Ubuntu 10 on a Compaq Presario 2100 won't load on normal boot?

[FreshGaro]

Hey so I'm trying to breathe life into this old laptop; so I installed Ubuntu on it and ran into a problem loading it in Desktop mode.

When I want to start into it normally, it gets to the home screen and does a quick frame skip, kind of like an old VHS tape, and then fails to load the toolbars on top and bottom.

Loading into safe mode works great, but no wireless option seems to be available in safe mode?

The normal boot even gets to the "Ubuntu!" welcome sound, but... then nothing. I looked up a few Linux keyboard shortcuts and none of them function. So... Any ideas?

Also did the updates in safe mode. Update Manager did NOTHING when I clicked "install updates" button, so I did it through the terminal sudo get-updates/upgrades.

I'm a new user without any prior knowledge, but it's probably overdue that I learn

[rokytnji]

Compaq Presario 2100 Notebook PC series- Compaq Presario 2100US Series Notebook - Product Specifications - c00248307 - HP Business Support Center

If above is your HP Lappy. 256MB of ram is too weak for Ubuntu 10 with gnome.

You might have to go with a lighter linux Distro maybe.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...re-2011-a.html

[MASONTX]

Try lubuntu, AntiX, Legacy, or one of the distro's on distrowatch.com>search>older computers.

[rokytnji]

Just to elaborate a little on what MASONTX posted. I am right now on a 1000Hz , 256MB ram Laptop

running AntiX 8.5 pretty smoothly.

System:    Host biker Kernel 2.6.34-stevo i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-M8.5 Marek Edelman 11 April 2010

@biker:~$ apt-cache policy opera
opera:
  Installed: 11.01.1190
  Candidate: 11.01.1190
  Version table:
 *** 11.01.1190 0
        500 http://deb.opera.com/opera/ squeeze/non-free i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
@biker:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_24"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_24-b07)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 19.1-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

@biker:~$ apt-cache policy flashplugin-nonfree
flashplugin-nonfree:
  Installed: 1:2.8.3
  Candidate: 1:2.8.3
  Version table:
 *** 1:2.8.3 0
        901 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing/contrib i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Never tried Lubuntu so no experience with it on a low ram laptop.