problems with installing ubuntu

[BlueAcolyte]

I recently pulled a 40GB IDE drive out of my basement Pentium III computer. I thought, hey, why not, it's a decent size, so i'll install ubuntu on it.

Problems:

1) Sometimes after I boot from CD and hit start Ubuntu (in safe graphics mode or not) my computer goes into an infinite booting cycle, and I have to turn it off manually.

2) When I hit install ubuntu, it ends up with four lines in DOS:

*insert line, i forget* [ok]
*insert line, i forget* [ok]
checking battery state [ok]
running local scripts ( /etc/rc.local) [ok]

and it will do nothing. Period. I can type in that, but nothing happens.

I dunno what it is, I even tried reburning the CD and checking both for defects.

 

[aceO07]

Try slackware or some other distribution. Opensuse is also easy to set up. Slackware has been known as a great platform to learn on and stable. There's others. Maybe it's just a defaulted setting that is causing your PC some problems.

I run Ubuntu 7.1 on on old PIII laptop and it runs fine. Though Windows XP seems to be faster.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

How about Xubuntu?

 

[accguy9009]

I have had the same problem with Ubuntu using different versions and different systems. Mandriva 2008 and PCLinux work fine however. Mint is very similiar to Ubuntu and I have had better luck instalation wise with that distro.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
How about Xubuntu?

Xubuntu runs off the same Ubuntu core so if this is a kernel problem then it would likely be no different. The 8.04 alpha might fix the problem, but I don't recommend new users to experiment with beta and alpha software.

I've had great experience with OpenSUSE and the latest 10.3 blows away any previous release by the Suse and Novell team. And once you get used to yast then you'll wonder why other distros don't have such a great tool.

I've never tried PCLinuxOS (Ubuntu has always worked for me), but I hear great reviews for that distro as well.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Alright, burning openSUSE as we speak. I have to hand in my nerd card if I fail, wish me luck.

 

[EQTitan]

No, one has asked this yet but did you run the check disk check to make sure there were no missing or corrupt files? If not it's present right there on the start menu. Run that and let me know what happens.

IMHO - Mint Linux is awesome by far the easiest setup ever, followed by Ubuntu, I liked PCLinuxOS only after being broken down verbally by their lack of community support and eagerness to rip anyone a new one that has a problem with getting their distro up and running.

I kept getting dropped to a command prompt when trying to install (no other distro I have used had done this) but I guess you need to manually setup your video. (@#$ WTF ^&* manual video setup in this day and age of OS's?)

 

[ShadowZERO]

had to take post down temporarily

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
I recently pulled a 40GB IDE drive out of my basement Pentium III computer. I thought, hey, why not, it's a decent size, so i'll install ubuntu on it.

Problems:

1) Sometimes after I boot from CD and hit start Ubuntu (in safe graphics mode or not) my computer goes into an infinite booting cycle, and I have to turn it off manually.

2) When I hit install ubuntu, it ends up with four lines in DOS:

*insert line, i forget* [ok]
*insert line, i forget* [ok]
checking battery state [ok]
running local scripts ( /etc/rc.local) [ok]

and it will do nothing. Period. I can type in that, but nothing happens.

I dunno what it is, I even tried reburning the CD and checking both for defects.

What version of Ubuntu are you running? Plus what are your system specs? I had no issues with installing Ubuntu 7.10. Pretty much worked right out of the package.

 

[Skeeedunt]

Did you try messing with the boot parameters? Mash some of the function keys when the very first menu comes up (F3... F6... I forget) and it should list some advanced flags to throw to the kernel (noacpi, nodma, etc), and then there should be some way to "edit boot parameters" (or something) where you can toss those in. Occasionally some of those will help with older hardware.

 

[ShadowZERO]

Your issue is probably due to your 8800GT. I think all Debian based distributions are having a problem with the GeForce 8 series. I tried to post a fix here: http://kubuntuforums.net/forum...ex.php?topic=3091826.0

 

[BlueAcolyte]

My power supply is dead, so no Linux of any kind right now... I'll try openSUSE since I have that on hand. If not, I'll look into those links. Thanks guys.

BTW, I have a link to my specs in my sig, and I tried 7.1. (gutsy gibbon)

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Oh, and I checked both Ubuntu discs. Twice.

 

[decimus]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte

1) Sometimes after I boot from CD and hit start Ubuntu (in safe graphics mode or not) my computer goes into an infinite booting cycle, and I have to turn it off manually.

2) When I hit install ubuntu, it ends up with four lines in DOS:

*insert line, i forget* [ok]
*insert line, i forget* [ok]
checking battery state [ok]
running local scripts ( /etc/rc.local) [ok]

and it will do nothing. Period. I can type in that, but nothing happens.

I've gotta agree that the 8800GT will probably give you problems. I think support will be written into the kernel by v. 2.6.26

Having said that... I've run into this problem myself on a couple of occasions, and wiping/repartitioning the drive with PartedMagic got rid of the offending code both times.

Also, are you verifying the checksums and testing the cd before you install?

d

 

[Nothinman]

I've gotta agree that the 8800GT will probably give you problems. I think support will be written into the kernel by v. 2.6.26

The kernel has nothing to do with that, video drivers are handled by Xorg. Some need a kernel module for 3D acceleration but those are usually the non-free drivers that are maintained by the company producing the card so it's up to nVidia to fix those drivers.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: decimus
I've gotta agree that the 8800GT will probably give you problems. I think support will be written into the kernel by v. 2.6.26

It might be the graphics card, but he tried to boot using safe graphics mode. This is basically passing in an option to xorg to run default video settings (using the vesa video module). Afaik, any basic video card should be capable of utilizing the vesa module so if it doesn't work then it might be something else.

edit:

It looks like its your motherboard.

http://www.google.com/search?q...u+&hl=en&start=30&sa=N

Others are apparently reporting issues with Ubuntu 7.10 and the GA-P35-DS3L. Just some kernel bug like I had suspected. Apparently others have tried different distributions and they seem to install just fine (like Fedora 8). Give that OpenSUSE a whirl and see how it responds.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Alright. Oh, and I said I checked the CDs multiple times, just for the record.