Can't Install ANY Distro of Linux

[pentiumwetwired]

Hi, my first post here. I've been semi-interested in Linux in any flavor for a few years now. I'm having a problem installing virtually any distro of Linux on this computer. I've also tried using Wubi.

When I try installing from a CD (I've tried several from many different sources, friends, downloads, etc.), I select the option to install and the screen goes black with some random garbled characters running along the bottom of the screen. Sorry, I don't have any info on what those characters are at the moment, if they are important I can add those in another post.

When installing using Wubi, the installation goes through just fine but when I reboot and select Ubuntu the system hangs right after loading the Ubuntu splash screen, XP Pro loads fine.

My system specs are: HP Pavilion a705w, 2.93GHz Celeron, 1GB of DDR 333, ATI Radeon 9250 256, LITE-ON COMBO SOHC-4832K optical drive, Seagate ST340015A 40GB ATA hard disk (jumper set to master), and a Maxtor 4D040H2 40GB ATA hard disk (jumper set to slave).

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[tamoneya]

try selecting the safe graphics mode install. This should handle the graphics issues that are introduced by your ATI card which has spotty linux drivers. On the hardy CD i believe you have to go into boot options in order to select the safe graphics mode.

[pentiumwetwired]

Thanks for the quick reply, but I guess I should have said that I'd like to use Wubi so I don't destroy the data already on both the drives. Is this possible?

[tamoneya]

okay so get you wubi install setup again and when grub loads hit escape. This is one of the first screens you see after the bios. Select the recovery option and see if you can boot into the CLI. From there type

/etc/init.d/gdm start

[pentiumwetwired]

Thanks! I'll try this a.s.a.p.

[pentiumwetwired]

Ok, so I installed with Wubi, restarted the machine, selected Ubuntu, hit esc and got a menu with a few choices, safe graphics mode, with APACI (I think) workarounds, start normally, verbose mode, and Live CD.

With safe graphics mode the start-up stalls and displays:

init: rcS main Process (5434) killed by SGEV signal
init: Unable to execute "bin/sh" for rc-default: Permission Denied
init: rc-default main process (6568 ) terminated with status 255

With the workarounds selection I get:

init: rcS main Process (5434) killed by SGEV signal
init: Unable to execute "bin/sh" for rc-default: No such file or directory
init: rc-default main process (6568 ) terminated with status 255

Any ideas?

[pentiumwetwired]

Any help on this? Uncharted territory?

[sparo007]

Bump. I too have a similar problem with an HP m7060n.

[alzie]

Its been a while since I used wubi...

I searched around and the HP Pavilion a705w does seem to have issues, the workaround is to add the parameter " acpi=off " (without the quotes)

From the wubiguide

Sometimes the ACPI is not fully supported and can hang the boot process or you may experience video problems (black screen). In such cases, after you select "Ubuntu" at boot, press "ESC" and choose one of the other options

You should be able to set acpi=off there.

Link to wubi guide is : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#he...c9b0f3860f194b

Link to the wubi forums is :http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=234

I recommend the wubi forums, the people there do a great job.

I hope this helps you

[alguin2]

Have you tried the Live CD (HH 8.04), just to check if Ubuntu can boot? That's how I installed Ubuntu. I think that there's an option of installing Linux within the Windows filesystem from the LiveCD. I myself installed by creating a real partition.

Try booting from a cold powerdown, safe graphics, etc, if the default LiveCD boot doesn't work.

Good luck.