12.04 Install Problems -- Old Gateway

[NotAsPlanned]

Hello all,

I have an old Gateway computer from 2007 I'd been thinking about converting to Linux for a few months now. It shipped with Vista and lately has been really riding the struggle bus. Hubs bought me a new computer and has been traveling with this one...giving him all sorts of problems. I casually mentioned I'd been pondering Ubuntu as a way to give it new life and he charged ahead all systems go.

Problem is......I don't really know exactly what he did.......and neither does he.

His intention was to create a bootable USB and do the "try it now" option to see if everything ran correctly. He ended up trying to create the USB twice and when he restarted and plugged it in expecting to try it out, here's what happened:

1)Computer is on Ubuntu install screen when I join the party. It says it is "copying files". He maintains he was never asked about trying it vs installing it. This process continues for about 45 minutes including telling us about other things like installing languange packs etc.
2)Computer gets to the end of the process, restarts and presents me with a screen asking me to choose to boot Vista or Ubuntu (USB still in). When I choose Ubuntu, it takes me to a log-in screen that matches the user profiles on my Vista settings. I log in and start clicking around. Firefox started ok and I was able to load pages.
3)I stepped away for a few minutes and when I came back the screen was covered in horizontal lines. I could tell that things were still clickable behind this as sometimes the colors would change slightly, but I couldn't get it to respond to anything I knew how to do (very little) and ended up doing a hard shut-down.
4)Hubs tries to start it this morning without USB. When he chooses Ubuntu it gives him an error and he has to do a hard shut-down. After re-inserting the USB he can choose Ubuntu and picks the recovery mode option. He says that it asked him to do a bunch of updates and then told him that there were problems with the graphics card. I didn't actually see the message so I don't know if there was a code or anything.

I'm sorry this has been so long, but I really don't know where to move forward from here. I don't know if we now have a dual boot computer (but if so, why still need the USB?) or if we can move forward with an ok Vista system like this never happened. Also, how would we go about pinning down the "graphics card issue"? Maybe we need a different driver than the install shipped with?

Here's a little about the computer:
2007 Gateway (I think model mt3705)
Shipped with 1gb RAM (2x512mb) but a friend pulled out one of the 512 cards and put a 2GB in so it now has 2.5GB of ram (but Vista only recognized 2GB)
Pentium duo core - 1.6Ghz
About 95GB free space on the C: drive

Thanks in advance
C

[kabukiM0n0]

I'm no expert, so don't quote me on this. But - wouldn't the problem be with the hard drives - as it didn't offer the options when installing, you didn't get to set your partitions, but merely mounted and jumbled on top of each other. (I'm not sure this is even possible).
That's what it sounds like to me.
Do you have important files on the system? if not - just wipe it clean, start from scratch and make it dual boot.

[NotAsPlanned]

Thanks for the reply.

Thankfully hubs went through and copied all files to a different USB (not used for boot) so I think anything on there is pretty much redundant at this point. Running the Gateway Recovery System was an option but I don't have any recovery discs......

Would you recommend going back to Ubuntu 12.04 then (with the dual boot)? I'm beginning to wonder if this computer is so old that I need to consider installing a lighter distribution of linux.

[Impavidus]

With 2.5GB RAM Ubuntu should have no problems, although, if you like, you can also try xubuntu. I prefer it, but it's a matter of taste.

First we'd like to know in what state your system is right now. Boot from your live usb and give the following command in a terminal

sudo fdisk -l

(that's a lower case L)
Post the output here.

If you have trouble with that, run gparted (included on the live usb) to view the layout of the partitions on your disk and post a screenshot here.

[NotAsPlanned]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal

Okay, from the above "help" area I'm seeing I should use
Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T
to get the terminal open. Right?

When should I give this command? After logging in or while the system is loading? If while loading, what page (chose between vista/ubuntu or chose between ubuntu/ubuntu recovery mode)?

I apologize, but I am in the truest sense an "absolute beginner" so even simple things like this seem strange.

[Impavidus]

Right, after logging in.

At the moment I've absolutely no idea in what state your computer is, and I think you don't know either. We need to know whether Ubuntu is really on your hard drive.

[kansasnoob]

Hello all,

I have an old Gateway computer from 2007 I'd been thinking about converting to Linux for a few months now. It shipped with Vista and lately has been really riding the struggle bus. Hubs bought me a new computer and has been traveling with this one...giving him all sorts of problems. I casually mentioned I'd been pondering Ubuntu as a way to give it new life and he charged ahead all systems go.

