Can This Be Done

[silverunicorn]

Hello. I am new to this forum and new to ubuntu. A few years ago a co-worker had told me about ubuntu after I kept having countless problems with windows and spyware. I had decided I wasn't going to try ubuntu because we actually ended up buying a new computer and I was nervous about trying to install it. Now however I find myself extremely irritated with windows again and I'm ready to throw my computer out the window.

I have an Acer Aspire One D250. A few days ago I could tell that despite running all of my spyware programs, malwarebytes and my antivirus that I had some kind of browser hijacker. I tried to deal with it but it has spiraled out of control. I now have the lovely black screen of death that just says Resuming Windows. I've tried flashing the bios through the methods I've been told. I've done all of the troubleshooting that I've read on other forums and like I said....ready to toss it out the window. Now I could look at this one of two ways. I didn't pay much for it when I bought it and I've had it two years so I could say whatever I got my moneys worth out of it and just walk away from it. But the stubborn part of me doesn't feel like it. It's a great little netbook for the things I need done on it and I have no intentions of buying a new one, I'd rather try to fix this one.

My question now is, is it possible to install ubuntu onto this? I have a usb stick that I downloaded ubuntu onto. I've put it into the netbook and I hit F2 and set the usb stick up to boot first. I can see that it's trying but I do see some error messages. For example right now this is what I see at the bottom of a whole list of commands-
[1538.894940] hub 2-0:1.0 unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

Before I kill myself trying to figure all of this out, like I said I've never installed ubuntu on anything before, can someone please tell me if installing this is feasible on my netbook? I'm a little annoyed with myself that I didn't move away from windows earlier and I am wishing I still worked with my former co-worker because I know he could help me. Thanks so much in advance!

[Joe of loath]

Ubuntu should be an easy enough install, although it usually works better if you boot another PC with the live CD, and use the 'create live USB' wizard.

[Geoff918]

Here are a couple of thoughts for you:

1) You can probably restore your Windows install. If Windows isn't "self-healing" but continues to be a problem your registry might have been corrupted. There are ways to copy an old version over the corrupted version. I have managed to save a few friend's installs this way in the past few weeks (maybe there's something wrong that this is happening to so many all at the same time).

2) I love using Ubuntu. After a short adjustment, it seems to me to be easier, more complete, and easier to manage than a Windows system. That said, if your hard drive isn't defragmented so that you can easily partition the drive, the install process may prove more difficult. If you're planning on simply wiping the drive and starting fresh that's easy enough.

3) I would use the LiveCD or USB key to boot first and test your system to make sure everything works "out of the box" (most especially your networking as Ubuntu is pretty hard to use without the benefit of at least intermittent Internet access).

4) The desktop interface for Ubuntu 11.04 (Unity) is a pretty large departure from Windows. You may want to try the 10.04 LTS release to get used to Ubuntu. Unity is actually quite nice after some use, but if you're already facing a big OS change, I can't imagine the transition is helped by a completely different style interface.

I hope some of this helps or is food for thought.

[Hansholz]

I too owned an almost dead Dell laptop that I bought in 2005 for alot of cash. It was running Win XP like a dog, then I went to Win XP lite which worked a little better for a while, but soon that too was running terribly. Someone offered me 10% what I paid for it and said they'd "take it off my hands". I hesitated and said I'd try Ubuntu 10.04 before I agreed to get rid of it completely.

I have never looked back. The install took less than an hour and it's like getting a brand new PC. Boot to Browse time is under a minute!! I am now running Natty 11.04 with no regrets whatsoever. I almost use this old Dell as much as my other newer desktop.

I can't advise on the error you are getting, but as far as killing yourself/buying a new laptop, my advice is switch to Ubuntu as fast as you can. Good luck fixing that weird USB device error. It might be the USB key you are using. I found that a couple of the USB keys I used were not compatible even though they took the ISO image. They didn't work as boot devices.

[prshah]

I am new to this forum and new to ubuntu.

I had some kind of browser hijacker.

[1538.894940] hub 2-0:1.0 unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

can someone please tell me if installing this is feasible on my netbook?

Yes, it's very much feasible, and it will definitely be rewarding ad usable as well.

I had much the same start to Ubuntu as you have described. (if interested, see The final straw

Unfortunately there is nothing relevant I can point out for your error. Please describe how you have created the USB stick. Please try with another USB stick.

Good luck, and welcome to the forums.