My laptop is possessed by demons (daemons?)

[harelb]

I understand that you may be frustrated, but we are all here to help each other out. LTS to LTS are supposed to work, but if it didn't than maybe saving your data and reinstalling might work.



It is just my signature. It is not directed at you or anybody else.

Wow..I completely missed that...I saw a two line post where there was a one line post plus a one line signature and I apologize...

I thought you were calling my multi day headaches fake...that's also the only reason I quipped about weddings etc...I thought your "i heard" was the premise from which you drew your "troll" conclusion, again , I'm sorry (that is an unusual signature you had to admit, but I should have read it more carefully to seen that faint line separating message from sig..andprobaly get new glasses too)

and now, still "17h" in the corner of my firefox so it's going to be 17 hours to download the .iso....unless someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong...otherwise I'll have to leave laptopon (it is plugged into electric outlet) overnight and all of tomorrow until evening just to download the 600MB or so iso....ready to bang head in desk again....

just change from 5.1MB to 5.2MB downloaded ....again my connecdtin is normally much faster i'm pretty sure somethign screwy (see previous, europe based server I'm downloading from??) causing this... and rebotting ater clearning cookies did not help, in facdt, it caused the 12MB or so iso that was there to be gone :-( :-(

[texaswriter]

Wow..I completely missed that...I saw a two line post where there was a one line post plus a one line signature and I apologize...I thought you were calling my multi day headaches fake...that's also the only reason I quipped about weddings etc...I thought your "i heard" was the premise from which you drew your "troll" conclusion, again , I'm sorry (that is an unusual signature you had to admit, but I should have read it more carefully to seen that faint line separating message from sig..andprobaly get new glasses too)

and now, still "17h" in the corner of my firefox so it's going to be 17 hours to download the .iso....unless someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong...otherwise I'll have to leave laptopon (it is plugged into electric outlet) overnight and all of tomorrow until evening just to download the 600MB or so iso....ready to bang head in desk again....

just change from 5.1MB to 5.2MB downloaded ....again my connecdtin is normally much faster i'm pretty sure somethign screwy (see previous, europe based server I'm downloading from??) causing this... and rebotting ater clearning cookies did not help, in facdt, it caused the 12MB or so iso that was there to be gone

Yeah, sorry about that misunderstanding.

If you believe your connection is faster than the current download speed, you could try a torrent.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/

Click on the link for your version (12.04, 12.10, etc). Then scroll down until you find the 32-bit/64-bit version (i386/amd64) and desktop version that you need.

[harelb]

The saga continues..I just let the .iso take the 17+ hours to download and burned (slowest speed) onto a CD, but something is not working.

1. Brief recap - I had originally had windows 8 but I replaced it with Ubuntu 9 after some wrestling (this is not dual boot but replacement) after I had (a) turned off quikBoot (b) turned SecureBoot to disabled, (c) set OS mode selection to "UEFI and legacy" instead of "UEFI" and those three steps allowed me to finally install ubuntu 9...then when I later tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 to replace ubuntu 9 the freezing up and the rest of the problems took place described earlier.
I'm assuming the (a)-(c) are still in effect (if not, could someone tell me how to check or how to set these, *from ubuntu* not from windows8 I no longer have (could not find by google..) the link from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI takes you to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...9#post12397979 but as far as I can tell says to, but not how to, disable quickboot (recall, I no longer have windows so need instructions how to do it from ubuntu..and whether it matters if I do so from the current badly installed 12.04 or should shift key while booting to get into previous, and then do it)

Otherwise I'm following the suggestion to use the just-burned CD with ubuntu 12.04 to do the full upgrade again hoping it works this time.

2. As I said "assume I don't know anything"...so at http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-instal...pangolin#media it says

Once you've put the image you downloaded onto a CD, DVD, or USB, you will need to shut down your computer. This may be a good time to print this page, or just read through and make notes.

Turn your computer back on, tapping F12 to select a boot device when your screen shows the name of the manufacturer. You can then use the arrow keys, finally hitting enter, to select either USB or Disc Drive.

