10.04 Lucid Lynx will not install on Lenovo W500

[scprotz]

I think the title is fairly self explanatory, but let me give details:

Currently I run 9.10 x64 on my Lenovo W500 laptop. It runs just fine (aside from the issues of dealing with the 32 bit commercial world vs 64 bit OSS world - but thats another thread).

I went out and got a clean 500 GB harddrive to install 10.04 on it (I don't want to touch my current installation as it is still usable - but I'd really like to move back to 32 bit...what can I say..I need the commercial software for work).

I've downloaded Ubuntu 10.04 desktop x86 32bit (from both torrent and direct download....and verified via MD5 that it is indeed the right file, etc...)

I put the newly minted CD into the reader and try to install. I get the ISOLinux flash past..then i get this screen that looks...i don't know...like a "Ruler == Little Man" logo <= if someone can explain what that is..that would be great....

At this point, if i do nothing..the machine is locked up (though CTRL-ALT-DELETE still works).

If I catch it at the beginning quick enough - then i can hit ESC or SPACE and get to the menu, but if I make any selection, it just locks the computer up (or the ESC option brings me to the menu, i make a selection, then it says "Loading" and hangs indefinitely.

I can't even seem to get any kind of output to determine what is even the problem. I don't think it has anything to do with hardware, as I've tried doing similar livecd/installs on other Lenovo laptops with the same results. I have downloaded the image multiple times on different computers...I've burned using different programs (Brasero and Nero on WinXP) so I'm fairly positive the media is correct.

I'm at a loss. Any suggestions would be very helpful (even if it is just getting console output - and yes...i tried to add the 'console' keyword to the boot line in grub, but got nothing...)

Thanks for your input...

[scprotz]

Bump for my sanity...

I REALLY want to try out 10.04 (warts and all)..but can't get past the first wart -> That darned purple screen with keyboard and little man. If I try space or ESC..it gets me to menu, but any selection locks up with no output.

Please please...Any ideas on how to get a console so I can find out what is messing up?

Thanks for any help,

[Catharsis]

What graphics card do you have?

lspci | grep VGA

At the LiveCD menu (the one after you press any key at the purple accessibility screen), press F6 and select "nomodeset". Hit Enter. If that doesn't work, try some of the other options in that popup window.

[scprotz]

Thanks for the response -

I tried it with all the F6 options (including the "nomodeset"). One site suggested installing with "nomodeset xforcevesa no splash". I tried that and got further. The standard i386 Desktop image would boot the kernel, then hang at initrd.lz. I thougt it might be the image or the CD, so I downloaded the cd again (both from torrent and direct download), checked checksums of all files, and burned disks again (one with Windows, one with Linux, 2 different computers, 2 different burners). Same results...makes me think that the isolinux init on the Desktop CD doesn't like my computer for some reason.

So this gave me hope - meaning I made it farther. I then tried the 'alternate' cd (I figured I could just apt-get "ubuntu-desktop" if I could base-install the system. Well, I had odd results there too. It kept complaining about certain packages (in this case console-terminal and xkb-data). It would hang on those packages saying it couldn't install on a nice pretty red page - again...2 pressings of the CD on 2 different computers, but same results on install of laptop.

So now I'm fairly certain that there is just SOMETHING in lucid that doesn't like my W500 ( which I guess is a fairly high-end laptop for the moment)...

So finally, I downloaded the mini.iso...figuring I could splurge an extra CD on 13MB. Surprisingly, if I let it do its thing and don't install anything but the base system. It completes. Then I could log into a session (yes - it booted fine, but at this point..it is a barebones system). I logged in, and ran apt-get install ubuntu-desktop. After a very long time (downloaded 400+ MB), it installed, rebooted...and kinda seems to run.

Still have issues with it, specifically internet is CRAZY slow (and I've already turned off IPV6)...not sure what the deal is there...I'll have to research it when i get time...but the mini.iso got it up and running...still seems a bit quirky..but that could be me looking at it from karmic eyes.

Would still like to see why the regular CDs don't work though..it is very 'concerning', especially the LiveCD. This means, right now, if I do something idiotic (I'm really, really good at that), I don't know how easy it will be to fix my system. No rescue disk is walking the Linux tightrope with no net.

[scprotz]

So looks like the batch of media I got was actually the culprit. Who knew. It was the only thing consistent, and come to find out, it just wouldn't work right (it was Memorex, which I usually have really good luck with...must have just been this bundle of CDs).

Anyway, after burning a copy, yet again, taking all the burning instructions to heart - use a respectable burning software (nero), use slowest speed (16x was as slow as it'd let me), use good media (Ritek/RiData worked for me), all seems to be going well. I'll continue to test with these memorex disks to see whats up.

ugh...can't believe it was the media.

Thanks anyway