Ubuntu

How to reinstall ubuntu

Asked by guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com

Hello

I did a complete install of Ubuntu about a year ago totally removing windows xp. Goodbye windows forever!

Later I was playing around with gnome settings and accidentally removed a crucial component of the gnome desktop and Ubuntu would no longer startup gnome. I got a black screen. So I went to a Ubuntu chat room and with some help I was UNABLE to fix the problem.
It was a year ago and I do not remember what it was I un-installed that caused the problem, so don't bother asking me.

So I tried to reinstall Ubuntu.

It did not work. The now screwed up setting were saved and when I did the re-install of Ubuntu it went back to the same problem. It would not load the gnome desktop environment.

So I decided to use something different. I installed xubuntu. It worked great!!!

I thought perhaps installing Xubuntu may have removed the screwed up gnome settings so I might be able to reinstall Ubuntu.
So I tried to re-install Ubuntu one more time.

It did not work. Ubuntu will not install the gnome setting anew.

So I use Xubuntu and really like it.

However there are a few glitches with my hp printer that I have in XFCE that I did not have in gnome with Ubuntu. The glitches aren't much but I would like to be able to run Ubuntu again. One last effort.

So my question is-

How do I totally remove all the old Ubuntu and current Xubuntu settings so I can do a totally clean install of Ubuntu?

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guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com
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Shibly Rahman (shibly) said : 		#1

Boot your PC by Ubuntu LIVE CD

Go to System> Administration > Partition Editor (GParted)
Format The Partition That contains Ubuntu & Xubuntu...( Never forget to move important files from these partition)

Now install Ubuntu.
You are done :)

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guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com (guidemeintheeyesofblindness) said : 		#2

OK so I got all my important data someplace safe and I'm ready to do this.

First can you tell me what exactly it means to "Format the partition that contains Ubuntu and Xubuntu?"

How exactly do I do this?

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Shibly Rahman (shibly) said : 		#3

Start your computer with Ubuntu Live CD. To know more about Live CD click here : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD (read details of that page,I think it will help you always)

Go to Partition Editor as shown on the above link.
It will show all of the partition of your harddisk. Now right click to your required partition and select format to> ext3 or ext4

If you are confused about which drive you have Xubuntu, then go to terminal and post the output of the command here:
sudo fdisk -l

Thank you.

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#4

If you want to use the entire disk i think is much more simpler to set "Use entire disk" when asked, using the Ubuntu desktop live install cd, at install step.

To install, if Ubuntu desktop live install cd doesn't works you can use the Ubuntu alternate cd to install Ubuntu.

Here the torrents of all Ubuntu releases http://torrent.ubuntu.com:6969/

Hth

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guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com (guidemeintheeyesofblindness) said : 		#5

I have tried to re-install ubuntu several times before using the "Use entire disk" option.

It reinstalled Ubuntu but with the same problem from the previous set-up. A black screen. I accidentally deleted a crucial component of the gnome desktop environment {I cannot remember what it was}.

Now when I reinstall Ubuntu it keeps setting it up without the gnome settings that I need.
This is the reason for my question.

Again "How do I reinstall Ubuntu with new gnome settings?"

I want to totally remove ALL traces of ALL previous set-ups and totally install Ubuntu from scratch without the old damaged gnome settings. 100% Ubuntu. No partition.

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guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com (guidemeintheeyesofblindness) said : 		#6

O.k. Shibly here's what I got:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4b36bdea

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 24182 194241883+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 24183 24321 1116517+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 24183 24321 1116486 82 Linux swap / Solaris
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Now what?

Revision history for this message
Shibly Rahman (shibly) said : 		#7

Ok... You wanna Install fresh copy of Ubuntu. Right?
Then Boot your PC via Live CD as shown on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

go to Partition Editor...
You Can see all of your partition here.
Right click on the partition /dev/sda1
select format to> ext3

Then Click Apply button from top panel of partition editor.. It can take some time.
Then exit the Partition Editor.
Click Install Ubuntu from desktop icon and then install ubuntu as you do before ;)
You can use entire disk option..
Dont worry, Your installation will be fresh because you format all of the trace of previous ubuntu now ;) .
But one thing, make sure that, your ubuntu live CD is not corrupted.
Click this link to check your Ubuntu CD : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM (if you are sure that your CD is not corrupted, then you can SKIP it)

Thank you...
 I m here for your further assistance.

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guidemeintheeyesofblindness@yahoo.com (guidemeintheeyesofblindness) said : 		#8

Thanks!