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I'm trying to boot Ubuntu from my USB, but my laptop stays stuck at the black "hp" screen. I've tried tapping F9 to get to my boot menu, and even f10 to enter BIOS....but nothing seems to work. What should I do?

My notebook is an HP G61-429WM. I purchased a new harddrive so there is no current OS.

update:

Found an OS disc for Vista, going to try and install onto my notebook.

Mari
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  • Welcome Mari, Firstly have a look at this Q&A to identify you have prepared things correctly up to now. http://askubuntu.com/questions/43174/installing-ubuntu-on-external-hard-disk – stephenmyall Jul 25 '12 at 14:48
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    Thank you for the link. I would also like to add more info. I had to purchase a new internal harddrive yesterday because my previous one was damaged. I downloaded Ubuntu through my desktop and used "Universal USB Installer " to copy onto my USB. I'm going to read over the link you provided. Thank you. – Mari Jul 25 '12 at 14:52
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    @Mari- set your BIOS setting to defaults and try again. – atenz Jul 25 '12 at 15:22
  • Still no luck. And installing Vista from the CD didn't work either. Is there probably something else wrong with my notebook? – Mari Jul 25 '12 at 15:38
  • according to http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00364979&tmp_task=useCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=4125456 in addition to f10, you might want to try f2 or f6 – Scott Goodgame May 26 '13 at 03:06
  • is your problem still persists?? – Sukupa91 Nov 26 '13 at 06:45

2 Answers2

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Try to reset the BIOS by e.g. removing the CMOS battery and see if that works. It could also be defective RAM. I've had that if I had bad RAM the computer wouldn’t get past the BIOS loading screen.

Byte Commander
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ACluelessProgramer
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  • There are also more ways to reset the BIOS. Most mainboard manufacturers implement a special reset key combination, for example to hold PAGE-UP while turning the power on. – Byte Commander Sep 30 '15 at 18:50
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Welcome Mari, BIOS key is mostly one of F2 , F8, F9, F10, F12, or delete.

nanofarad
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Ankit Haldar
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  • Yes, mine is F10 for BIOS. The issue is that, whenever I insert my USB into a port and turn on my laptop, it stays stuck on the "hp" screen and does not go anywhere regardless of what key I tap. Thank you for the welcome. – Mari Jul 25 '12 at 14:58
  • Let me guess PNY? – TheXed Oct 08 '13 at 16:39