Except :

3. Most of the time (i.e. I've tried this several times) I am not seeing "Samsung" but see "Ubuntu" as the first thing when (a few times I do see Samsugn and did click f12...like just now..it just said "please wait" in small font in bottom right of screen...after 30? seconds it flashed some white text on blackbackground, just missed grabbing my cellphone for picture, and then immediately gave me login screen...so again won't boot from disk) keep tryng "f12"...it seems(?) to depent what I'm booting from...if I reboot from the new (and defective) 12.04 that I'm trying to replace (I can confirm I'm in that when I get that "GNOME settings daemon not responding" when I try to restart (then you click on "restart anyway" and then wait 60 seconds or so and it finally does) or whether hold down shift key while rebooting, get into the old 2.6 version of linux (which I assume is the ubuntu 9?) but maybe there are other reasons sometimes I don't see "Samsung" at all, other times a brief flash, and at least once (just now) "Samsung" was on the screen for a long time so I definitely had time to click f12 while it was there as described above (the "please wait" may have been there before I hit f12...ok..but point is I was able to click f12 *while* "Samsung" was displayed...and still no boot-from-cd)

I'll be away from computer tomorrow probably until late afternoon so won't be able to answer qusetions..but if you have several suggestions of things to try, I'll be happy to try them and report back Sat. evening Thanks!

[fantab]

If you are willing to be patient. Then perhaps we can start all over, from nada.

Can you tell us what kind of Graphis do you have? You can check this from Samsung website against your laptop model. (If can give an extact Samsung Model that you have, it will help).

Since you have 'Removed' Windows and perhaps won't be going back to it, you can consider installing Ubuntu 'the old way', without UEFI. As of now there are no great differences between Legacy Boot and UEFI boot. But UEFI is the future.

We can help you with both methods.

Regarding your concerns in "1.": all those features can be accessed from BIOS Menu/Setup. Your laptop will have a dedicated keyboard key to access it. For mine its F2, for other it could be "DEL" or F12 or anything depending on the Mother Board and/or OEM.

While you are at it, also check what kind on SATA mode is enabled. Usually there will be three options: IDE, RAID & AHCI. AHCI is better and Recommended. However we don't want RAID, unless you insist and have a need for it.

Also tell us how you've 'Removed' Windows. How are your partitions arranged and what partition table you are using, GPT or MBR. Since it had windows8, it is very likely that you have GPT, unless you've changed it. If you don't know what it is then perhaps we should start with re-partitioning your disks.

[harelb]

Hi,
A. My box says "Samsung 365E5C-S05 and bar code is 8-87276-01603-0. If you need more please let me know what, where to find it, or what url on samsung has it. Hopefully the above very specific info is enough

B.

Also tell us how you've 'Removed' Windows. How are your partitions arranged and what partition table you are using, GPT or MBR.

I have no idea about GPT or MBR etc. What I did was this: what I had was an install disk, a CD disc to install ubuntu from. I got the disc a few years ago from the OSdisc website (because downloading and burning an install disc myself, sometimes worked in past years, other times not, so it was worth a handful of bucks to pay for theirs) It was ubuntu 9 I believe. I struggled to get it to install but eventually did (a), (b), and (c) from Windows 8 and after doing that I was able to install this old ubuntu. It goes out of service as of April 2013, so, even though it seemed to work fine, I realized I have to upgrade to a newer version of ubuntu.

By "removed Windows" I simply mean that I chose NOT the "dual boot" but just to install ubuntu (again, this old version, which worked fine as far as I could tell, for a few months of (infrequent) use).

C. When I tried to install ubuntu 12.04LTS from the website (I should have used osdisc again maybe..!) I did not burn my own CD either. What did I use to upgrade to 12.04 from 9? I used that "carboard box" icon, I think it's called "update manager" or something like that. Usually it is for updates, Not upgrade, but this time it had another button for "New version of Ubuntu is available, get 12.04!" or similar, so I clicked it...took 3 hours or so to install 12.04 but that was and is defective...see original posting...it freezes up a LOT...not usable. So now I have: defective 12.04 OR when I hit the "shfit" key while rebooting I am allowed to choose linux 2.6 which I think(?) is the Ubuntu 9, and use that..and that one works ok...until I reboot again when the defective 12.04 is in place

D.

t, you can consider installing Ubuntu 'the old way', without UEFI. As of now there are no great differences between Legacy Boot and UEFI boot. But UEFI is the future.

