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I need help fast I have an old computer that was made around the year 2000 and it is a dell I got the 32 bit version and burned it to a DVD-r disc I tried to make sure it was in ISO format or something like that Then I stuck it in my DVD drive and restarted my computer The computer will boot up and then before the windows splash screen shows, the screen goes black except for a little white underscore in the top left corner Then windows boots and nothing happens Please I need your help ASAP. Thank you

Alex Rouse
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    Sounds like either you didn't burn it properly or you don't have your computer setup to boot from a disk. How exactly did you burn the CD? – Seth Aug 30 '14 at 20:49
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    Please format your post, add punctuation and line feeds. – Jan Aug 30 '14 at 20:51
  • Well, I actually burned it on a computer that has windows vista, – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 20:53
  • And I went to the downloads folder, double clicked on the file, and it brought me to a burning program that I used to burn it to a DVD-r – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 20:54
  • Sounds like you burned it properly then. Do you know how to access your computer's BIOS? If so, try to change the boot order so it will boot to a disk before the hard drive. – Seth Aug 30 '14 at 20:56
  • (This is not supposed to sound offensive) but I do know something's about computers – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 20:57
  • And yes, I did got to my bios and the boot order was 1. The cd drive the the hard drive then the floppy drive (yah, floppy drive, it is so old – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 20:58
  • Your ISO image may (a) be corrupted, (b) it could be written wrong or the media could be physically damaged, or (c) your computer could be incapable of booting from a CD or more likely just not configured to do so (though I think a and b are more likely in this case, both because of the cursor you see and based on what you've commented). If any of these is the cause of the problem, the three bullet points under step 1 of this answer to My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it? should help. – Eliah Kagan Aug 30 '14 at 20:58
  • Oh my gosh, I just looked at the disc and it is mildly scratched – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 21:04
  • It's fine that you know stuff about computers, but you haven't told us anything you have done yet - we can't mind read. Eliah is right, follow his instructions. It could be that the disk is scratched... – Tim Aug 30 '14 at 21:05
  • Could that be causing this? – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 21:05
  • It could be... Try burning a new one. When you put the cd in, what do you see in it? (if windows is booted, do you see 1 file, or lots of folders)? – Tim Aug 30 '14 at 21:05
  • We'll right now when I go to "my computer" and double click on the drive the cd is in, it shows nothing at all – Alex Rouse Aug 30 '14 at 21:07
  • That's a bad sign. I suggest you follow Tim's last advice. – Seth Aug 30 '14 at 21:23
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    Alex, try burning a new CD using unetbootin. – Alaa Ali Sep 02 '14 at 16:24

2 Answers2

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Try burning a new disc. Make sure it isn't scratched.

If you don't have it already, I recommend you use ImgBurn. It is usually pretty good, and I find it reliable for burning things on Windows.

Also, make sure that your BIOS is set to boot the liveCD first.

Once you burn the disc, verify it by opening it in the file explorer and make sure there are lots of files and folders.

Kaz Wolfe
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Test minimalcd:

The Minimal CD will download packages from online archives at installation time instead of providing them on the install CD itself.

To use the Minimal CD download mini.iso from: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/trusty/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/mini.iso

For help with CD burning see: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

To install, boot your computer from the the Minimal CD and type "cli" (command line install) at the prompt.

You can then follow the instructions from the text-based installer.

kyodake
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