ubuntu 10.10 won't install on desktop

**Quackers** · March 25th, 2011

Excuse my late intervention here, but have you tried resetting the bios to default settings? There will be an option to do that. Then re-enter the bios and try changing settings again. Sometimes bioses can get mixed up.

**Jayme Harris2007** · March 25th, 2011

Originally Posted by Quackers

Excuse my late intervention here, but have you tried resetting the bios to default settings? There will be an option to do that. Then re-enter the bios and try changing settings again. Sometimes bioses can get mixed up.

Quackers,

Thanks for the suggestion. I may try that if I run into more issues.

Now here's an update: NEVER EVER ASSUME ANYTHING

. I assumed that I was running 2 256MB DDR333 (PC2700) RAM chips, because my BIOS said I was only running with 512MB. If I had looked closer I would have noticed that the BIOS was only picking up one bank of memory. It turns out that one of the little white levers was messed up and not letting the second 512MB RAM chip seat correctly. I found this out when I got back from Microcenter. I actually broke the little white lever trying to get it to seat correctly. After removing the broken pieces the memory now seats correctly and I'm running a full 1GB of RAM. ubuntu likes that much better.

I'm in the process right now of rebooting the system a few times to see if it's going to work that way. Any suggestion on what I should do or run to check system stability and also can one of you tell me how to set up the system so I only need to type in my password at login and not every time the screen goes to sleep? Knock on wood I think we're getting real close.

Jayme

**coffeecat** · March 25th, 2011

Originally Posted by Jayme Harris2007

It turns out that one of the little white levers was messed up and not letting the second 512MB RAM chip seat correctly.

Now that's very interesting. There was probably an intermittent connection with the second stick which would have played havoc with system stability.

Originally Posted by Jayme Harris2007

Any suggestion on what I should do or run to check system stability

I would think just to run the system and see how you get on. Unless one of m'learned friends has a better idea!

Originally Posted by Jayme Harris2007

and also can one of you tell me how to set up the system so I only need to type in my password at login and not every time the screen goes to sleep?

System > Preferences > Screensaver. Untick the 'lock screen when screensaver is active' tickbox. You're not alone. That setting seems to irritate most people! Myself included.

**Jayme Harris2007** · March 25th, 2011

Originally Posted by coffeecat

Not that's very interesting. There was probably an intermittent connection with the second stick which would have played havoc with system stability.

I would think just to run the system and see how you get on. Unless one of m'learned friends has a better idea!

System > Preferences > Screensaver. Untick the 'lock screen when screensaver is active' tickbox. You're not alone. That setting seems to irritate most people! Myself included.

I did a warm boot a cold boot and a freezing boot

, I shut down the power supply for 10 seconds and then turned the system back on. It rebooted all three times. Yea!. I decided a good test would be to run some videos. I downloaded the flash plug in for firefox and went to the hulu site. The video was a bit choppy, but that may be a streaming issue. Right now I'm watching an MP4 file of Star Gate Universe. Its playing great.

I'll go and make that change to the screen saver. Thanks to everyone for all the help.

Jayme

**coffeecat** · March 25th, 2011

Good luck! I hope the system continues to work well.

By the way, a silly typo in my last post which I've corrected. "Not that's very interesting." What were my fingers thinking of? "Now that's very interesting."

**Quackers** · March 25th, 2011

I've got my fingers crossed too

Bad-hair day coffeecat?

**Jayme Harris2007** · March 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by coffeecat

Good luck! I hope the system continues to work well.

By the way, a silly typo in my last post which I've corrected. "Not that's very interesting." What were my fingers thinking of? "Now that's very interesting."

I'll give it a couple days before I mark the thread as solved. Thanks again.

Jayme

**cmcanulty** · March 26th, 2011

Also look at power options. Ubuntu tweak will let you disable lock screen entirely.http://ubuntu-tweak.com/

**Rubi1200** · March 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by Jayme Harris2007

I'll give it a couple days before I mark the thread as solved. Thanks again.

Jayme

Sorry for crashing the party so late. I am really pleased you managed to get things sorted out. What a learning experience for us all.

Enjoy

**Jayme Harris2007** · March 27th, 2011

Originally Posted by Rubi1200

Sorry for crashing the party so late. I am really pleased you managed to get things sorted out. What a learning experience for us all.

Enjoy

I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the help getting ubuntu up an running on my desktop computer. I've installed the latest version of WINE on the system and have gotten a couple of hidden object games to run in it. I played one for a few hours the other day and didn't have any issues.

Jayme