Problems installing linux

[BklynRX7]

hello, everyone Im obviously new to linux and am having some troubling getting a distribution installed on my pc.

So at first I tried installing ubuntu 7.10 with the alternate cd. The cd loads but the only mode that will work is the command line based option, it gets more than half way through installing the base system and something fails and it tells me to start again from that point. I do and it fails again.

Since then I have tried installing ubuntu 7.04 from an alternate cd and freespire 2.0.8. from a live cd , both of these give me the simple message " error loading operating system" .

Im really lost now, ive read these are the easiest to use distro's and I cant get them installed.

All cd's were burned using infarecorder with default settings as per the ubuntu install docs.

I'de greatly appreciate any help you can provide.

[Manchunian]

Hello BklynRX7, and welcome to the world of Linux!

Could you give us some more details, please? What computer are you using? How much RAM do you have? What about your graphics card?
These parametres are important because they inlfuence hugely how the install process goes. Looking at your post, I would hazzard that either your computer doesn't have enough memory or that it's a problem with the graphics card. Try in single-user mode.

[BklynRX7]

I am installing on a Dell Dimension 3000, its a P4 with 1gb ddr installed. The graphics card is onboard.

Any idea's on why only 1 out of the now 5
cd's Ive tried actually loads?

At this point ive dl'd and burnt
ubuntu 7.10
ubuntu 7.04
freespire 2.0.8
freespire fiesty skipjack
Cent Os 5.1
im dling mandriva now but I dont have much hope for it.

Could the fact that ubuntu 7.10 was the first i tried have something to do wih the fact that no other cd even boots?

The ubuntu 7.10 keeps failing at around 70% when it says something about bootstrapping.

[daark.child]

If many distros fail like this, it could be some sort of hardware issue. I had similar issues on my laptop and the only distros that would work without throwing up errors at boot time were openSUSE and PCLinuxOS.

[Manchunian]

Could the fact that ubuntu 7.10 was the first i tried have something to do wih the fact that no other cd even boots?

No, that won't have a bearing on the matter. Have you tried in safe mode? I'm wondering if it's got something to do with your integrated graphics card.

[Manchunian]

I've just remembered that I had this problem once on a machine at work: the Ubuntu live CD refused to work. I tried a number of different distributions (I have a wallet of ready-burned Linux live cds) and I eventually got the Debian Live cd to work. Wht not give it a go? Debian isn't the easiest place to start, but if it does work it's a fantastic OS once you've got it configured.
And here's another possibility, less attractive though it be. If you try the Puppy Linux live CD, you have the possibility of using Xvesa rather than Xorg. Perhaps give that a go, just as an experiment to see if it'll work.

[BklynRX7]

Ok the puppy cd did not work, I got the same message as before "error loading operating system" but I may have made progress elsewhere.
I was getting ready to load windows again when i used the windows cd to delete all the partitions from the hdd. I put the working ubuntu cd back in and decided to try Manufacturer's install mode which did not work before. The first time I tried the cd the only option that worked was text only everything else resulted in a blinking cursor.
Well manf install mode started running and it zipped through the first few steps which took hours the first time, its currently writing the new filing system, ill let you know if it works.

[BklynRX7]

OK the installer completed after several tries, I was forced to install without a kernel because every other option failed. I now have the grub bootloader but cant get any further. Does anyone have a link to a walkthrough showing how I can load a kernel into this now? I havent found a clear one.

[Manchunian]

OK, good, but strange that you can't load the kernel.
You're going to have to compile a kernel, but you'll need to do this in some sort of Linux. Can't you get any sort of live cd to run? As I said above, you might be able to get Puppy working on a live cd. Or maybe you can do it with something like System Rescue CD. Once done, you should be able to compile the kernel yourself - we'll talk you through the operation here - it's quite long.

[BklynRX7]

OK, I gave up on that route for now and installed windows again. I tried using a windows based debian installer and it failed and then i tried wubi the windows based ubuntu 7.10 installer and that failed. Im goign to post in the ubuntu section and ask for more help with that. Thanks for all the assistance everyone.