Need help before i go insane

[Chrus]

Up until last week my computer was runnung Ubuntu 9.04 with no problems... life was good. 9.04 didnt play so well with intel graphics drivers (flickering videos in full screen and stuff) so i tried to fix it and screwed up royally... so i decided to reinstall.

So i DL and burn the x64 iso (on my mac) try to install and FAIL! Reboot, try again... FAIL! I have a 32 bit ver cd, so i treid that one too... FAIL! and again... FAIL!

At this point, im thinking it might be a good idea to go back and install 8.04 and upgrade from there. So i get my 8.04 disk and try to install that... another FAIL!

But heres the kicker... every time it fails, its at a different point in the install and with a different error. WTF is going on?

Ive checked all 3 CD's, no problems. Some of the errors led me to believe the HDD was on its way to crashing, so i got a new HDD... that didnt fix the problem either.

Here are some of the errors i've been getting...


the installer encountered an error copying files to the hard disk errno 5 input output error


The NetworkManager applet could not find some required resources. It cannot continue.


Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed!

What else...

* it will freeze at about 5% and not go any further
* will install, reboot get to desktop and then flash for a bit and lock up... need to reboot.
* will finish the install, then end up running the live CD. Reboot and OS not installed.

This should be simple... why is it not working... HELP!

[madverb]

Could be your RAM playing up.
Another thing you could try is getting a Ubuntu alternatives disc and doing a CLI install.

[Chrus]

Good idea... testing memory now.

Alternatives disk? CLI install? Im intrigued... please explain?

[madverb]

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate

[Chrus]

Thanks mate... will give it a go and let you know what happens.



ZOMG! SO MANY ERRORS! Running ram test now... Its gone nuts with errors. Its calmed down now... stopped at 71680 errors :( Looks like i need to buy new RAM :(

[madverb]

That doesn't sound good. Can you test with any other RAM before having to purchase more? if you have more than 1 RAM stick installed you might want to test each one individually.

[Chrus]

i got 2x 1gb sticks... when this finishes ill pull one out and try again

[Chrus]

OK... so i tested 1 stick at a time... 1's good, the others dead.

If i do an install now using the 1 good stick, will ubuntu do anything weird when i put new ram in? Or should i just wait till i get the ram then do the install?

[madverb]

No, that should be fine. It will only be a problem if you install with faulty RAM.

[Chrus]

Awesome... Im back up and running.

Thanks for all your help mate... appreciate it.