Club409
The best damn waste of time!
help for a n00b who just hosed his computer
Steven
Total posts: 751
1/24/2007 8:05 AM
I went to install Ubuntu 64 to go along with XP64 last night. The live cd wouldn't boot up like it was supposed to the X server kept failing. Finally learned there is a known incompatibility with Ubuntu and my video card and managed to come up with a ghetto workaround so I was able to get into the graphical display. From there I went to actually install Ubuntu - it partitioned everything fine but when the installation was at 69% complete it just quit. I let it sit for quite a while and it was clear nothing was happening so I forced a restart and tried again. I got to the exact same point in the install and it failed again which led me to believe it was a problem with the install cd. When I tried to get back into windows to download the cd again of course it wouldn't boot. I figured the linux installation had gone far enough that it had changed the boot record so I grabbed an XP install cd and ran a 'fixmbr' but it still won't boot.
Any ideas? I backed up (almost) everything before I started this so it isn't a catastrophe if I have to start from scratch but I would prefer not to. My plan for tonight is to retry the ubuntu with the newest release (I was trying to install Dapper since it's the long term support version but I'll give Edgy Eft a shot) but I can't see that fixing my XP problem. Is there something else other than a fixmbr that I need to do?
Any ideas? I backed up (almost) everything before I started this so it isn't a catastrophe if I have to start from scratch but I would prefer not to. My plan for tonight is to retry the ubuntu with the newest release (I was trying to install Dapper since it's the long term support version but I'll give Edgy Eft a shot) but I can't see that fixing my XP problem. Is there something else other than a fixmbr that I need to do?
Oscar
Total posts: 1323
1/24/2007 2:28 PM
Steven
Total posts: 751
1/25/2007 9:28 AM
still a no go...looking like a reinstall
DavidTheAsian
Total posts: 51
1/25/2007 8:58 PM
I had the same problem with the graphics when attempting (read: install abandoned after several hang-ups mid-install) and I just had to adjust the refresh rate for my monitor to its native 60 hz (ubuntu changed it to 75hz for some reason).
Shawn
Total posts: 1367
1/28/2007 5:46 AM
I was wondering if an external USB harddrive would give you the same problems that I was having trying to install a third hd. Would it just show up as a removable drive like an external thumb drive? I would like to get one but I just want it to be to plug and play and not have to reformat and reinstall windows.
mwinter
Total posts: 4328
1/28/2007 10:27 AM
.. why would you have to reformat and reinstall windows just to get an external hard drive to install? or a third HD for that matter.
Shawn
Total posts: 1367
1/28/2007 10:31 AM
Everry time that I have tried to install an internal hd I have had to reformat windows.
mwinter
Total posts: 4328
1/28/2007 10:34 AM
also FYI i helped a guy reformat + dual boot a failing windows computer (which may still be failing; we thought it might have been motherboard issues.. results pending). It took all of maybe 2 hours cumulative. there was a lot of drinking and card playing going on the other room which we joined whenever there was a large progress bar doing its thing.
anyway ubuntu detected his bigass Sony monitor as supporting some serious widescreen resolutions which it does however the generic linux driver supplied for his Radeon 9200 did not (or maybe it's the VGA cord instead of the DVI cord that's the problem there..). So we had to hax the xorg.conf file to use 1280x1024 at least for now.
I'm not sure what might be causing you grief with installing ubuntu. one option to consider is to download the "alternate installation CD" (scroll down a lil bit) which allows you to install in text mode. that's what we did last night only because that was the only version of 6.10 ubuntu (as opposed to ku- or xu-buntu) that i had burned to bring over to his house. it works just as well as the graphical Live CD install but it's not as pretty :)
anyway ubuntu detected his bigass Sony monitor as supporting some serious widescreen resolutions which it does however the generic linux driver supplied for his Radeon 9200 did not (or maybe it's the VGA cord instead of the DVI cord that's the problem there..). So we had to hax the xorg.conf file to use 1280x1024 at least for now.
I'm not sure what might be causing you grief with installing ubuntu. one option to consider is to download the "alternate installation CD" (scroll down a lil bit) which allows you to install in text mode. that's what we did last night only because that was the only version of 6.10 ubuntu (as opposed to ku- or xu-buntu) that i had burned to bring over to his house. it works just as well as the graphical Live CD install but it's not as pretty :)
Steven
Total posts: 751
1/28/2007 6:14 PM
step one complete - XP is reinstalled and operational (no more 64 bit but that was kind of sucking anyway)...i'll be reattempting the ubuntu installation tomorrow
torzan
Total posts: 310
1/29/2007 3:10 AM
by the by.
after installing ati drivers windoze likes 1900x1200 via vga. ubuntu nsm.
after installing ati drivers windoze likes 1900x1200 via vga. ubuntu nsm.