Problem is......I don't really know exactly what he did.......and neither does he.

His intention was to create a bootable USB and do the "try it now" option to see if everything ran correctly. He ended up trying to create the USB twice and when he restarted and plugged it in expecting to try it out, here's what happened:

1)Computer is on Ubuntu install screen when I join the party. It says it is "copying files". He maintains he was never asked about trying it vs installing it. This process continues for about 45 minutes including telling us about other things like installing languange packs etc.
2)Computer gets to the end of the process, restarts and presents me with a screen asking me to choose to boot Vista or Ubuntu (USB still in). When I choose Ubuntu, it takes me to a log-in screen that matches the user profiles on my Vista settings. I log in and start clicking around. Firefox started ok and I was able to load pages.
3)I stepped away for a few minutes and when I came back the screen was covered in horizontal lines. I could tell that things were still clickable behind this as sometimes the colors would change slightly, but I couldn't get it to respond to anything I knew how to do (very little) and ended up doing a hard shut-down.
4)Hubs tries to start it this morning without USB. When he chooses Ubuntu it gives him an error and he has to do a hard shut-down. After re-inserting the USB he can choose Ubuntu and picks the recovery mode option. He says that it asked him to do a bunch of updates and then told him that there were problems with the graphics card. I didn't actually see the message so I don't know if there was a code or anything.

I'm sorry this has been so long, but I really don't know where to move forward from here. I don't know if we now have a dual boot computer (but if so, why still need the USB?) or if we can move forward with an ok Vista system like this never happened. Also, how would we go about pinning down the "graphics card issue"? Maybe we need a different driver than the install shipped with?

Here's a little about the computer:
2007 Gateway (I think model mt3705)
Shipped with 1gb RAM (2x512mb) but a friend pulled out one of the 512 cards and put a 2GB in so it now has 2.5GB of ram (but Vista only recognized 2GB)
Pentium duo core - 1.6Ghz
About 95GB free space on the C: drive

Thanks in advance
C

Step #1:

Boot the live USB again and when you see this screen hit the enter key. Then select the desired language and select "Check disc for defects".

That will take several minutes to complete but we need to rule out faulty installation media.

[NotAsPlanned]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them out when the computer comes back home and post what I find.

[NotAsPlanned]

Ok sorry it has been a few days. Finally hubs and I had time to specifically devote conversation to Linux and he ran the suggested
sudo fdisk -l
in the command terminal after logging in. Unfortunately the response was that the entire system crashed, which he explained as the screen going black and then scrolling hundreds of lines of text before he did a hard shut down. He then got fed up and took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy for their opinion. They went into the command line and looked at the status of the hard drive. They told him our hard drive was damaged (in what way I'm not sure) and suggested reformatting. He said their wording was "damaged but still workable". I tried calling the store to see if I could get any more specifics, but the response I got was that it was a zoo earlier and they don't remember any particulars.

Also, he says that when no USB is inserted the machine still gives the option to boot either linux or vista. He can log into linux but it then crashes.

[Impavidus]

He maintains he was never asked about trying it vs installing it.

Booting of a live usb should not lead to automatic installation.

After re-inserting the USB he can choose Ubuntu and picks the recovery mode option.

The live usb just boots ubuntu. If you hit a key you can ask it to boot from the HDD instead, but that is possible without the live usb being present. Recovery mode is available from there, not from the live usb.

I don't know if we now have a dual boot computer (but if so, why still need the USB?)

So, it's not a functioning dual boot.

I have some doubts about your live usb. I don't really trust it. Can you boot from the live usb and check it for defects? See here, use the menu in the third screenshot.

2007 Gateway (I think model mt3705)

According to these specs that computer has a maximum of 2GB RAM. Also, according to this you have a 32 bit processor. Did you get the correct version of ubuntu? Ubuntu can be found here, Xubuntu here. You need the 32 bit version. If you prefer the torrent download of Ubuntu, go here and select one of the i386 images.

Unfortunately the response was that the entire system crashed, which he explained as the screen going black and then scrolling hundreds of lines of text before he did a hard shut down.

Even if something is wrong, this command should just tell you. I never heard of a computer crashing on that command. Did you try that command on the (more or less) installed system or on the live usb?

Concerning your problem with the graphics card, if you get to that, read this. You can install the correct driver after installation using this.