Help installing ubuntu!

[xjamespx]

Honestly I have no idea what im doing wrong-
Im trying to install ubuntu-
I burned the iso file onto the cd. Kept the cd in the computer and restarted.
And when it starts back up it just stays on a black screen.

I have a dell studio 15 w/ Vista.

I have changed the Bios to boot off the cd rom and still it just sits on a black screen. Any help would be much appreciated!

[red_spyder]

Did you hit F12 when the computer was booting up? (When it says "Dell" and there is a loading bar) You should select 'Boot from CD'.

[running_rabbit07]

What burner program did you use to burn the ISO?

What speed did you burn the disk at?

[tal007]

I am assuming that you have burned your iso image properly. Merely copying it on to your CD or DVD will not not work. You have to select the "Burn image" option when you burn your iso image. Select a low speed option with verification if you have that on your program.

Before you try to install, you have to change the setting of your BIOS. You may have a "Boot option" in your BIOS menu. Things like:

Boot options( 1st, 2nd and 3rd boot option ):

1. Floppy [on / off / auto detect]
2. CD/DVD [on / off / auto detect]
3. Hard Drive [ on /off / auto detect ]

You have to set your "CD or DVD" to "on" or "auto detect" depending on whichever one you have. Mind you though, it takes time for things to show up on your display. It is not that fast with Ubuntu installation. It scans devices for several minutes. You will see some frightening messages on your display. So, be patient. Other things that I noticed you can not auto launch a program from a DVD burned on CD drive. So, be aware of what kind of media you are using to burn and run from.

If it does not work, could be a hardware too. Ubuntu is not a mature system yet. Still evolving. Hopefully, in the years to come we will see better performance.

[JaxPenguin]

I'm stuck as well. I have a Toshiba U405 laptop which (from what I've read) is supposed to work great with Ubuntu. I burned the 9.04 ISO and the LiveCD started but then it started spewing errors. I ran the integrity check and it found 8 bad files. Well, it passes the MD5 check so I'm not sure what's wrong. I used different software to burn another disc but that one just hangs and doesn't go anywhere.

To be fair it's not just Ubuntu. I downloaded OpenSuse to see if that would work and it loads the kernel, gives me the splash screen, and reboots after about a minute of apparently not doing anything.

So far I'm crashing and burning and not making any progress.

[xjamespx]

What burner program did you use to burn the ISO?

What speed did you burn the disk at?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8a-smrPlvE&hd=1

I followed this exact guide. Once i restarted the computer however- nothing ever happened.

I did hit the f12 key- and then switched it to boot off drive- thats when the blackscreen occurred.

I am redownloading the iso off ubuntu then re-burning it onto a cd. and ill see what happens.