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ubiquity package

ubuntu boot fail on compaq laptop evo n1020v

Asked by Shai Alfandari

When I try to boot my laptop with Ubuntu CD it fails.
It's stop at the command line instead of initializing the windows.
The laptop is about 8 years old and running windows xp.
When I boot my desktop with the same CD I encountered no problems

Thanks in advance

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Shai Alfandari
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Tomodachi (tomodachi) said : 		#1

Would be good to know more details about how it fails.
Do you get some kind of error message, or does it just ignore the cd and boot windows?

If it just ignores the cd I believe there are two possible reasons

1) Incorrect boot order in bios
Change the boot order in your laptop bios. So that it boots from cd first, not hard-drive

2) Buggy bios
Sometimes buggy bioses cause problems when booting from cds
try upgrading your bios. If this doesent help you can in "worst case" install ubuntu using Wubi from windows.
But then you wont be able to remove windows completely.

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Shai Alfandari (alfandari-shai) said : 		#2

The problem is neither incorrect BIOS boot order / buggy.
I don't know what is the problem, but, it start booting form the CD and ends at the root command line.

Is there any way I can capture the booting sequence and save it as text file so I can send it under the Windows OS?
I'm kind of rookie in Linux although I've been 2 years system administrator for UNIX/windows 10 years ago.

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Tomodachi (tomodachi) said : 		#3

when you boot of the CD there is an option to change the kernel command line parameter

remove the words "quiet" "splash" from the line
and then choose to boot normally

Then you will get all output show including error messages that led to you ending up in the console
the last couple of lines should give you more information on what went wrong.

Maybe you can take a picture of it and transcribe it here?

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Shai Alfandari (alfandari-shai) said : 		#4

Sorry for my ignorance, but how do I change something in the CD?
Should I change the iso file and burn another CD?
In which file do I make the change?

When you wrote "take a picture" you meant literally, with digital camera?
Is there no way in the boot option to set up dump file that will be saved on the HDD in windows format so it can be accessible later on under windows OS?

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#5

You can change the boot options when booting from the live CD by following the instructions at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132.

But before trying that...

Did you MD5 test the .iso image before you burned it to CD/DVD or wrote it to the USB flash drive? (See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM and note that, since https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes has not yet been updated to include the MD5 hashes for Ubuntu 11.10, you'll have to use http://releases.ubuntu.com/oneiric/MD5SUMS instead **if 11.10 is the version of Ubuntu you are trying to test/install**.)

If not, please do that now. If that doesn't check out, you'll have to redownload the .iso image, MD5 test the new image, and (assuming the new one checks out) burn a new disc or write it to the USB flash drive again.

Did you verify that the live CD/DVD/USB was written correctly and is readable by the machine on which you're installing? To do that, boot from it, and immediately when you see the person and keyboard icons at the bottom center of the screen, press Spacebar, select your language, and select "Check disc for defects". (This goes for USB flash drives as well as CD's and DVD's.) If that doesn't check out, you'll have to burn a new disc or re-write the .iso image to the USB flash drive (and run this test on it again).

If that fails, try changing the boot options as suggested by Tomodachi and explained in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132. And if that fails, please provide more information:

(1) How did it fail? How far were you able to get in specifying the boot options?

(2) How, specifically, did you burn the image to CD?

(3) What is the make and model of your computer (or, if it is custom-built and that does not apply, what is the make and model of the motherboard). If you know, what is the make and model of your video card?

(4) What is the name of the .iso file that you are using to create the CD?

Revision history for this message
Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#6

Sorry, you already specified the make and model of your computer in the title ("compaq laptop evo n1020v"). So if the suggestions above don't work, you needn't provide that information again.

Revision history for this message
Shai Alfandari (alfandari-shai) said : 		#7

OK, I re-download the iso file burned a new CD and there it is - Ubuntu 11.10 desktop.
I think the problem may not only was on the boot CD but also in my CD drive.
The same CD that worked on the desktop didn't on the laptop.

Any way, thank you all for your help.
Now I have a new OS to learn.

Best regards,
Shai Alfandari