Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Unable to boot to live cd or install Ubuntu (10.10, 9.10 and thier alts) verified md5s and good burns, all night memtest runs without problem

Asked by Lawrence Holl

I am attempting, without success, to install Linux onto a slightly older PC...so far here is what I have done:
Tried the latest and older versions of Ubuntu, including Ubuntu 10.10 and 10.10 alt, 9.10 and 9.10 alt (verifying each ISO first using md5sums and then burning slowly and checking each CD as suggested)

When attempting to boot to live CD...on the distros that allow for that, the system simply hangs with a blank screen

when attempting to install Linux:
10:10 hangs with monitor off (oddly)
9:10 hangs to a blank screen
10:10 alt stops at 33% of partitioning stage (including after running dban and wiping drive, and letting a mem test run all night long)
9:10 alt stops at 33% of partitioning stage (including after running dban and wiping drive, and letting a mem test run all night long)
I have created a bootable usb (again trying different verified distros) using netbootin and I get a “boot error”(no kernel messages just straight to boot error) checked all BIOS settings (Intel BIOS CR94510J) It could be that syslinux first stage bootloader can't read the second stage for some reason.

I am unclear as to how it would be possible to capture bug information at this stage, as there is no opportunity in which to access command line to retrieve anything that I am aware of?

Hardware is as follows if it helps:
Motherboard: Intel D945GCCR
HDD: WD800JD-22LS
BIOS : CR94510J:86A:0045:2007:0418:153204
DVD/RW: Optiarc AD-7170A
CPU: Pentium Dual Core e2140
Video: ATI Radeon9250
RAM: 2x 512MB DDR2-333 SpecTek

Interestngly I was able to install it on an almost identical machine succesfully, the only difference between the two machines hardware wise is the video card. Any tips would be so greatly appreciated.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#1

10:10 hangs with monitor off (oddly): I don't understand issue
9:10 hangs to a blank screen: www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-ubuntu-10-04-lts-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup.html
10:10 alt stops at 33% of partitioning stage: do you talk of partitioning or copy/download of files ?
What are video cards ?

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Lawrence Holl (lawrenceholl) said : 		#2

Thanks delance for getting back so quick:

10:10 hangs with monitor off (oddly): I don't understand issue

During the install process, the install proceeds to a certain point and then the monitor shuts off, not just a blank screen but off.

9:10 hangs to a blank screen: www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-ubuntu-10-04-lts-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup.html

Thank you I will give each of the three solutions a try respectively,

10:10 alt stops at 33% of partitioning stage: do you talk of partitioning or copy/download of files ?

Yes, when using the text-based alternate installer (in which i can actually see at what point the install is failing), I have already stepped through the drive selection and and chosen the "use entire disk" option and it begins the partitioning stage and the progress bar stops at 33% I did let this go for a few hours...but the drive activity led goes off and shows no sign of activity whatsoever.

What are video cards ?

The video card for the PC in question (that i cannot install Linux onto) is an ATI Radeon9250

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#3

10:10 hangs with monitor off: means you lost graphic signal. First time I face such problem. Could means the PC shut off also.
10:10 alt stops at 33% of partitioning stage: nothing should be able to stop partitioning, other than power off or hardware corruption. It could means your hard drive has a problem. Could you boot on CD, choose "Try" and then System->Administration->Disk Utilities and check SMART parameters (disk auto-diagnostic).

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