Ubuntu

Install - getting to 1st base!

Asked by Mike R

I'm new to Ubuntu and I am trying to install 7.10 on a Dell Inspiron B120 laptop. The CD drive whirs away for quite a while and asks me if I want to install and then displays various stuff happening, but it always ends up at a totally blank beige screen and stops and will go no further. There are no options or choices and it just hangs and the only thing to do is to power down the system. Anybody any ideas please?

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Sébastien Corriveau
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dthomasdigital (dthomas-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#1

Have you tried the alternate install method?

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Sébastien Corriveau (sebcor-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#2

If you have enough RAM and you got to the beige screen, I can't see why it stopped there. Are you sure you have waited enough time? It might takes a couple of minutes.

If you really can't install from the "Desktop CD", these is the "Alternate CD". The "Alternate CD" will start the installation in text mode.

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Mike R (mround) said : 		#3

Thanx for the helpful responses. I am not aware of the "alternate install method" - is this the same as the "Alternate CD"? I'm not aware of that either, so do you have a link please? In answer to the other questions, I have 248MB of RAM and the processor is a 1.50 GHz Celeron M. It takes about ten minutes of so to get to the beige screen each time I attempt an install. Each time I have left it there for quite a time waiting (half hour or so?) for something else to happen. Instead after quite a time it just goes black and that's as far as I can go with the instal. Not very far is it? Any further help anyone can offer would be appreciated.

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

Yes is the alternate cd

For all Ubuntu 7.10 http://releases.ubuntu.com/7.10/

HTH

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Dave Cohen (dgcohen61430) said : 		#5

See post 16895 for same problem. Sounds like you are up and running but won't display due to wrong display parameters being used.
Dave Cohen

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Mike R (mround) said : 		#6

Thanx for all the help and suggestions. Some progress has been made, but no cigar yet. I burned a copy of the Alternate CD and it goes through the install process but it declares that dozens of files are missing and does not finish the install so I'm still left with a dud lump of metal and plastic! The 16895 post does look relevant and useful except that because I am booting from a CD, I cannot execute any of the write commands in that post. Anybody got any more ideas how to get me to the finish line?

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Best Sébastien Corriveau (sebcor-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#7

Looking at the 7.10 release notes (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/710), I noticed that you don't have the minimum memory requirement to run the "Desktop CD". This is what I was suspecting from the start.

The minimum memory requirement for the "Alternate CD" installation is 256MB, just a little bit more than the 248MB that you got. So if your lucky you might be able to install it, but don't count on it.

And if you want to address this new problem, you might want to ask a new question so that people with the appropriate knowledge can take a look at it and help you.

Good luck!

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Mike R (mround) said : 		#8

Many thanx for the suggestion Sebastien - I put in a 1GB RAM upgrade and voila - I'm off and running! Also many thanx for all the other suggestions.