Trying to install Ubuntu

I had Ubuntu 10.x (don't remember exactly) on my HP Pavilion a1637c computer for a long time. I had started with I do not know which version of Ubuntu and upgraded along the way. I do recall attempting to upgrade to 11.x (the first one) but had problems so I went back to 10.x which has worked for some time. Because of use and upgrades, etc my system had become slightly buggy so I thought I'd try to start over again with the newest Ubuntu.

Boy has THAT been a mistake.

I have need of more integrated graphics ability so I thought I'd install the newest version of Ubuntu Studio. I burned the dvd on the very computer I needed to upgrade and started the install. That did not work. Ok, let's try something different and so I have, including going down to the lowest 10.x version of studio. Nothing has loaded properly at all. Most of the time installation quits after selecting the extra programing specific to studio. On one try (no I don't remember which) the start up program kept attempting to load the various usb drives and got stuck in a loop.

Though I have some knowledge of programing and systems, please, I need help at the most basic levels and I must insist that all answers be very basic. Do not just tell me to type /insert commands here/....etc without telling me exactly how and where that should go and how to get there. I do comprehend coding, but have no clue how to get there without instruction.

I'm almost positive that most of my issues involve the partitioning of the disks, but this step has flummoxed me totally. I have no clue at this point which partitioning choice to choose as I have picked all the basic ones I know. From experience with reformatting Windows more times than I care to remember I know that constantly repartitioning the hard disk is not good for it, (I am actually flabbergasted that all Linux versions constantly force this with every installation and NEVER give good enough instructions for a beginner to choose properly because the first choice is almost always the WRONG one) so I am not going to make another attempt at this until I can find some good instruction for installing a stable flavor of linux (ubuntu or no, anything that will WORK).

Also note, I no longer have the ability to burn dvd disks. My Windows computer should do it, but seems to have lost the ability (at least the ISO burning tool won't recognize them or my dvd disks). I do have a 2g flash drive, but it doesn't seem to be handling the work very well. Both my Windows and Mac computers can burn cds and I seem to be able to put iso on the flash drive, but have no way to check the iso I download as I have not found any check sums, nor remember how to do that.

Please help, I am near tears over this as my family can not be without this computer, I have no money to spend on a technician, nor can I spend much more time fixing it.