installing ubuntu without being able to boot from cd/internet

[bilmas]

i have a dell laptop here and it's near-useless

it plays music and that's about it.


i want to do an install of ubuntu on it but there is a problem:

while windows is running it seems to recognize that there is a cd drive but when i go to the boot menu and select for the computer to boot from a cd, it doesn't do that. i've tried it with both the internal drive and an external cd/dvd drive i brought with me. the internal drive will at least whir a little bit before the windows flash screen appears

i know that there is wubi but the problem is that the computer at present will not connect to the internet and though i haven't attempted it yet, all usb stick installs i've seen require using ubuntu to make the usb bootable. my linux machine is 100 miles away and i only have a mac with me

is there a way to get wubi.exe to open the iso file i already have rather than download it? or is there any other option? i foresee ubuntu solving whatever is wrong with this computer (since it is viruses that caused these problems to start with) but i can't seem to install it

crud!

any advice is appreciated

davidbilmas

[jerrrys]

is this the live cd?

[bilmas]

as far as i know

i downloaded it from the ubuntu site and burned it to a cd

it's the same download i've used to install on my home computer

[jerrrys]

since you have used this cd on your home computer you must not yet have bios set up right. you say that its set to boot from cd drive, but still goes to hdd. if you can find it in bios, disengage the boot option for hdd and force it to boot from cd. also your computer may not support boot from usb.

[steveneddy]

Put the CD in a known good machine and check it for errors. It is an option before booting the CD.

Clean the CD

Clean the CD drive

Try a different CD