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Dell Dimension E310 with XP SP3; 2GB RAM; 2 partitions already; Pentium 4; nVidia GEForce 8500 video card installed with the board video controller disabled. Each partition has right at 35 GB.

I purchased FIVE 12.04 CD's from Canonical. The first one I tried is EMPTY!!! Does not show anything on 3 different CD drives. The 2nd one I tried kept rebooting my machine before it ever got to the Ubuntu screen. The next 3 CD's go into the reboot cycle when I choose to try before install OR install. I was able to run the memory test from the Ubuntu menu, but that is the only thing that works correctly from the menu.

I also OPENED the autorun.inf file and that eventually goes to rebooting before ever reaching the install menu. Using wubi.exe goes into the reboot cycle at the Ubuntu install menu.

It would be really nice if someone can tell me what is going on and how I go about getting a replacement for my EMPTY CD??????

Braiam
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user268570
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  • could you please add an url to an image of the empty disc? :) – Rinzwind Apr 13 '14 at 18:54
  • Not real sure just exactly what you are requesting???? – user268570 Apr 13 '14 at 19:03
  • With nVidia you need nomodeset. At tiny accessibility icons press any key, then f6 to add nomodeset. http://askubuntu.com/questions/162075/my-computer-boots-to-a-black-screen-what-options-do-i-have-to-fix-it And: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions – oldfred Apr 13 '14 at 20:45
  • Have you looked at http://askubuntu.com/questions/6328/how-do-i-install-ubuntu? You can obviousy skip the first few steps because you already have the discs. Depending on how you want to install it (wubi or to a separate partition), you're supposed to restart your computer in order to boot from the Ubuntu disc. – amc Apr 13 '14 at 22:05
  • I'm not sure what you mean "at tiny accessibility icons" but I do know where the "nomodeset" option is. I will set that and try. – user268570 Apr 13 '14 at 22:39
  • I also know that I reboot - that is the only way it can "boot" from the CD drive, as the instructions say. I have also downloaded both the 32 bit and the 64 bit iso files and burned them to discs. At the download page when you click on download it says to use 64 bit unless you have less than 2GB RAM. I tried that one first and it wound up with a white dollar sign on a purple background. Rebooted again and it would up with a blue x on a red background. So now I will try the nomodeset option. I'm really, really glad this is so easy to do and use!!! – user268570 Apr 13 '14 at 22:45
  • I found the site http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop immensely helpful in installation of 12.04.4 LTS. I wouldn't have known about the ISO problem without it. – Bill Delaney Apr 13 '14 at 21:08

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I installed 12.04.4 in the last week on my Dimension 8400. It is also a Pentium 4 at 3.2 GHZ. I supped it up to 4GB RAM, with 3.2GB available, a number of years ago. I am also running XP SP3. I tried the Ubuntu disk that makes a boot disk and it kept wanting to make ISO copies of itself. I finally went out and got the download from the Ubuntu site and had the same results. I did some research and found that my DVD burner program was not capable of decoding the download or the Ubuntu disk and I had to find another ISO decoder. The free one on the Ubuntu site kept telling me that there was a bug in the free decoder. Good luck if you can make it work. Long story short, the problem was in the ISO decoder.

My advice is to take the free download, make sure that your burner program is able to decode the download, if not get one off of the net that will decode the ISO download. After I did this, the sailing was smooth and now I am completely happy. My machine runs like it is a new machine.

FYI The boot, after it is burned, it should have visible icons and files and not simply another ISO icon referring to your burner program.

The only thing that I feel a little guilty about is not paying anything to these people for their hard work, but I think that I will look into finding a way to repay their kindness by contributing in some manner.

Bill Delaney
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  • Using the "nomodeset" option did the trick for the installation except that when it got through and went to the screen that said the installation was done and to restart, when I hit restart it hung up. Had to shut down with the power button. Then I did a "recovery" start and most everything seems to be good now. With the exception when I select "shutdown" from the upper right hand corner it does not shutdown. It goes right back to the Ubuntu log in screen. It won't reboot into the "dual boot" menu. To get there again I have to power it down. Unless there is somewhere else to shut it down??? – user268570 Apr 14 '14 at 00:46