I can't use the Ubuntu Live CD! But I want to!

[person9]

Hi!

I waited like a few hours to download the image file for the live CD, then waited like 40 minutes to burn it. I've burned it to 3 different CD's and redownloaded the image to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.

I have a new HP dv2xxx laptop, with AMD processors and nVidia graphics. I think any of these (being an HP, having AMD, having nVidia) are likely causes to why the CD doesnt boot.

So, my computer starts to boot from the CD. A little text flashes, saying something about that this is Debian / Ubuntu something or other, then it goes to the boot menu. Graphic at the top, choices beneath that (Including "Try Ubuntu without installing it which is what I want to do) and then a list of F# options at the bottom.

This is as far as I can get! If I push enter on any of the options, including "Check disk for defects" or "test memory", it does nothing but freezes. If I choose "Try Ubuntu" it does nothing and freezes. I tried pushing F6, adding "noapic nolapic" to the end of the command, and pushing enter, and it does nothing and freezes.

This is very annoying, and I dont have time, literally, to wait hours to download any other images of different versions of linux distros. I don't want to either, I want to use Ubuntu.

Thanks!

[taurus]

How much RAM does your HP laptop have?

[person9]

It has 3 gb ram, and its running Vista for the record.

[taurus]

How fast did you burn the ISO image to a CD? You should burn it at a slow speed like 4x instead of a default speed. Press F4 and pick the safe graphic mode option to see if that boots.

[person9]

+ I did burn it at 4x.

+ I did try to use safe graphics mode, as I said, *everything* I try to run just freezes at that point. Lol. Pushed enter, and thats it. Everything's stuck.

I have to pop the CD out of my drive, let it say "Disk reading error!" and choose "Reboot" with the CD out and let it boot into Vista again.

[taurus]

Do you have access to another machine (with more than 256MB of RAM)? See if you can boot the same disc with another machine. If it hangs at the same spot, then we can assume it has to be the disc. But if it boots fine with another machine, then there is something going on with your laptop.

[person9]

I'm actually about to try Wubi, to have Ubuntu alongside my Windows Vista. I hope it works, I will absolutely smash things if it messes up my computer.

:) thanks for your help by the way.