Now I'm confused. All the websites said you MUST turn off uefi (see (a), (b), (c) in previous post, not this post) - or is that ONLY when installing ubunut to replace windows? Because now I'm trying to (do again what I tried earlier) namely trying to replace my ubuntu 9 with 12.04 again..or, to replace the "current, but defectively installed" 12.04 with a properly working 12.04. For the change (from Windows 8) and (to: ubuntu) the websites said to not use uefi...for my upgrade, which is Not "windows to ubuntu" but instead "ubuntu to ubuntu" do I kep the uefi? Please clarify.

Equally importantly, I have no idea how to access bios from ubuntu. There are websites to remind me (I forgot already) how to change bios/uefi/other acronyms I understand not very well on windows...info I no longer need...but how to I see what my settings are, or changes them, from ubuntu, I don't know. Do I start somewhere under "system tools" in the Applications menu? Or "system settings" in the right hand top bar menu?

E.

Regarding your concerns in "1.": all those features can be accessed from BIOS Menu/Setup. Your laptop will have a dedicated keyboard key to access it. For mine its F2, for other it could be "DEL" or F12 or anything depending on the Mother Board and/or OEM.

My F1 to f12 are in white color and in blue color there are other feature..it looks like I'm supposed to use the "Fn" key (similar to "ctrl" and "alt" it appears - my laptop is new and I don't know my laptop that well) and hold it down while clicking on FN where N is a number to get the blue colored feature...like blue font next to "F6" on the same key is "mute" symbol..but that doesn't work, but they are acting strange, instead the bottom-right part of my desktop (that shows all four "desktops" I can jump to, I think that's what it means) just started flashing...it has done other very strange and erratic things so it might be the misinstalled ubuntu...I could try to get into ubuntu 9 ("shift" key while rebooting) but if we can avoid going there entirely, that would be great.

Again, I have burned a CD that one is supposed to be able to boot from...from ubuntu.com/download/desktop....so I'm hoping we can use that burned CD...but maybe you're saying that it's not clear how to fix this, since it should boot-from-CD but is refusing to..? I have no idea what SATA is or what the connection is. As I said earlier, "assume I don't know anything other than how to start a terminal window" (-; (and even that doesn't work in the new ubuntu since half the time it then freezes up the entire desktop and I have to shut down by holding down the on/off button..)

Oh oh, the strange flashing after I tried Fn+F1 (because in blue color on the F1 key was the icon of a "gear" and "wrench" which is probably where bios is) I cannot even shut down...I selected shut down, and confirmed, and it's just sitting there...I'll have to shut down by holding down the "on/off" button for several seconds....

let me try one more thing before posting...did the bad kind of shut down (holding down on/off key) and held down the "shift" key while it was turning on...selecting "previous linux versions" and then choosing 2.26.31-14-generic (not recovery mode..I can also use recovery more with that, or with 2.6.32-45) instead of the "3.2.0-400generic" which I assume is the old ubuntu 9 that works...now I have the old and correctly installed ubuntu..no, "Fn+F1" , "Fn+F6" etc do not work for me either..not even in this correctly installed, working older linux..so if you need me to go into bios hopefully the model #s etc I gave in A will give the info needed, as to how to access that.

In summary: I used (a)-(c) to install from an OSdiscDotCom CD, the ubuntu 9, replacing (not dual-boot) the Windows 8. It seemd to work 100% fine for several weeks...then I tried "update manager" (since ubuntu 9 "expires in April 2013") when it told me I should "upgrade to 12.04LTS" so I clicked ok and after 3 hours or so it was done with the install, but this install of 12.04 is defective. In the directions please let me know whether I should use the old ubuntu (holding down shift key when loading)..In fact I probably always should, even if it's more work, since it won't freeze on me...let me know if any instructiosn you have, will *require* me to be logged into the defective 12.04 rather than logging into the 2.6 linux (ubuntu 9?). Thanks

[fantab]

First of all, you CANNOT enter BIOS setup from any OS. You have to enter BIOS setup before any OS loads. After booting your computer the first Screen you get with options (like, but not necesarily, F2=BIOS SETUP, F10=BOOT MENU, F12=PXE BOOT etc) should let you enter BIOS with the appropriate key for your laptop.

