

ah yes and the model is:
C Family Latitude Reff 99080
Model D3CA-206480
MLC F41944
P/N and DP/N i'll keep for me..

CD: 0003515D-40550-01P-0000 Rev.A05

Ok, so I'm trying with the alternate CD, it doesnt work because I have a problem with the cd detection (during the installation), Im trying to fix it.

Besides I have a question, how can I install Ubuntu from the hdd (I mean from my others partitions w2k and red hat 8) ?

You can install from within vmware virtual machine running on your Windows XP.
Backup all your data, no really backup all your data.
Find Windows recovery CD
Create an emergency boot CD/Floppy in patitioning software like "Partition Magic" or "Acronis Disk" and verify that it works.
Create an ext3 primary partition on your hard disk with patito.
Install vmware (trial key would do) and vreate a new virual machine.
When creating virtual machine select direct hard drive access and select ext3 as a hard disk, do not allow access to other partitions.
Insert [K]Ubuntu Alternative CD/DVD into CD/DVD drive and launch virtual machine. Press ESC to go into boot menu and select CD drive.
Install [K]Ubuntu using advanced installation method.
Specify existing ext3 partition as a target device to install to. Do not erase it, install preserving existing partition.
When asked where to install grub. choose to install into the partitiion, not to the master boot record.
Verify that ubuntu works in virtual machine.
Mark ext3 partition as active in partitioning software.
Reboot laptop into Ubuntu. If you cannot, then use emergency disk to mark Windows patition as active and boot back into Windows.
You may need to alter xorg.conf to change the driver from vmware to something appropriate.
Also install grub into the master boot record to be able to boot back into windows from grub boot menu.
Use "grub-install --recheck" then "grub-install /dev/sda", change sda into approprite device the hard disk gets.
Add the lines

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

into /boot/grub/menu.lst
You may alter '(hd0,0)' to match the Windows partition. Read the docs for grub.
Reboot and test that you can boot into Windows.

I would try the USB Stick approach first.

just 1 thing i wanted to say, alot of older computers need the bios flashed to pass the 2000 year cut off.