Can't install Ubuntu 10.4 on my laptop

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-ubuntu-10-04-lts-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup.html

If you get a black screen at bootup. If you burn your own CD then did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded? Did you check ALL CDs you have tried for errors once first booted to? Have you tested your RAM for errors?

The screen starts black, but what then happens is that the Ubuntu logo on a purple background, with the dots changing colour red to white from left to right, comes up, just as it should. Eventually, though, it just stops. The logo is still there. The background is still purple. The dots stay the same colour, a few white and a few red, but no longer changing. The DVD reader stops spinning and the indicator shows no hard disc activity.

I did try a MD5 test on the iso image, but the result:
9a95ed6f6ec38fb58c446dba1add6a08 ubuntu-10.04.1-desktop-i386.iso
wasn't very helpful, because I'm not sure what it ought to be! So I thought I would try the disc that I had downloaded and burned myself in a Dell desktop (which I keep for doing things Linux isn't so good at, like running a scanner and showing encrypted DVDs). It did what it should. I got the familiar desktop and it shut down gracefully when asked. So I really don't think there is anything wrong with the disc.

The computer runs Windows OK so I guess there can't be too much wrong with the hardware.

Maybe there's a basic incompatibility problem. Or is there some trick I need to do?

Dell Ubuntu support (yes, there is one!) inform me that it is a compatibility problem with the AMD processor. So it's over to you guys. The good news is that even here in the UK you can order a Windows-free Dell laptop. You just have to do it by telephone. So I have, and will send back the old one for a refund (hopefully).

I would be very surprised there's a compatibility issue with AMD processor, else I will receive thousands of questions about it. You have more probably an issue with graphic card. It looks more like an answer of customer support which doesn't want to waste time to solve issue. We are accustomed to such behavior.

The video card is ATI Mobility RadeonTM HD 4250 Would that be the problem?

PS No refund. I can only return it within a week of delivery. How are you expected to know that you have that kind of problem within a week, if it is meant as a birthday gift for somebody else? I have always used Dell computers but I shall have to reconsider that and would recommend everyone else to be wary too.

I can't be sure to solve in a week. How many time have you ?
In https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes#10.10 , you can check MD5 value. But 90% probability the CD is right and you have a graphic driver issue.
When you see "five dots" screen, press <ESC> key and report last messages. Not surprised it would be about battery (it's usualy least message before launching of X11 graphic server).
Another way is to download and install http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/alternative-download#alternate which is a texte based installer, which sometimes is able to install on disk a working graphic.

I have time, but not just now, as I have to go down to my Mother-in-law for the New Year and have some work to finish first, so I'd like to come back to this in a day or two. My downloaded iso image has the correct hash code for ubuntu-10.04.1-desktop-i386.iso However, now the disc I burned from it doesn't even give the dots. The magazine one does, but I'm not sure it was trying to install the right thing, so I will try burning a new disc from the iso image. This will take time, which I don't have at this moment.
With the magazine disc, the last messages were:
No value set for `/apps/netbook-launcher/favorites/favorites_list'
No value set for `/apps/netbook-launcher/favorites/favorites_list'
No value set for key: `/apps/netbook-launcher/favorites/favorites_list'
init: ureadahead-other main process (1202) terminated with status 4
init: ureadahead-other main process (1203) terminated with status 4

Would there be anything to be gained by downloading and using ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso instead? The Ubuntu web site recommends the 32-bit version for everything, but it seems odd to use ...i386 when the computer has an AMD processor.

The 64bits version is reliable now, and can be used. It should me more efficient.
Don't take into account amd or i386. i386 means processor architecture, which is supported both by Intel and AMD, and amd64 is historical. AMD was first to make 64bits processor, and Linux keep the names. But it truely means only 64 bits architecture, the same for both AMD and Intel.
Currently, I will eat in family and have a look later on error messages.

Dell works closely with Ubuntu, so if they know about a particular compatibility problem then they ought to have an Ubuntu bug number for it. Perhaps you could ask Dell support to give you the bug number, and pass it on here?

Oh, also, you ought to be able to get a text login prompt by pressing Alt-F2 - perhaps you can extract /var/log/Xorg.0.log? It looks as though the X server is failing to start up, and it would be useful to know why it thinks that is.

Following up Colin Watson's first suggestion, I got back in touch with the Dell Ubuntu support line. They said there was a faulty file on the disc that was stopping it from loading properly (unlikely) and gave me the number of Canonical in Canada, telling me that Canonical would charge. I don't think that is the problem at all, myself. And it's different advice from last time. However, he gave me the reference number A-10HD29M.

With regards to the second suggestion, when should I press Alt-F2? While the logo with the animated dots is showing? Also /var/log/... looks like a Linux file. The computer is at the moment running Windows 7. Is that right? How do I get to read a Linux-type file on a computer that I can't get Linux to run on? I'm not being snide. That's a genuine question.

Although I said I had time, my wife's birthday is receding into the past. She is at the stage of saying "Well, you could teach me to use Windows!"

By the way: when I do the Esc key thing to get the messages, one rather odd thing that comes in the middle somewhere (i.e. not the last message before it gives up) is:

W: Skipping nonexistent file /cdrom/dists/lucid/main/binary-amd64/Packages
W: Skipping nonexistent file /cdrom/dists/lucid/restricted/binary-amd64/Packages

I looked at the files on the disc, and there were there ... Packages.gz in both cases, but exactly those paths. I thought maybe the CD reader wasn't reading properly, so I fired up Windows and browsed the disc on the same computer. They were still there.

Does this suggest anything?

On Fri, Jan 07, 2011 at 04:16:53PM -0000, Chris Watts wrote:
> Following up Colin Watson's first suggestion, I got back in touch with
> the Dell Ubuntu support line. They said there was a faulty file on the
> disc that was stopping it from loading properly (unlikely) and gave me
> the number of Canonical in Canada, telling me that Canonical would
> charge. I don't think that is the problem at all, myself.

Thanks for following that up. Agreed, it sounds unlikely (except in the
most general sense that any bug is a faulty file somewhere), and doesn't
offer any evidence of an AMD-specific problem.

> However, he gave me the reference number A-10HD29M.

This might be a Dell or Canonical support reference number - I have no
way to check either - but is not an Ubuntu bug number.

> With regards to the second suggestion, when should I press Alt-F2?
> While the logo with the animated dots is showing?

Yes - basically when you get bored of waiting for it to finish booting.

> Also /var/log/... looks like a Linux file. The computer is at the
> moment running Windows 7. Is that right? How do I get to read a
> Linux-type file on a computer that I can't get Linux to run on? I'm
> not being snide. That's a genuine question.

I was hoping that you could extract it once you had a shell prompt on
Ubuntu, which Alt-F2 ought to give you (I have no idea of your level of
experience, though, sorry). It shouldn't ask for a username and
password, but if it does, try username 'ubuntu' and a blank password.
At least you might perhaps be able to cat that file and transcribe the
last couple of dozen lines, or something.

The "skipping nonexistent file" messages you see are harmless red
herrings, I think.