After entering BIOS navigate yourself to find "(U)EFI", "Secure Boot", "Fast Boot" and SATA Mode. (you should find these in Boot options or Advanced Boot options). UEFI or EFI will have options like UEFI only; Legacy; Auto. Tell us what options do you exactly have.
When you find 'Secure Boot' you will DISABLE it. You will find and DISABLE "Fast Boot" as well, if you have that option.
Then you wil check for your HARD DRIVE in BIOS to see if its using any IDE; RAID; AHCI. If its AHCI, then you do nothing. If its IDE you change to AHCI. If its RAID you Change to AHCI. Tell us what you have? I am particulary interested to know if its "RAID".

Windows 8 pre-installed computers have created certain problems for dual-booters or Linux users. So the above checks are necessary to help you install latest Linux.

Following are some Links which may help you understand what these different things are:

http://www.extremetech.com/computing...os-replacement
http://www.howtogeek.com/56958/htg-e...lace-the-bios/
http://www.anchor.com.au/blog/2012/1...gpt-with-grub/
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/booting.html
http://www.petri.co.il/gpt-vs-mbr-based-disks.htm
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorial...onable-benefit

The info from above links will help you understand what we are talking about. It pays to know what's inside your computer.

However, All the above features are NOT required if you only intend to boot LINUX/UBUNTU.

This is why I suggested, "consider installing Ubuntu 'the old way', without UEFI". If you wanted to dual boot Win8 and Ubuntu then we'd have had limited options. Since you want Ubuntu only, we have more options. Install Ubuntu in the "old way'' reduces complications with installing and running Ubuntu. UEFI and GPT are the future of computing but as of now they are optional. Until such time when it will be impossible to go 'old way' or it becomes easier to install Ubuntu with default BIOS setups, I suggest, for now lets stick with what is simple and just works.

My two cents...

[harelb]

Windows 8 pre-installed computers have created certain problems for dual-booters or Linux users

I know it! It wasw a headache to figure out what to do to intstall Ubuntu on my win 8 preinstalled computer...the irony is that even though that was a headache, I succeeded (back in February) and I thought my troubles were over when I finally in Feb, had ubuntu 9 installed and windows8 was (is?) completely gone but, now it's back to square one trying to fix the ubunu 12.04 misinstalled, from my ubuntu (no longer windows) laptop only I could find bios more easily from win8 than I can now on my "ubuntu laptop" See below

First of all, you CANNOT enter BIOS setup from any OS. You have to enter BIOS setup before any OS loads.

That's what I initially thought..what confused me was this: when I google's to remind myself how I changed the uefi in *windows* way back in Feb, well, that Windows 8 way of doing it (see 55 second long video at http://acer--uk.custhelp.com/app/ans...ndows-8-system ) makes it look like the OS is already there, after all one clicks on "settings" and then proceeds...so it looks like you have your OS there already...so in Windows 8 it fools you into thinking that you already have a desktop/OS type thing already loaded and makes it look like you're going from there into uefi (which that url says is the same thing as bios or same place to go to to change bios) But I hear you loud and clear: from my laptop I do not want to let my ubuntu Os load first, I need to get to bios/uefi before ubuntu loads

Now I would love to try out your instructions in your second paragraph but apparently I'm missing something very basic when you say [quote. After booting your computer the first Screen you get with options (like, but not necesarily, F2=BIOS SETUP, F10=BOOT MENU, F12=PXE BOOT etc) should let you enter BIOS with the appropriate key for your laptop.[/quote]

because after I boot the "first Screen you get" that you list, is not what I see. I get ubuntu logo almost instnatly. I just did it again in my laptop (I am on my desktop): when I press the "on" button on my laptop I get a completely blank black screen for a few seconds and immediatley after, the very next thing I get, is I get the word "ubuntu" on my screen while ubuntu loads. What should I do to get into the options menu that you list? The only other way I know is to hold down the "shift" key when I boot and then I do get something a bit different :

GNU Grub version 1.99-21ubuntu3.9

ubuntu, with linux 3.2.0-40-generic-pae
ubuntu, with linux 3.2.0-40-generic-pae (recovery mode)
Previous Lniux versions
MEmory test (memtest86+)
Memorty test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)

then at the bottom of the screen "use the up-arrow and down-arrow keys to select which entry is highlighted. Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before booting or 'c' for a command-line"

I do not think this is where you want me to be. So please, I need basic step by step how to get there where "F2=BIOS SETUP, F10=BOOT MENU, F12=PXE BOOT" is what I will see, because that's not where I am (and as I said if I do *not* hold down the "shift" key to get into grub, then the OS ubuntu starts loading withing a couple of seconds after a completely black, blank screen, after I turn the laptop On). Assume my laptop is off. Assume step #1 is I hit the "on" button. And then tell me what exactly to press to get the menu you describe.

