Ubuntu
ubiquity package

ubuntu install

Asked by T.A. Pennell

I want to install Ubuntu by itself on a PC. The PC has an unformatted 120gb hard disk. I have set the BIOS to boot from the CD drive. I have downloaded and burned the .iso file. When I boot from the CD, I do not get any GUI presented. It shows a black screen with white text (similar to a DOS screen). It then issues several errors having to do with "mounting" and "allocating" hard disk space, then proceeds to a common prompt. Why am I not getting any of the messages shown in your "how to install" write-up?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Did you MD5 test the ISO you downloaded?
Did you burn the CD as slowly as possible?
Did you check the CD for defects once it starts booting?

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T.A. Pennell (tr3tom) said : 		#2

1. What is MD5?
2. Yes - using NERO at 8x (the slowest ir will work)
3. The CD burning software says it checked the CD. Reported "All OK"

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

Instead of asking, why not RESEARCH a little, you will get fixed faster as you are not waiting for someone to fill you in.

You would have found this with very little effort:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

You have failed to test your image file so you have no way at all of knowing for sure if the file is complete and consistent. A bad image will cause issues.

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T.A. Pennell (tr3tom) said : 		#4

Thanks! I did find that based on your snippy answers to the guy before me. I won't have a chance to get/run the MD5 until Monday, since I'm doing this at work. I'll let you know then.

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Patrick M (prmillius) said : 		#5

T.A. Pennell -I've put Ubuntu on a lot of machines. Sometimes you find a PC that just doesn't play nicely, and you have to make do so. You might try downloading and burning a copy of the alternative text-based installer. It doesn't have a great GUI, but it works when the standard one fails.

If it tells you that sda1 is not mounting check the bios, be sure you didn't disable the hard drive when you set it to boot from the cd. The text based installer will probably deal with the allocation problems better than the standard install disk.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#6

Could you provide an exact copy of error messages ? The error description seems inconsistent. Hard disk is not managed when the CD boot.

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T.A. Pennell (tr3tom) said : 		#7

All of that occurred using my download of 10.10, which MD5 flagged as defective, I have succesfully downloaded Ubuntu 11.04's .iso. The MD5 check reports "OK". I have yet to burn the CD and check it out. Unfortunately, I am doing this in my spare time at work, and there hasn't been a lot of that available. Please keep the question open for now. Thanks.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#8

Please remember to MD5 test in future, it saves a lot of time. Bad data will make a bad install experience.

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