As I mentioned, if I press nothing, ubuntu loads immediately, the OS loads, and you said you don't want that. The only other way I know is to hold down the shift key immediately after pressing the "on" button, and I get the screen described above (which IS helpful to me since it lets me load the old version of ubuntu, when I want to use my laptop since the default installed ubuntu is the one that is freezign up) but is not helpful to do what you want to me to so, please, simple "for dummies" directions..do I hold down some other key right after hitting the "on" button? Do I do something from grub that I'm not seeing? What you say is the first screen I see is not the first one I see after turning laptop on so I need more basic steps if you can patiently list them...thanks in advance!
P.S. pressing "f2" does not get me into bios setup from this "grub" menu.

[d0006]

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/supportOwnersHowToGuidePopupPrint.do?howto_guide_s eq=1200&prd_ia_cd=N0000137&map_seq=223

(http://bit.ly/129pgln)

[harelb]

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/supportOwnersHowToGuidePopupPrint.do?howto_guide_s eq=1200&prd_ia_cd=N0000137&map_seq=223

(http://bit.ly/129pgln)

Thanks for the url but it only suggests there is a bigger problems because I am absolutely not getting their step 2

"At the Samsung Logo screen, press the F2 key. "

No Samsung logo screen (yes, out of the 30+reboots..probably 50+ reboots I've done since the botched upgrade from ubuntu9 to 12.04, it has appeared once that I can remember, and flashed for a half or quarter second another time, as I said, not the rest of the times) It is appearing exactly as I described in my last post here it is with even more detail here's what happens:

The laptop is Off.

Then I click the on button.

Then maybe 4 seconds before power makes an illuminated but black blank screen

then 2 seconds of a light purple blank screen

then the word ubuntu (in white, with dots unernearth it) on top of that light purple background as ubuntu loads

Then the login screen where it wants my password

(trying to pre-emptirely just hold the F2 key down the whole time within 1-2 seconds after pressing the On button doesn't work either, no bios, no "Samsung" screen, at all, it's exactly as in the above quoted)

This is with a stopwatch next to the screen to be accurate. At no step above is "Samsung" shown to me. Hopefully this very second-by-second detailed desription suggests to someone how I get the @#%#% laptop to not skip the part where a screen with "Samsung" is shown? It is absolutely not showing me the "Samsung" screen in step 2 of the directions at the samsung.com url, or anything remotely like it..

(this is getting more and more bizarre...I wonder if something subtle but ugly happened when I put ubuntu to replace the original windows 8..)

[fantab]

You could try 'un-installing' or 'removing' Ubuntu completely from your HDD. You can do this with Gparted from Ubuntu DVD/USB and delete all partitions, and recreate them. If you have a separate 'recovery' partitions and 'Samsung utilities' and if you want to preserve them, then just delete Ubuntu partition and recreate it. Perhaps then you can get to the Samsung screen. OR you can contact 'Samsung Service' and get their help to enter BIOS, or recover Windows8 as it was before you removed it. So that we can later remove it accordingly.

Now:

GNU Grub version 1.99-21ubuntu3.9

ubuntu, with linux 3.2.0-40-generic-pae
ubuntu, with linux 3.2.0-40-generic-pae (recovery mode)
Previous Lniux versions
MEmory test (memtest86+)
Memorty test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)

Have you installed 32bit Ubuntu on 64bit machine? Or is you machine 32bit? I don't like 'pae' at the end of that kernel line. PAE.

EDIT:
I suspect that your Ubuntu 'old version' is 32bit and your machine is 64bit, that is why you have a 'pae' kernel. The 12.04 you have downloaded, is it 32bit or 64bit? You must download 64bit Ubuntu. Please confirm this.